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Central League (England)

Field	Value
name	The Central League
country
founded	1911
divisions	1
teams	10
champions	Derby County
season	2024–25

The Central League is a football league for reserve teams, primarily from the English Football League.

The league was formed in 1911 and in its early years consisted of a mix of first teams and reserve teams from the North and the Midlands. However, when the Football League Third Division North was created in 1921, all the first teams in the Central League became founder members.

Since then, the league has been for reserve teams only, and eventually expanded to include virtually every professional team in the South, Midlands and North of England. Southern teams used to play in the Football Combination. In recent years, the Premier Reserve League was created for reserve sides of Premier League teams, and so the Central League's membership has been reduced.

From the 2006/07 English football season the FA Premier Reserve League was restricted to the reserve sides of FA Premier League clubs. This meant that the reserve sides of Championship clubs rejoined the Central League.

Teams are not promoted to the Premier Reserve League based on their final league position, but on the league position of their respective clubs' senior teams. If the senior team is promoted to the Premier League, then the reserve team is promoted to the Premier Reserve League and replaced by the reserve teams of the relegated clubs.

It was announced on 31 December 2013 that the Central League secured a sponsorship arrangement with Final Third Sports Media, and was known as the 'Final Third Development League' with immediate effect for two seasons.

On 11 June 2014, it was announced that the league would expand to become a national competition by running a division in the south of the country for the 2014/15 season for the first time. The 2021–22 season was Northern only again, and only featured six teams, though the Central League Cup remained national. Wrexham joined for the 2022–23 season, despite not being in the EFL. Twelve teams entered in 2023–24, with them split into two leagues of six.

Champions

1911–2025

1955–56	Manchester United

1990–91	Sheffield Wednesday

2024–25	Derby County

- Three divisions, overall winner decided after a series of play-offs. ^ - Three divisions, overall winner is the team with the best points per game ratio. ~ - Two divisions, overall winner is the team with the best points per game ratio.

- Four divisions, overall winner is the team with the best points per game ratio.

Championships by club

P	Club	Number of Wins
1	Liverpool	16
2	Manchester United	9
3	West Bromwich Albion	7
4	Wolverhampton Wanderers	6
5	Derby County	4
	Everton	4
	Huddersfield Town	4
	Manchester City	4
	Nottingham Forest	4
	Sheffield Wednesday	4
11	Aston Villa	3
	Burnley	3
	Hull City	3
	Preston North End	3
	Sheffield United	3
16	Blackburn Rovers	2
	Blackpool	2
	Bolton Wanderers	2
	Leeds United	2
	Stoke City	2
	Shrewsbury Town	2
22	Accrington Stanley	1
	Doncaster Rovers	1
	Lincoln City	1
	Middlesbrough	1
	Milton Keynes Dons	1
	Newcastle United	1
	Notts County	1
	Port Vale	1
	Sunderland	1
	Tranmere Rovers	1
	Walsall	1
	Wrexham	1

Central League Cup

Since 1996 the league has also operated a cup competition – The Central League Cup.

Winners

Season	Winners
1996–97	Stoke City
1997–98	Sheffield United
1998–99	Tranmere Rovers
1999–00
2000–01	Sheffield United
2001–02	Doncaster Rovers
2002–03	Hull City
2003–04	Sheffield Wednesday
2004–05	Manchester United
2005–06	Shrewsbury Town
2006–07	Lincoln City
2007–08	Morecambe
2008–09	Sunderland
2009–10	Leicester City
2010–11	Sunderland
2011–12	(not completed)
2012–13	Gateshead
2013–14	Wigan Athletic
2014–15	Middlesbrough
2015–16	North: Burnley
South: Southend United
2016–17	North: Wigan Athletic
South: Bristol City
2017–18	North: Mansfield Town
South: Southend United
2018–19	Bournemouth
2019–20	(not completed)
2020–21	Bournemouth
2021–22	(not completed)
2022–23	Blackpool
2023–24	Burnley
2024–25	Mansfield Town

References

(31 December 2013). "Central League agree partnership with Final Third". The Football League.
(11 June 2014). "Final Third Development League expands to become a national competition". The Football League.
"Sunderland 'til I Die - Out now".
"Homepage".
(7 May 2024). "Under-21s Report: Derby County 2–3 Burnley". Derby County F.C..

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

the-central-league reserve-football-leagues-in-england

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