Northern Premier League Premier Division

Countries	England
Founded	1968
Number of teams	21
Promotion to	Conference North
Relegation to	NPL Division One North NPL Division One South
Levels on pyramid	Level 7
Domestic cup(s)	FA Cup FA Trophy Challenge Cup
Current champions	Eastwood Town (2008–09)

The Premier Division is the top division of the Northern Premier League. It is at Step 3 (or level 7) of the National League System, placing it six divisions below the FA Premier League. For sponsorship reasons, it is often referred to as the UniBond League Premier Division.

The league was founded in 1968, as the northern equivalent of the Southern League, being the highest level non-League division below The Football League. In 1979, upon the creation of the Alliance Premier League, it became a feeder league and fell down one 'level' in the English football league system. Since then, its prestige has fallen further: there are now two levels between it and the Football League.

The division is at the same level as the Premier Divisions of the Southern League and the Isthmian League. At the end of each season two clubs are promoted to the Conference North: the league champions, and the winners of a play-off competition held between the 2nd through 5th placed clubs. The four lowest placed teams are relegated to the Northern Premier League Division One North or Northern Premier League Division One South, to be replaced by four promoted teams.

All clubs in the Premier Division also compete in the Northern Challenge Cup knockout competition, but not in the other two NPL cup competitions (the President's Cup and the Chairman's Cup) which in 2007–2008 were only open to teams in the lower divisions.

[edit] Current clubs 2009-10

^[1]

[edit] Past winners

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Current league tables