English football pyramid explained: How promotion, relegation and cup competitions work | OneFootball

Highlights

The English football pyramid is famous around the world for its depth and history. Ranging from the Premier League to regional football in Step 11, it symbolises England's love for football. Whatever the level and whatever the skill, people will flock from their homes to watch the beautiful game.

In the National League, the average attendance is over 2500, whilst even some teams in Step Seven - mainly Dulwich Hamlet - average over 2000 each week. It's a very rare sight in football, yet England has the love and passion for the game to replicate it each week.

The beauty of the football pyramid is symbolised through promotion and relegation. In theory, nothing is stopping a team from the Isthmian League Premier Division to the Premier League. Imagine Potters Bar against Manchester United at Old Trafford! The chances of this ever happening are - of course - incredibly slim, but it provides hope and belief to fans that watch 'hoof ball' on a cold, winter Tuesday night.

This article outlines how the pyramid works, how relegation and promotion are decided and, finally, how places in European football are confirmed.

Premier League

The richest league in the world

The Premier League is the pinnacle of English football. 20 teams compete with the luxury of an obscene amount of TV money, combined with fans filling stadiums every week. Founded in 1992 - a change of name from the old First Division - teams play each other twice, totalling 38 matches across the season. Playing each other home and away, the bottom three are relegated to the Championship whilst the top five qualify for Europe - often the top seven, as explained later.

It's the most-watched league in the world with the world's best footballers gracing the pitches, most notably Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne.

Moving down the pyramid, the English Football League is slightly more complex. Comprised of the Championship, League One and League Two, 72 teams compete across the three leagues. With 24 teams in each league, clubs play 46 matches - each side home and away. The Championship - the second tier of English football - has a pathway into the Premier League or via the play-offs. The play-offs are used in every EFL league with teams from 3rd-6th in the Championship and League One - 4th-7th in League Two - battling it out for the final promotion spot.

Teams can struggle financially whilst trying to break into the promised land of the Premier League, epitomised by Bolton's, Bury's and Wigan's issues in recent years.

Non-League

Most clubs are semi-professional

Consisting of every team in England from tier five (the National League) and below, non-league football is famous for being an entirely different style to the luxury of the Premier League. Barring teams in the National League and a couple in tier six (National League North/South), each club is semi-professional.

Their players will go from being a plumber on weekdays to scoring goals at the weekend. It's part of the beauty of non-league football, especially when they face Premier League opposition in cup competitions. In each league, only the winners get automatically promoted; the only other way to secure promotion is via the play-offs, often considered the most tense and challenging football in the world.

Relegation and promotion

As outlined below, promotion is decided by either winning the title or winning the play-offs. The further you go down in the football pyramid, the more complicated it gets. Once leagues become regionalised, at tier six/seven, teams can potentially switch from a northern league to a southern league to balance the teams out.

This can get more complicated in tier nine and lower when teams can be promoted or relegated to balance out the numbers entirely; a common theme if a club is liquidated.

Integration into European competitions

Top four for the Champions League

In the Premier League, there are seven spaces for teams to qualify for European football.

The top four qualify for the Champions League, whilst the fifth-placed team qualify for the UEFA Europa League. The FA Cup winners also qualify for the Europa League, whilst the Carabao Cup winners qualify for the Conference League. However, in the strong possibility that two teams in the top five win the cups, then they are given to sixth and seventh in the Premier League.

There can be more than seven English teams competing in Europe if a team wins a European competition whilst finishing outside the top seven, as demonstrated by West Ham in the 2022/2023 season.

Integration into cup competitions

Getty

The FA Cup is one of the most prestigious cup competitions in the world. It is the oldest national football tournament in the world, dating back to 1872. It features every team in the footballing pyramid from a section of Step 10, with leagues entering the competition at different sections, as outlined below.

Meanwhile, the Carabao Cup involves the top four leagues (the Premier League and EFL). Teams in the EFL enter the competition in the first round, Premier League teams without European football enter the second round and teams with European football enter the third round, as outlined below.

How the English football pyramid was founded

The Football League was founded in 1888 by Aston Villa director William McGregor, originally with twelve member clubs. The 12 founder members of the Football League were: Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

It was very different to modern-day football. Penalties were only introduced in 1891, whilst goal nets were not used in it's first year. However, gradually it grew. The Second Division was formed in 1892 when the Football League had 28 members. 1920 saw the introduction of the Third Division with expansion to 66 clubs, whilst, by 1950, there were 92 clubs and four leagues in the EFL.

Non-league football co-existed with the Football League; teams could apply to join the Football League via elections if they wanted to. It was only until the Alliance League was introduced in 1979 that there started to be a clear structure between the two systems.

Significant changes over time

As mentioned previously, the English Football League grew over time. It started as 12 members in 1888 and ended up being 92 members by 1950. The most major change came in 1992. Clubs in the Football League first division decided to break away from the Football League and form the Premier League. This was due to an increase in TV money and the system has not changed since. As outlined below, here is every significant change since the Football League was founded.