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Non-league football in England: how the football pyramid works

Below the 92 professional clubs, thousands of English clubs play non-league football. What it is, how promotion works and why it is worth a visit.

By Dutch Silkmen · 2 October 2026

When people in the Netherlands say "English football", they usually mean the Premier League. Yet that is only the tip. Below the twenty Premier League clubs and the 72 clubs of the Football League lies a pyramid with thousands of clubs, and much of the best football in England is played there.

That world is called non-league. Macclesfield FC plays in it too, and that is why we explain here how it works.

What non-league means

The top four levels of English football are the Premier League and the three divisions of the English Football League (EFL). Together that is 92 clubs, which is why the English often simply talk about "the 92". Everything below is called non-league: literally, outside the League.

Non-league is not the same as amateur football. At the highest levels many players are full-time or semi-professional and thousands of people come to watch. But the lower you go, the more players have an ordinary job alongside football.

How the pyramid is built

Directly below League Two starts the National League System, six levels deep. At the top is the National League, the fifth level in England. Below it the pyramid splits into two divisions of 24 clubs each: the National League North and the National League South. That is where Macclesfield play now, at the sixth level.

The lower you go, the more regional leagues exist side by side. At the seventh level there are already four, including the Northern Premier League Premier Division, and at the eighth level even more. In total, according to Wikipedia, more than 7,000 teams from nearly 5,300 clubs play in the pyramid (source: Wikipedia, English football league system).

An example makes it tangible. Macclesfield FC started in 2021 at the ninth level, in the North West Counties League, and climbed to the sixth in four seasons. The full story is in Macclesfield FC: from liquidation to the biggest shock in FA Cup history.

Promotion and relegation

Unlike the big American leagues, the whole pyramid is connected. Win the league and you go up. Finish bottom and you go down. In theory a village club can rise all the way to the Premier League this way.

In the National League North and South two clubs are promoted each season: the champions and the play-off winners. Two also go up from the National League to League Two. That is why the final rounds in non-league are often more exciting than in the Premier League, because almost every club is still playing for something.

What a non-league match looks like

The first thing you notice is how close everything is. Many grounds have standing areas along the pitch, you hear the managers shouting, and after the game you sometimes find yourself next to a player in the bar. Moss Rose, Macclesfield's ground, holds 5,350 people, most of them standing.

The second is the price. At Macclesfield a league ticket costs £18 for a terrace place and £19 for a seat this season, as we explain in a football weekend in England without Premier League prices. For that money you would not even get into the stadium at the big clubs.

There are less romantic sides too. A non-league ground is small, sometimes a little dated, and a rainy Tuesday night in November remains a rainy Tuesday night. If you are looking for comfort, the Premier League suits you better.

Groundhopping: collecting grounds

For some visitors it is not about one club, but about as many grounds as possible. That is called groundhopping. Some groundhoppers try to visit all 92 grounds of the professional clubs, others look for the smallest and strangest pitches.

Non-league is ideal for that. There are hundreds of grounds, they are sometimes within walking distance of each other, and on a winter Saturday afternoon the choice is huge. Around Manchester alone you can fill a weekend with matches at different levels, and Macclesfield is a short train ride away.

Going to watch yourself

Look at the fixtures first, because in non-league matches are moved more often than you might think, for example because of cup ties or a waterlogged pitch. At most clubs you buy your ticket through the club's own website. For big matches, such as Macclesfield's cup ties against Crystal Palace and Brentford, the ground was full. So for a match like that, do not wait until the day itself.

If you cannot work it out, for example with paying from the Netherlands or because you are travelling as a group, you can also have it arranged through The Football Travel Agency. That company has the same owner as this site.

For Macclesfield, the current fixtures and table are on this site. And once you have seen non-league up close, you often look differently at that one big stadium on television.

Sources