NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Welsh football league system

The Welsh football league system (or pyramid) is a series of football leagues with regular promotion and relegation between them. A league system is a hierarchy of leagues in a sport that teams can be promoted or relegated between, depending on finishing positions or playoffs. ... Football (soccer) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

Structure of Welsh football

At the top is the League of Wales, which is the only national league in Wales. Below it is the second tier of leagues, each covering roughly half the country. The south of the country is covered by the Welsh Football League while the north and centre of the country is covered by the Cymru Alliance. The champions of each of these leagues can be promoted to the League of Wales, subject to acceptable ground facilities, and if the champions cannot meet the criteria the runner-up team may be considered. The Welsh Premiership is the national football league for Wales and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. ... The Welsh Football League is a club football league in Wales. ... The Cymru Alliance (currently the Huws Gray Fitlock Cymru Alliance, for sponsorship reasons) is a football league and forms the second level of the Welsh football league system in north and central Wales. ...

Second and lower tier leagues (North Wales)

In the north of the country the Cymru Alliance has only one division, and has a feeder league structure of its own with three regional leagues feeding it -- the Mid Wales League (covering Brecknockshire, Radnorshire, Montgomershire and Cardiganshire) the Welsh Alliance League (covering most of the old counties of Clwyd and Gwynedd) and the Welsh National League (Wrexham Area) (covering the small region around Wrexham). Again, the champions or runners-up of these leagues can be promoted into the Cymru Alliance, given suitable grounds. The Mid Wales League is a football league in Wales, consisting of 16 teams. ... The Welsh Alliance Football League (currently the Pentraeth Honda Welsh Alliance Football League, for sponsorship reasons) is a football league and forms the third level of the Welsh football league system in North Wales. ... The Welsh National League (Wrexham Area) is a football league in Wales and forms level 3 of the Welsh football league system in Denbighshire, Flintshire and Gwynnedd. ...

Below these third tier leagues are even more localised leagues: in Central Wales there are four leagues feeding into the Mid Wales League (covering Cardiganshire, Montgomeryshire, Mid Wales South, and Aberystwyth areas respectively), while below the Welsh Alliance there are the Gwynedd League and the Clwyd League and these even have feeder leagues of their own such as the Anglesey League. The Welsh National League (Wrexham Area) has three lower divisions of its own but no feeder leagues below it. The Mid Wales League is a football league in Wales, consisting of 16 teams. ... The Gwynedd Football League (currently the Silver Star Holidays Gwynedd Football League, for sponsorship reasons) is a football league and is equivalent to the fourth level of the Welsh football league system in North Wales. ... The Anglesey Football League (currently the Stena Line Anglesey Football League, for sponsorship reasons) is a football league and is equivalent to the fifth level of the Welsh football league system in North Wales. ...

Second and lower tier leagues (South Wales)

In the south, the Welsh Football League has three divisions all covering the whole of the South Wales geographical area, and it isn't until the fifth tier of the pyramid that local leagues appear. Promotion to, and relegation from the Welsh League is structured, as in the north, on three regional football associations (Gwent FA, South Wales FA, and West Wales FA). Each can send one promoted team into the Welsh Football League. This is straightforward enough in Gwent, where there is one senior league, the Gwent County League, whose champions (or runners-up) are eligible, if they satisfy Welsh Football League criteria. (Below the three divisions of the Gwent County, there are local leagues in Newport, East Gwent, Central Gwent and North Gwent....) The Gwent County League is a football league in South Wales, consisting of 3 divisions, named Divisions One, Two and Three. ...

The South Wales FA area is more complicated however, as this region has managed to have two senior leagues of identical status covering the same area, each with two divisions -- the South Wales Senior League and the South Wales Amateur League -- often the champions of these leagues have to play off for the single promotion place to the Welsh Football League! Below these two leagues are local leagues in the towns and cities of South Wales, the champions of which can confusingly be promoted into either of the higher leagues.

The West Wales FA area is the only one not to have set up a senior league in its area - this means that there are four local leagues (Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Swansea and Neath) with all their champions potentially having to play off for the one available promotion place. However as few West Wales clubs can face the prospect of the travelling implications of moving up to the Welsh Football League, this four-way play-off idea is theory rather than practice.

Current system

For each division, its official name, sponsorship name (which often differs radically from its official name) and number of clubs is given:

See also

This is a list of football clubs located in Wales and the leagues and divisions they play in. ... The British Football League is a proposed association football league in the United Kingdom that would incorporate clubs from across the Home Nations. ...

External links

Category: Football in Wales Football (soccer) is the United Kingdoms most popular sport. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_England_(bordered). ... First international Scotland 0 - 0 England (Partick, Scotland; 30 November 1872) Largest win Ireland 0 - 13 England (Belfast, Ireland; 18 February 1882) Worst defeat Hungary 7 - 1 England (Budapest, Hungary; 23 May 1954) World Cup Appearances 12 (First in 1950) Best result Winners, 1966 European Championship Appearances 7 (First in... Image File history File links Flag_of_Northern_Ireland_(bordered). ... First international Ireland 0 - 13 England (Belfast, Ireland; 18 February 1882) Largest win Ireland (IFA) 7 - 0 Wales (Belfast, Northern Ireland; 1 February 1930) Worst defeat Ireland 0 - 13 England (Belfast, Ireland; 18 February 1882) World Cup Appearances 3 (First in 1958) Best result Quarterfinals, 1958 European Championship Appearances none... Image File history File links Flag_of_Scotland. ... First international Scotland 0 - 0 England (Partick, Scotland; 30 November 1872) Largest win Scotland 11 - 0 Ireland (Glasgow, Scotland; 23 February 1901) Worst defeat Uruguay 7 - 0 Scotland (Basel, Switzerland; 19 June 1954) World Cup Appearances 8 (First in 1954) Best result Round 1, all European Championship Appearances 2 (First... Image File history File links Flag_of_Wales_(bordered). ... First international Scotland 4 - 0 Wales (Glasgow, Scotland; 26 March 1876) Largest win Wales 11 - 0 Ireland (Wrexham, Wales; 3 March 1888) Worst defeat Scotland 9 - 0 Wales (Glasgow, Scotland; 23 March 1878) World Cup Appearances 1 (First in 1958) Best result Quarter-finals, 1958 European Championship Appearances none (First... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... The British Home Championship (also known as the Home International Championship) was an annual football competition contested between the UKs four national teams, England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland (Northern Ireland after 1921-1922), from the 1883-1884 season until the 1983-1984 season. ... The Rous Cup was a short-lived football competition in the late-1980s, contested between England, Scotland and, in later years, a guest team from South America. ... The Coronation Cup was a one-off football tournament to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 between four English and four Scottish clubs held in Glasgow in May 1953. ... The Texaco Cup was a cup competition that involved clubs from the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland that had not qualified for European competions. ... The Anglo-Scottish Cup was a tournament arranged for eight of the best teams in English and Scottish football leagues during the summer for several years during the 1970s. ... Football is the unofficial national sport of England, and as such has an important place within English national life. ... Football is the most popular sport in Scotland and is the countrys national sport. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the organising body for the sport of football (soccer) in Northern Ireland. ...

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