The Welsh Football Association Cup is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most prestigious of the cup competitions in domestic Welsh football.
The National League is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North and National League South. It was called the Alliance Premier League from 1979 until 1986. Between 1986 and 2015, the league was known as the Football Conference. As part of a sponsorship deal with car leasing company Vanarama, the league is known as the Vanarama National League.
The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has three divisions - the Premier Division - and Division One East and Division One West.
The Scottish football league system is a series of generally unconnected leagues for Scottish football clubs. The Scottish system is more complicated than many other national league systems, consisting of several completely separate systems or 'grades' of leagues and clubs, with Senior football, Junior football, and beneath these Amateur and Welfare football.
The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales and one from Guernsey also competing. The system has a hierarchical format with promotion and relegation between leagues at different levels, allowing even the smallest club the theoretical possibility of ultimately rising to the very top of the system, although in practice it would take a team at the bottom levels at least two decades of consistently finishing at or near the top of each successive league to reach the top level, and even then additional restrictions, particularly in regard to stadium facilities, would then come into effect at the highest levels that could prevent a club from being allowed access to the top levels. There are more than 140 individual leagues, containing more than 480 divisions.
The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is at the second level of the National League System, and at the sixth tier overall of the English football league system.
Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it describes football played at a level below that of the Premier League and the three divisions of the English Football League. The term non-League was commonly used well before 1992 when the top football clubs in England all belonged to The Football League ; all clubs who were not a part of The Football League were therefore 'non-League' clubs. The term can be confusing as the vast majority of non-league football clubs in England play in a type of league. Currently, a non-League team would be any club playing in the National League and below and therefore would not play in the EFL Cup.
The English Football League Two is the third and lowest division of the English Football League (EFL) and fourth-highest division overall in the English football league system.
The English Football League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League and the third tier overall in the entire English football league system.
The K League 1 is one of South Korea's professional association football leagues. At the top of the South Korean football league system and contested by twelve clubs, it is the country's highest level of football competition.
Association football is one of the most popular sports in Wales, along with rugby union. Wales has produced club teams of varying fortunes since the early birth of football during the Victorian period, and in 1876 a Wales national football team played their first international match. Football has always had a close rivalry with the country's de facto national sport rugby union, and it is much discussed as to which is Wales' more popular game. The Football Association of Wales (FAW), was established in 1876 to oversee the Wales national team and govern the sport in Wales, later creating and running the Welsh football league system.
The German football league system, or league pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system for association football in Germany that in the 2016–17 season consists of 2,235 divisions having 31,645 teams, in which all divisions are bound together by the principle of promotion and relegation. The top three professional levels contain one division each. Below this, the semi-professional and amateur levels have progressively more parallel divisions, which each cover progressively smaller geographic areas. Teams that finish at the top of their division at the end of each season can rise higher in the pyramid, while those that finish at the bottom find themselves sinking further down. In theory it is possible for even the lowest local amateur club to rise to the top of the system and become German football champions one day. The number of teams promoted and relegated between the divisions varies, and promotion to the upper levels of the pyramid is usually contingent on meeting additional criteria, especially concerning appropriate facilities and finances.
Professional sports leagues are organized in numerous ways. The two most significant types are one that developed in Europe, characterised by a tiered structure using promotion and relegation to determine participation in a hierarchy of leagues or divisions, and a North American originated model characterized by its use of "franchises," closed memberships, and minor leagues. Both these systems remain most common in their area of origin, although both systems are used worldwide.
The Football League, is the second highest professional football league in Greece, being a feeder-league to the top-level Super League.
The football league system in Spain consists of several leagues bound together hierarchically by promotion and relegation. The Spanish football federation allows reserve teams to compete in the main league system, as is the case in most of Europe; however reserve teams are not allowed to compete in the same tier as their senior team, and no reserve team has thus competed in the top flight, Primera División.
The Romanian football league system, also known as the football pyramid, refers to the system in Romanian club football that consists of several football leagues bound together hierarchically by promotion and relegation. The first three leagues are organized at a national level and consist of fully professional teams. Lower divisions are organized at county levels, with each county's football association controlling its respective leagues.
The Australian football league system is the league structure for association football clubs in Australia. The league system in Australia since 1977 has involved one top divisional league controlled by Football Federation Australia and many leagues run within each state below. The National Soccer League stood from 1977–2004 as the top nationwide tier above the current state-based league systems, in 2005, the A-League was established as its successor. The introduction of the National Premier Leagues in 2013 introduced a direct second tier of football in Australia, underpinning the A-League. The National Premier Leagues incorporated the existing state leagues as divisions with a nationwide end of season finals series. In 2013, the National Premier Leagues rebranded 5 of the 9 top state leagues, and the remainder – with the exception of the Northern Territory – joined in 2014. There is no promotion and relegation to and from the top-tier A-League, and promotion and relegation at other levels varies between different state systems.
The Football League First Division is a former division of The Football League, now known as the English Football League. Between 1888 and 1992 it was the top-level division in the English football league system. Following the creation of the FA Premier League it was a second-level division. In 2004 it was rebranded as the Football League Championship, and in 2016 adopted its current name of EFL Championship.
