Although the Football Association abandoned a formal definition of "amateur" in the early 1970s, the vast majority of clubs still effectively play as amateurs, with no financial reward. The Amateur Football Alliance is the largest organised of such competitions, being particularly strong in the London area.
Smaller-sided versions of the game such as five-a-side and Futsal are becoming increasingly popular too. These are often played informally, but there are many competitive small-sided leagues running across the country.
Reserve leagues
Many teams operate reserve teams in separate leagues; in some lower levels of the pyramid, reserve teams play against first teams. The top division for reserve teams of professional clubs is the FA Premier Reserve League. Beneath that operate the Central League, and the Football Combination, which cover the north and south of England respectively.
Youth leagues
Many club sides have Academy (youth) teams; the top level of youth football is the FA Premier Academy League, consisting of Premier League and Football League club's Academy sides, which operates at U18 and U16 levels (although the latter is non-competitive). The next level below the Academy League is the Football League Youth Alliance, in which the remainder of Football League clubs field their youth teams. There is also the FA Youth Cup, a nationwide cup competition for U18 teams.
Beyond organised football
Football in England is not just a spectator sport or the preserve of official leagues and clubs, but a sport attracting mass participation at many different levels and in a wide variety of forms, including Sunday league football and five-a-side football.
Cup competitions
The two most important cup competitions in England are the FA Cup and the League Cup, but several other national cups are targeted at clubs at different levels.
The FA Cup, first held in 1872, is the oldest and most respected national cup competition in the world. It is open to around 600 clubs in the higher levels of the pyramid. The FA Community Shield is played each August as a one-off match between the FA Cup winners and the Premier League champions.
The League Cup (currently known as the Carling Cup) is England's second major cup competition, and is contested by the 92 Premier League and Football League clubs. The winners of both main cup competitions qualify for the UEFA Cup, and both are considered as important tournaments.
The Football League Trophy is a competition for clubs in Football League One and Football League Two.
The FA Trophy is open to clubs in the top four levels of the National League System, and the FA Vase is for clubs in the next couple of levels below that. These competitions replaced the FA Amateur Cup, which was the leading competition for amateur non-League teams for many years. Representative teams from leagues lower still, mostly at county level, contest the FA National League System Cup, and the FA Sunday Cup is for Sunday league football teams.
Defunct national cup competitions include:
Qualification for European competitions
Clubs who do well in either the Premier League, FA Cup or League Cup can qualify to compete in various UEFA-organised Europe-wide competitions in the following season (as well as continuing to play in domestic competitions). The number of English clubs playing in Europe in any one season can range from seven to eleven, depending on the qualification scenarios. Currently, England is awarded the following places in European competitions:
| Competition | Who Qualifies | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| UEFA Champions League | Club finishing 1st in the Premier League | |
| Club finishing 2nd in the Premier League | ||
| UEFA Champions League Third Qualifying Round | Club finishing 3rd in the Premier League | |
| Club finishing 4th in the Premier League | Ordinarily, the fourth-place Premier League club automatically earns a spot in the Champions League qualifying rounds. However, a fourth-place performance will not grant the fourth-place finisher a place in the Champions League competition should another, below-fourth-place-finishing Premier League club have also been the previous season's Champions League winner. This is because winners of the Champions League competition earn automatic qualification for the following season's Champions League event, regardless of their performance in their club league. Therefore, in such a case, the fourth-place Premier League club would qualify only for the UEFA Cup. | |
| UEFA Cup | Club finishing 5th in the Premier League | If the fifth-placed club has already qualified for Europe through the FA Cup or League Cup, then the next-highest Premier League finishers get this place |
| FA Cup winners | If the FA Cup winners have already qualified for Europe by a high Premier League finish or by winning the League Cup, then the FA Cup runners-up receive this place; if the runners-up have also already qualified, then the highest-finishing Premier League club to have not qualified for Europe gets the place | |
| League Cup winners | If the League Cup winners have already qualified for Europe by a high Premier League finish, then the next highest-finishing Premier League club gets this place | |
| Any English club that wins the UEFA Cup and has not already qualified for the Champions League or UEFA Cup | By the UEFA Cup regulations (Regulation 1.07), this club's entry into the UEFA Cup will not be at the expense of any other entries to which its national federation is entitled | |
| UEFA Cup First Qualifying Round | FA Premier League club with the best UEFA Fair Play ranking that has not already qualified for Europe, but only if England has the best fair play ranking or has a fair play score of above 8 and is one of the two countries drawn out of the hat | |
| UEFA Intertoto Cup Final Round | Club finishing highest in the Premier League to have entered and not qualified for any other European competition | If the club finishes lower than four places below the last club to have qualified for the UEFA on the basis on league position, this place will be reallocated to another country; conversely, if another country does not take up their Intertoto Cup allocation, England may receive two places in the competition |
In addition, once in a European competition, it becomes possible to qualify for others:
- All the winners of the Champions League Third Qualifying Round go forward to the Champions League
- All the losers of the Champions League Third Qualifying Round go forward to the UEFA Cup
- All the winners of the UEFA Cup Second Qualifying Round go forward to the UEFA Cup
- All the winners in the Intertoto Cup Final Round go forward to the UEFA Cup Second Qualifying Round
- Any clubs playing in the Champions League that finish third in the group stage go into the UEFA Cup Third Round
The England national team
Women's football
The first recorded women's football match in England was more than 100 years ago but it is only in recent years that women's football has begun to receive some serious attention, in the form of televised matches (such as the FA Women's Cup final and matches of the national team), international games being held at larger stadia and, to a lesser extent, the comedy film Bend It Like Beckham.
Burton Brewers' 57-0 loss against Willenhall Town on March 4, 2001 in the West Midland Regional Women's Football League, Division One North may be a British record for the biggest defeat in a football match
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