Promotion Applicants confirmed by The FA

Tue 13th January 2026 | Announcements | By Martin Fallon

The FA have confirmed the list of clubs whom have applied for promotion from the County Feeder Leagues to Step Six of the National League System NLS.  Clubs who are interested in promotion at the end of 2024-25 were required to formally apply by 31st December 2024 and are all subject to a number of stringent qualifying criteria.

The next steps for applicants are: 

1. The Football Foundation will arrange Stadium Accreditation Inspections with the applying clubs where required, leagues may be contacted to attend these as well.
2. The Football Association are currently assessing the applications against the requirements within the NLS Regulations and will be contacting clubs where required.

We here at the NWCFL wish all applicants well. We would remind clubs and supporters that a maximum of one Club per League may be promoted to Step 6. If there are multiple applicants from one particular league, then, then the highest placed eligible applicant will be promoted. No team lower than 5^th in any League will be eligible for promotion. If a Club is eligible for promotion, passes the Stadium Accreditation and is the highest eligible Club in the top 5 for promotion, then they will be added to the promotion pool at Step 6.

Please note that allocations will not be released until mid-May. There is no communication from the FA until this point.

Looking in our region there are several club's that we would expect to fall within our geographical boundary, whilst there are several on the boundary that could come into the mix as geographical boundaries are fluid and can be impacted by qualifying clubs around the country. We will take a look at the some of the applications by league that we could see next season.

Cheshire League

Crewe FC are the only applicants from the Cheshire League. They play at the Cumberland Arena which is in the centre of Crewe to the north of the station. They are currently in 9th position out of 16 clubs in the league with six wins and three draws from 16 games, and they have games in hand on those above them.

Liverpool County Premier League

There are two applicants from this league, those being Halewood Apollo and Skelmersdale United. Halewood Apollo are in 8th position at present with three wins and three draws. The top four looks too far away to catch but they have a chance of catching 5th with a good run. Skelmersdale are bottom at present with just two wins, so a top five finish for them looks highly unlikely.

Manchester League

Uppermill are the only applicants from the Manchester League. They play at the Cumberland Arena which is in the centre of Crewe to the north of the station. They are currently in 4th position out of 16 clubs in the league and have been on a good run with their last loss coming in October. A good finish would pretty much see them finish in the top five.

Salop Leisure Football League (Shropshire County League)

There are a number of clubs currently in the First Division South who have come through this league, so we could possibly see clubs allocated to us or the Midland League.

There are two applicants from this league. Dawley Town are in 2nd place at present, with nine wins from 11 games. Dawley is just south of Telford, around eight miles away from Allscott Heath, and they are geographically further north than Wolverhampton Sporting Community.

The other is Ellesmere Rangers, who would likely come to us as they are a former member club. They are in fourth place having won seven and drew two of their games so far.   

Staffordshire County Premier League

There are four applicants from this league. One is former members Rocester. They were relegated from the NWCFL in 2022/23, and last season finished 12th. They just missed out last season and are second in the league at present with 12 wins from 20 games.

Brereton Social lead the way in the league at the moment and they have applied. Brereton is a suburb of Rugeley in Staffordshire, so although it is further south than Stafford, it is more north than our Wolverhampton based clubs.

Ball Haye Green are in third place in the table with 11 wins from 19 league games. They groundshare at Leek Town FC, so you would think that there is no problem from a ground grading perspective.

Similarly AFC Crewe have applied, who groundshare with Alsager Town. They are fourth in the league with 10 wins from 20 games, and potentially the outsiders of the four applicants from the league.

West Cheshire League

There are two applicants from this league, those being AFC Knowsley and Helsby. AFC Knowsley are in 3rd position at present with ten wins from 15 games played. Helsby though are top at present with 12 wins from 15 games.

West Lancashire League

Unusually there are no applicants this time around from the West Lancashire League.

West Midlands (Regional) League Div 1

Could we see teams step up from this league and be placed in the NWCFL? Who knows? Telford Town won it last season and were placed with us so it is a possibility.

There are six applicants from the West Midlands League, including the current top three sides of FC Darlaston, Gornal Colts and Bustleholme. All three of those though are south of Wolverhampton with Bustleholme playing at Birmingham County FA Ground, so it would be unlikely they would be placed with us.

The other applicants from this league are Stourbridge Standard, AFC Somers and Saltley Stallions who are 5th, 6th and 8th at present, Stourbridge and AFC Somers are again quite far south, however Saltley Stallions share with Wolverhampton Sporting Community, so could end up with us.

In total there are 118 applicant clubs from 44 County Feeder Leagues. The full list is as follows: