National League (division)


The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. While all of the clubs in the top four divisions of English football are professional, the National League has a mixture of professional and semi-professional clubs. The National League is the lowest division in the English football pyramid organised on a nationwide basis. Formerly the Conference National, the league was renamed the National League from the 2015–16 season.

History

The league was formed as the Alliance Premier League in 1979, coming into force for the 1979–80 season. The league drew its clubs from the Northern Premier League and the Southern League.
It greatly improved the quality of football at this lower level, as well as improving the financial status of the top clubs. This was reflected in 1986–87, when the Football League began accepting direct promotion and relegation between the Conference and the bottom division of the Football League, which at that time was known as the Football League Fourth Division and is now EFL League Two. The first team to be promoted by this method was Scarborough, and the first team relegated was Lincoln City, who regained their Football League status a year later as Conference champions.
Since 2002–03, the league has been granted a second promotion place, with a play-off deciding who joins the champions in League Two. Previously, no promotion from the Conference would occur if the winners did not have adequate stadium facilities. As of the start of the 2002–03 season, if a club achieves the automatic promotion or the play-off places but does not have an adequate stadium, their place will be re-allocated to the next highest placed club that has the required facilities.
In 2004–05, the Conference increased its size by adding two lower divisions, the Conference North and Conference South respectively, with the original division being renamed Conference National. For the 2006–07 season, the Conference National expanded from 22 to 24 teams by promoting four teams while relegating two teams and introduced a "four up and four down" system between itself and the Conference North and Conference South.

Sponsorship

The league's first sponsor was Gola, which sponsored it during the 1984–85 and 1985–86 seasons. When Gola's sponsorship ceased, carmaker Vauxhall Motors—then the British subsidiary of General Motors—took over and sponsored the league until the end of the 1997–98 season.
The 1998–99 Conference campaign began without sponsors for the Conference, but just before the end of the season a sponsorship was agreed with Nationwide Building Society. This lasted until the end of the 2006–07 season, after which Blue Square took over. This would also prompt the leagues being renamed, with the Conference National becoming the Blue Square Premier, the Conference North becoming Blue Square North and the Conference South becoming Blue Square South. In April 2010, Blue Square announced a further three-year sponsorship deal. From the start of the 2010–11 season the divisions were renamed, with the addition of the word "Bet" after "Blue Square".
In July 2013 the Conference agreed a sponsorship deal with online payment firm Skrill. This lasted for only one year and the following July the Conference announced a brand-new three-year deal with Vanarama, later extended by two more years.
In 2015, the Football Conference was renamed the National League. The top division was also officially renamed the National League and the lower divisions renamed as National League North and National League South. In January 2019 the League signed a three-year deal with Motorama, Vanarama's sister company. Because of the new sponsorship, the three divisions will be known as the Motorama National League, Motorama National League North and Motorama National League South.

Media coverage

In August 2006 Setanta Sports signed a five-year deal with the Conference. Under the deal, Setanta Sports started showing live matches in the 2007–08 season, with 79 live matches each season. Included in the deal were the annual play-off matches as well as the Conference League Cup, a cup competition for the three Football Conference divisions. Setanta showed two live matches a week, with one on Thursday evening and one at the weekend.
In Australia the Conference National was broadcast by Setanta Sports Australia. Setanta Sports suffered financial problems and ceased broadcasting in the United Kingdom on 23 June 2009. Sky Sports broadcast the Conference play-off final 2010 at Wembley Stadium.
On 19 August 2010, Premier Sports announced that it bought the live and exclusive UK television rights to 30 matches per season from the Conference Premier for a total of three seasons. The 30 matches selected for broadcast included all five Conference Premier play-offs. The deal with the Football Conference was a revenue sharing arrangement whereby clubs received 50% of revenue from subscriptions, on top of the normal rights fee paid by the broadcaster, once the costs of production were met. The Conference also earned 50% from all internet revenue associated with the deal and allow them to retain advertising rights allied to those adverts shown with their matches. During the 2010–11 season, Premier Sports failed to attract enough viewers to its Conference football broadcasts to share any revenue with the clubs beyond the £5,000 broadcast fee paid to home clubs and £1,000 to away clubs.
In July 2013, BT Sport announced a two-year deal to broadcast 30 live games per season including all five play-off matches. In 2015 the National League announced that it renewed a three-year deal with BT Sport.

2019–20 clubs

The following 24 clubs compete in the National League during the 2019–20 season.

ClubFinishing position last seasonLocationStadiumCapacity
Aldershot Town21stAldershotRecreation Ground7,200
Barnet13thLondon The Hive Stadium6,418
Barrow11thBarrow-in-FurnessHolker Street5,045
Boreham Wood20thBorehamwoodMeadow Park4,502
Bromley12thLondon Hayes Lane5,300
Chesterfield15thChesterfieldProact Stadium10,504
Chorley2nd in National League North ChorleyVictory Park4,100
Dagenham & Redbridge18thLondon Victoria Road6,078
Dover Athletic14thDoverCrabble Athletic Ground5,745
Eastleigh7thEastleighTen Acres5,250
Ebbsfleet United8thNorthfleetStonebridge Road4,500
Fylde5thWeshamMill Farm6,000
Halifax Town16thHalifaxThe Shay14,061
Harrogate Town6thHarrogateWetherby Road3,800
Hartlepool United16thHartlepoolVictoria Park7,856
Maidenhead United19thMaidenheadYork Road4,000
Notts County23rd in League Two NottinghamMeadow Lane19,588
Solihull Moors2ndSolihullDamson Park3,050
Stockport County1st in National League North StockportEdgeley Park10,852
Sutton United10thLondon Gander Green Lane5,013
Torquay United1st in National League South TorquayPlainmoor6,500
Woking2nd in National League South WokingKingfield Stadium6,036
Wrexham4thWrexhamRacecourse Ground10,771
Yeovil Town24th in League Two YeovilHuish Park9,566

Past winners

Numbers in parentheses indicate wins up to that date.
SeasonWinnerPlayoff Winner
1979–80Altrincham
1980–81Altrincham
1981–82Runcorn
1982–83Enfield
1983–84Maidstone United
1984–85Wealdstone
1985–86Enfield
1986–87Scarborough
1987–88Lincoln City
1988–89Maidstone United
1989–90Darlington
1990–91Barnet
1991–92Colchester United
1992–93Wycombe Wanderers
1993–94Kidderminster Harriers
1994–95Macclesfield Town
1995–96Stevenage Borough
1996–97Macclesfield Town
1997–98Halifax Town
1998–99Cheltenham Town
1999–2000Kidderminster Harriers
2000–01Rushden & Diamonds
2001–02Boston United
2002–03Yeovil TownDoncaster Rovers
2003–04Chester CityShrewsbury Town
2004–05Barnet Carlisle United
2005–06Accrington StanleyHereford United
2006–07Dagenham & RedbridgeMorecambe
2007–08Aldershot TownExeter City
2008–09Burton AlbionTorquay United
2009–10Stevenage Borough Oxford United
2010–11Crawley TownAFC Wimbledon
2011–12Fleetwood TownYork City
2012–13Mansfield TownNewport County
2013–14Luton TownCambridge United
2014–15Barnet Bristol Rovers
2015–16Cheltenham Town Grimsby Town
2016–17Lincoln City Forest Green Rovers
2017–18Macclesfield Town Tranmere Rovers
2018–19Leyton OrientSalford City
2019–20Barrow TBC

Records