The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English football league system.

Geographically, the league covers all of Northern England and the northern, central areas of the Midlands, and western parts of East Anglia. Originally a single-division competition, a second division was added in 1987: Division One, and in 2007 a third was added when Division One split into two geographic sections - Division One North and Division One South. In 2018 Division One was re-aligned as East and West Divisions, then North West and South East in 2019. In 2021, the FA restructured the non-League football pyramid and created Division One East, West, and Midlands.

Successful teams at the top of the NPL Premier Division are promoted to level 6 of the pyramid (either National League North or National League South), and at the bottom end of the competition, teams are relegated down to level 9, where several regional feeder leagues promote clubs into the league.

History

The Northern Premier League (NPL) was founded in 1968, as the northern equivalent of the Southern League, decades after the other two leagues at what is now the seventh tier of the English football league system, the Isthmian League and the Southern League. At that time they were the highest level non-League division below the English Football League, the same level as the other league in Northern England, the Northern League.^[1]

Over the next two decades, the NPL successfully displaced its older rival to become the pre-eminent regional competition in Northern England, with the Northern League eventually forced to accept status as feeder league to the NPL. In 1979, upon the creation of the Alliance Premier League (which later became the Conference and is now the National League), the NPL became a feeder league and fell down one level in the English football league system, and with the then-Conference's addition of regional divisions in 2004 the NPL was demoted by a further tier and there are now two levels between it and the English Football League.

From 1992–93 to 1994–95 the league's Division One included two non-English clubs, Caernarfon Town from Wales and Gretna from Scotland, who later joined their countries' league systems. Colwyn Bay, Bangor City, Newtown, and Rhyl have also played in the league.

In 2018, the NPL's member clubs voted 37–27, with one abstention and three clubs' absence, to split Step 4 (level 8) divisions from east to west starting from the 2018–19 season,^[2] and one year later, the league published its successful bid to add another division at Step 4 initially in 2020, further altering Division One into northwest and southeast for travel reasons.^[3][4] After the Football Association (FA) deferred its implementation of changes to the NLS, the NPL's additional division was created in 2021 instead.^[5]

• 1968–69 to 1986–87: Premier Division
• 1987–88 to 2006–07: Premier Division, Division One
• 2007–08 to 2017–18: Premier Division, Division One North, Division One South
• 2018–19: Premier Division, Division One East, Division One West
• 2019–20 to 2020–21: Premier Division, Division One North West, Division One South East
• 2021–22 onwards: Premier Division, Division One West, Division One East, Division One Midlands

Sponsorship

Owing to title sponsorship deals, the league has been billed under various names, including a sixteen-year spell as the Unibond League, the longest such deal in world football.^[6] When this deal ended in 2010, a new deal was announced which saw the competition billed as the Evo-Stik League^[7][8][9] until the 2017–18 season.^[10] The League announced on 8 July 2019 that a two-year deal for seasons 2019-20 and 2020-21 had been agreed with new sponsor BetVictor.^[11] This sponsorship agreement with BetVictor was subsequently terminated early in April 2020 with a replacement, Entain's Pitching In, announced as the next sponsor for 2020–21. At the time of announcement, Entain went by its former name GVC Holdings. Under this partnership, the NPL is marketed as one of the three Trident Leagues, alongside its Isthmian and Southern counterparts.^[12]

Structure

Since 2021, the NPL has had four divisions: the Premier Division, Division One Midlands, Division One West and Division One East. Prior to 2007 there was just a single Division One,^[1] and from 2018 to 2021 Division One was arranged on a north-south, then east-west basis.

The Premier Division has 22 clubs, with the champions promoted to the National League along with the winners of a playoff between the second to fifth place clubs. Theoretically, clubs from the NPL could be promoted into either of the National League's two regional divisions, but the geographical footprint of the NPL has never overlapped with that of the National League South, so (as of 2015) all promoted NPL clubs have been placed in the National League North. The bottom three teams are usually relegated to Division One North West or South East, but NPL Premier Division clubs in the most southerly locales could be relegated to the Southern League Division One Central.

From the 2019–20 season, Division One North West and South East have 20 clubs each. In each division, the champions are promoted to the Premier Division, along with the winners of a divisional playoff. The bottom two clubs in each division are relegated to one of the feeder leagues below provided there are enough suitable promotion candidates from those leagues. The champions of the three feeder leagues covering the NPL area are promoted each season. These are the Northern League, the Northern Counties East League, and the North West Counties League. Clubs in the northern extremities of the Midland League and the United Counties League may also be promoted to the Northern Premier League.

Should there be an unusually large or small number of clubs relegated to and/or promoted to the level of the NPL from Northern England, the National League System (NLS) Committee can order one or more of the NPL's southernmost clubs to transfer to the Southern League (or vice versa) to maintain numerical balance between the leagues.

Division One North West and South East teams receive a bye to the preliminary round of FA Cup Qualification. Premier Division teams receive a bye to the first round of Qualification.

The league currently runs one cup competition, with all member clubs competing in the League Challenge Cup. In the past, the league has run other competitions, such as the Chairman's Cup, the President's Cup and the Peter Swales Shield.

Current members

Premier Division

Ashton United Atherton Collieries Bamber Bridge Bradford (Park Avenue) FC United of Manchester Gainsborough Trinity Guiseley Hyde United Ilkeston Town Lancaster City Macclesfield Marine Marske United Matlock Town Radcliffe Morpeth Town Stafford Rangers Warrington Rylands Basford United Whitby Town Workington Worksop Town Locations of the Northern Premier League clubs by division – Premier Division
Club	Home ground	Ground capacity
Ashton United	Hurst Cross	4,250 (250 seated)
Atherton Collieries	Skuna Stadium	2,500
Bamber Bridge	Sir Tom Finney Stadium	3,000 (554 seated)
Basford United	Greenwich Avenue	1,950 (300 seated)
Bradford (Park Avenue)	Horsfall Stadium	3,500
FC United of Manchester	Broadhurst Park	4,400
Gainsborough Trinity	The Northolme	4,340 (504 seated)
Guiseley	Nethermoor Park	4,200
Hyde United	Ewen Fields	4,250 (530 seated)
Ilkeston Town	New Manor Ground	3,029
Lancaster City	Giant Axe	3,513 (513 seated)
Macclesfield	Leasing.com Stadium	4,720
Marine	Rossett Park	2,250 (400 seated)
Marske United	Mount Pleasant	2,500
Matlock Town	Causeway Lane	2,400
Morpeth Town	Craik Park	1,950 (300 seated)
Radcliffe	Neuven Stadium	4,080 (430 seated)
Stafford Rangers	Marston Road	4,000 (530 seated)
Warrington Rylands 1906	Gorsey Lane	1,950
Whitby Town	Turnbull Ground	3,500 (505 seated)
Workington	Borough Park	3,101 (500 seated)
Worksop Town	Sandy Lane	2,500 (200 seated)

Division One West

1874 Northwich Avro Bootle Chasetown City of Liverpool Clitheroe Hanley Town Hednesford Town Kidsgrove Athletic Leek Town Mossley Newcastle Town Nantwich Town Stalybridge Celtic Prescot Cables Runcorn Linnets Vauxhall Motors Trafford Widnes Witton Albion Locations of the Northern Premier League clubs by division – Division One West
Club	Home ground	Ground capacity
1874 Northwich	Townfield	1,300
Avro	Whitebank Stadium	1,500
Belper Town	Christchurch Meadow	2,000 (500 seated)
Bootle	New Bucks Park	2,000
Chasetown	The Scholars Ground	2,000
City of Liverpool	New Bucks Park	2,000
Clitheroe	Shawbridge	2,000
Hanley Town	Potteries Park	1,300
Hednesford Town	Keys Park	6,039
Kidsgrove Athletic	Hollinwood Road	2,000
Leek Town	Harrison Park	3,600 (625 seated)
Liversedge	Clayborn	2,000
Mossley	Seel Park	3,000 (200 seated)
Nantwich Town	Swansway Stadium	3,500 (300 seated)
Newcastle Town	Lyme Valley Stadium	4,000 (300 seated)
Prescot Cables	Valerie Park	2,100
Runcorn Linnets	APEC Taxis Stadium	1,600
Stalybridge Celtic	Bower Fold	6,500 (1,300 seated)
Trafford	Shawe View	1,500
Vauxhall Motors	vanEupen Arena	3,300
Widnes	Halton Stadium	13,350 (all seater stadium)
Witton Albion	Wincham Park	2,300 (600 seated)

Division One East

Ashington Belper Town Bridlington Town Brighouse Town Carlton Town Cleethorpes Town & Grimsby Borough Consett Dunston UTS Grantham Town Hebburn Town Liversedge Newton Aycliffe North Ferriby Ossett United Pontefract Collieries Sheffield Stocksbridge Park Steels Stockton Town Winterton Rangers Locations of the Northern Premier League clubs by division – Division One East
Club	Home ground	Ground capacity
Ashington	Woodhorn Lane	2,000 (250 seated)
Bridlington Town	Queensgate	3,000 (542 seated)
Brighouse Town	St Giles Road	1,350 (150 seated)
Carlton Town	Bill Stokeld Stadium	1,968 (150 seated)
Cleethorpes Town	Linden Club	1,300 (180 seated)
Consett	Belle View Stadium	3,770 (250 seated)
Dunston UTS	Wellington Road	2,500 (150 seated)
Grantham Town	South Kesteven Sports Stadium	7,500 (750 seated)
Grimsby Borough	Bradley Football Centre	1,300 (180 seated)
Hebburn Town	Hebburn Sports & Social Ground	2,000 (500 seated)
Newton Aycliffe	Securicorp Stadium	1300 (100 seated)
North Ferriby	The Dransfield Stadium	3,000 (504 seated)
Ossett United	Ingfield	1,950 (360 seated)
Pontefract Collieries	Beechnut Lane	1,500 (300 seated)
Sheffield	Home of Football Ground	2,089 (250 seated)
Stocksbridge Park Steels	Bracken Moor	3,500 (450 seated)
Stockton Town	Bishopton Road West	1,800 (200 seated)
Winterton Rangers	West Street Stadium	3,000 (300 seated)

Division One Midlands

AFC Rushden & Diamonds Anstey Nomads Bedworth Boldmere St. Michaels Cambridge City Coleshill Town Corby Town Coventry Sphinx Gresley Rovers Harborough Town Hinckley LRFC Loughborough Dynamo Lye Town Quorn Rugby Town Shepshed Dynamo Spalding United Sporting Khalsa Sutton Coldfield Town Walsall Wood Locations of the Northern Premier League clubs by division – Division One Midlands
Club	Home ground	Ground capacity
AFC Rushden & Diamonds	Hayden Road	2,000 (257 seated)
Anstey Nomads	Cropston Road	1,500 (seated 150)
Bedworth United	The Oval	3,000 (300 seated)
Boldmere St Michaels	Trevor Brown Memorial Ground	2,000 (230 seated)
Cambridge City	Westwood Road	2,000
Coleshill Town	Pack Meadow	2,000
Corby Town	Steel Park	3,893 (577 seated)
Coventry Sphinx	Sphinx Drive
Gresley Rovers	Moat Ground	2,400
Harborough Town	Bowden Park	2,000 (200 seated)
Hinckley LRFC	Leicester Road Stadium	4,329 (732 seayed)
Loughborough Dynamo	Nanpantan Sports Ground	1,500 (250 seated)
Lye Town	Lye Sports Ground	1,000
Quorn	Farley Way Stadium	1,400 (400 seated)
Rugby Town	Butlin Road	6,000 (740 seated)
Shepshed Dynamo	The Dovecote Stadium	2,500 (500 seated)
Spalding United	Sir Halley Stewart Field	3,500 (1,000 seated)
Sporting Khalsa	Noose Lane	2,250
Sutton Coldfield Town	Central Ground	2,000
Walsall Wood	Oak Park	1,000 (272 seated)

Champions

¹ The 2019–20 season was terminated on 26 March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic; the teams listed here were in first place in the standings at the time of the termination, but were not recognised as champions.

² The 2020–21 season was also terminated on 24 February 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic; the teams listed here were in first place in the standings at the time of the termination, but were not recognised as champions.

Promoted

Since the league's formation in 1968, the following clubs have won promotion to higher levels of the English football league system -

Cup competitions

League Challenge Cup

The league currently runs one cup competition, the League Challenge Cup, which is contested by every club in the league.^[13]

Finals

Defunct competitions

In the past the league has run three other cup competitions - the President's Cup, Chairman's Cup and Peter Swales Shield.^[14]

Winners