The Combined Counties Football League is a regional men's

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

league in south-eastern England with members in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, and the western half of

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

, featuring a number of semi-professional clubs. It is sponsored by

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and is officially known as the Cherry Red Records Combined Counties Football League. It was founded in 1922 as the Surrey Senior League and was renamed in 1978 to the Combined Counties League. Initially, the league was a single division, but it consists now of 63 teams in three divisions: Premier Division North, Premier Division South and Division One. The league also has a new Division Two of nine teams, many being reserve and development teams, six teams competing in an Under-23 Development Division, known as the John Bennett Development Division, and 20 Under-18 teams split across North and South divisions, known as the Tony Ford Under-18 Youth Divisions. These four divisions are outside the National League System. The Premier Divisions North and South are two of sixteen recognised leagues to form the ninth level of the

English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the ...

(known as Step 5 of the National League System), and Division One is one of seventeen recognised leagues at level 10 (known as Step 6 of the National League System). The Combined Counties Football League is a feeder to the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

and the Southern League.

History

The league was renamed on 18 June 1978 when the Surrey Senior League underwent a metamorphosis to try to attract clubs from outside the county. The expanded league was initially called the Home Counties League but there was an objection to the title from the Home Counties Conference, which forced the league to change its name. The league had a verbal agreement with the

Surrey County Football Association The Surrey County Football Association was founded in 1877 and affiliated to The Football Association in 1882, at the same time as a County Senior Cup competition, the Surrey Senior Cup, was established. The organisation administers all levels ...

to revert to a similar title to the former league – the Surrey Senior Football League. However, this name was later rejected as the Surrey County Football Association intended to reform the Surrey Senior League at a later date. It was first suggested by the FA that the league should be called the Corinthian Football League, but this was frowned upon by the Athenian Football League within which the old Corinthian Football League had been incorporated. The alternative suggestion, the Combined Counties Football League, was approved for the 1979–80 season. With increasing numbers for the 1981–82 season, the clubs were split into two equal divisions: the Eastern Division and the Western Division. The winners then met in a two-legged play-off final, with Ash United winning 3–0 in aggregate against Malden Town. The league reverted to a single division for the 1982–83 season. The league began with nine founder-member clubs and continued to steadily grow, resulting in the league becoming a feeder to the

in 1984 with 16–18 teams usually competing in the Combined Counties Football League. Southwick became the first team promoted to the Isthmian League from a feeder club in 1985, and Chertsey Town followed a year later. In 1987, the league announced a four-year sponsorship agreement with

Dan-Air Dan-Air (legally ''Dan Air Services Limited'') was an airline based in the United Kingdom and a wholly owned subsidiary of London-based shipbroker, shipbroking firm Davies and Newman. It was started in 1953 with a single aircraft. Initially, i ...

worth a five figure sum. As part of the agreement, the league became known as the Dan-Air Football League and a representative team was introduced. The Dan-Air Class Elite Cup was also launched in 1989. The Dan-Air Youth League was formed for the 1991–92 season and opened to youth teams from all member clubs. However, the league attracted just seven clubs for the inaugural season and reluctantly abandoned the competition after one year. With the Dan-Air sponsorship coming to an end at the end of the season, the league agreed a sponsorship deal with Parasol Professional Portrait Photography and became known as the Parasol Combined Counties Football League. The League Challenge Cup became known as the Parasol Challenge Cup, and the Dan-Air Class Elite Cup was replaced by the Frazer Freight Vase with sponsorship from Frazer Freight International. Ahead of the 1997–98 season, the league received further sponsorship and subsequently became known as the Courage Combined Counties Football League. In 2002, the league reached a membership of 24 clubs – most notably with the addition of

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, London. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in ...

. The introduction of AFC Wimbledon proved invaluable for the league's other clubs. With crowds of up to 4,000 spectators for their home clubs, many clubs would break their attendance records when AFC Wimbledon visited their ground which could generate substantial matchday revenue. The club's first matches in the league also required large numbers of police to control crowds, including mounted police and patrolling helicopters. In 2002, the league began a three-year sponsorship agreement to become the Seagrave Haulage Combined Counties Football League, although Seagrave pulled out of the deal after one season. Following the

National League System The National League System comprises the six levels of the English football league system immediately below the level of the English Football League. It comes under the jurisdiction of the Football Association. The National League System has a ...

Conference in July 2002, the Combined Counties Football League and the Surrey County Senior League entered into discussions. This resulted in the two leagues merging for the 2003–04 season, forming a league with 40 clubs that would operate across the fourth and fifth steps of non-league football with a Premier Division and Division One. Another new sponsorship for the 2005–06 season, this time with

, saw the league become known as the Cherry Red Records Combined Counties Football League. In 2011, the league accepted the membership of newly-founded club

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. The arrival of the team meant that clubs would fly or take a ferry over to the

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in order to fulfil their fixtures, with Guernsey covering the expenses as a requirement of their membership. Backed by former

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

international

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, who made a one-off appearance in the Combined Counties Football League in 2013, they won the Combined Counties Football League Division One and Combined Counties Premier Challenge Cup in their first season. In May 2018, Westfield and premier division runners up, Bedfont Sports, were promoted to the Bostik ( Isthmian) Football League due to The FA's decision to restructure steps 3 and 4 of the National League System. It was the first time that two teams had been promoted in one season. The 2019–20 season was abandoned as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic in England The COVID-19 pandemic was first confirmed to have spread to England with two cases among Chinese nationals staying in a hotel in York on 31 January 2020. The two main public bodies responsible for health in England were NHS England and Public ...

. The pandemic led to further disruptions in the 2020-21 season, with it starting in September, before being suspended in December and eventually curtailed in February 2021 by restrictions from

COVID-19 lockdowns During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of Non-pharmaceutical intervention (epidemiology), non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar socie ...

. The FA later announced on 12 April that the Combined Counties League would administer a new Step 5 division from 2021–22 after another scheduled NLS restructuring had a one-season postponement due to the pandemic. At the end of April 2023, the Combined Counties League announced the formation of the new Division Two, mostly for reserve teams and under-23 development sides of the league's member clubs, to which the FA granted sanction. It has currently not been granted a step on the football pyramid.

Promotion rules and cups

Its rules allow up to three teams to be promoted and relegated between either Premier division and Division One; promotion is dependent on the clubs finishing in the top three of Division One each having the correct ground-grading. Division One is "fed" by the county leagues at level 11, the former Step 7 of the National League System, such as the

Surrey Premier County Football League The Surrey Premier County Football League is a regional English football league for teams in south-west London, Surrey and neighbouring areas. It was founded in 2008. The league is at the 11th level of the English football league system and was ...

, the Middlesex County League and the Thames Valley Premier Football League. The League organises three cups. #The Premier Challenge Cup is competed for by the teams in all three divisions. #The Division One Cup is competed for by teams exclusively in Division One. #The Grant McLellan Youth Cup is competed for by current and ex-member clubs who have teams playing in the under-18 age group in other leagues. The Southern Combination Challenge Cup has been labelled "a supplementary Combined Counties League Cup" and includes some clubs in the

and other leagues.

Member teams 2024–25

Premier Division North

* Amersham Town * Ardley United * Bedfont Sports * Berks County *

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* Broadfields United * Burnham * Edgware & Kingsbury * Egham Town * Harefield United * Hilltop * Holyport * Milton United * North Greenford United * Reading City * Risborough Rangers *

Virginia Water Virginia Water is a commuter village in the Borough of Runnymede in northern Surrey, England. It is home to the Wentworth Estate and the Wentworth Club. The area has much woodland and occupies a large minority of the Runnymede district. Its na ...

* Wallingford & Crowmarsh *

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

* Wokingham Town

Premier Division South

* Abbey Rangers * AFC Whyteleafe * Alton *

Balham Balham () is an List of areas of London, area in south-west London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, with small parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Lambeth. It has been settled since Saxon times and appears in t ...

* Camberley Town * Chipstead * Cobham * Corinthian-Casuals * Epsom & Ewell * Fleet Town * Guildford City * Horley Town * Jersey Bulls * Knaphill * Redhill * Sandhurst Town * Sheerwater * Spelthorne Sports * Tadley Calleva * Tooting & Mitcham United

Division One

Bedfont Bedfont is a suburb in the London Borough of Hounslow, approximately west of Centre of London, Charing Cross. Originally a distinct village, Bedfont has a large central conservation area around Bedfont Green. The majority of the housing was bui ...

* Belstone * Brook House *

Chalfont St Peter Chalfont St Peter is a large village and civil parish in southeastern Buckinghamshire, England. It is in a group of villages called The Chalfonts which also includes Chalfont St Giles and Little Chalfont. The villages lie between High Wycombe a ...

* Colliers Wood United * Eversley & California * FC Deportivo Galicia * Hillingdon Borough * Holmer Green * Langley * London Samurai Rovers *

Molesey Molesey is a suburban district comprising two large villages, East Molesey and West Molesey, in the Borough of Elmbridge, Surrey, England. Molesey is within the Greater London Built-up Area, and is situated on the south bank of the River Thames ...

* Oxhey Jets * Penn & Tylers Green * PFC Victoria * Rising Ballers Kensington * Spartans Youth * Staines & Lammas (Middlesex) * Westside * Windsor * Windsor & Eton * Woodley United * Yateley United

Division Two

* CB Hounslow United & Abbots Reserves *Eagles Land Cricklewood 2nd *FAB *Indian Gymkhana Reserves *Langley U23 * London Rangers *Shepherd's Bush SB Ballerz *Streatham

List of champions

''For the 1978–79 season the league was known as the Home Counties League.'' ''For the 1981–82 season the league expanded to two divisions.'' ''For the 1982–83 season the league reverted to a single division.'' ''For the 2003–04 season Division One was added formed mainly of clubs from the Surrey County Senior League.'' ''For the 2021–22 season the Premier Division expanded to two divisions.''

Notes and references

;Notes on location where name is not one town ;References

External links

Official site

at the ''Football Club History Database''
Official Twitter siteThe FA Full-Time – League Page
{{Football in England table cells 1978 establishments in England 9 Sports leagues established in 1978