The Football League North and Football League South divisions of

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

were created temporarily for the League to continue through the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

while limiting the amount of movement that was required by teams. The leagues started in 1940; however there was only one full season, in 1945–46. Previous seasons were, in a sense, bit-part leagues with clubs only playing teams that were generally local. An example of this is that in the 1942 Football League North

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

played

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, Bradford Park Avenue,

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

and

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

, which they played Home and Away in succession.Leeds Fans Web-sit
"Leeds United: Season 1942 – 1942: Football League (Northern Section)"
leeds-fans.org.uk (accessed 15 October 2006) The two leagues consisted of all the members of The First and Second Divisions of the Football League split on a purely geographical basis. The 1945–46 full season was instituted as a precursor to the resumption of the previous divisional split in force prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. As the war had only just finished travel was sometimes difficult to arrange, many of the players were still away and the teams often included guests.

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

were the Champions of League North and

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

were the Champions of League South for the only full season in 1945–46. Results and players' contributions do not tend to be included in official statistics.

1945–46 season

North league table

South league table

{{#invoke:sports table, main, style=WDL , section=1945–46 South , winpoints=2 , show_limit=5 , use_goal_ratio=y , team1=BIR, name_BIR=

, team2=AST, name_AST=

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

, team3=CHA, name_CHA=

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

, team4=DER, name_DER=

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

, team5=WBA, name_WBA=

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

, team6=WOL, name_WOL=

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

, team7=WHU, name_WHU=

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

, team8=FUL, name_FUL=

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

, team9=TOT, name_TOT=

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

, team10=CHL, name_CHL=

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, team11=ARS, name_ARS=

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, team12=MIL, name_MIL=

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

, team13=COV, name_COV=

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

, team14=BRE, name_BRE=

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

, team15=NOT, name_NOT=

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

, team16=SOU, name_SOU=

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, team17=SWA, name_SWA= Swansea Town , team18=LUT, name_LUT=

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

, team19=POR, name_POR=

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, team20=LEI, name_LEI=

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

, team21=NEW, name_NEW= Newport County , team22=PLY, name_PLY=

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

, win_BIR=28, draw_BIR=5, loss_BIR=9, gf_BIR=96, ga_BIR=45 , win_AST=25, draw_AST=11, loss_AST=6, gf_AST=106, ga_AST=58 , win_CHA=25, draw_CHA=10, loss_CHA=7, gf_CHA=92, ga_CHA=45 , win_DER=22, draw_DER=8, loss_DER=12, gf_DER=104, ga_DER=62 , win_WBA=22, draw_WBA=8, loss_WBA=12, gf_WBA=104, ga_WBA=69 , win_WOL=20, draw_WOL=11, loss_WOL=11, gf_WOL=75, ga_WOL=48 , win_WHU=20, draw_WHU=11, loss_WHU=11, gf_WHU=94, ga_WHU=76 , win_FUL=20, draw_FUL=10, loss_FUL=12, gf_FUL=93, ga_FUL=73 , win_TOT=22, draw_TOT=3, loss_TOT=17, gf_TOT=78, ga_TOT=81 , win_CHL=16, draw_CHL=11, loss_CHL=15, gf_CHL=76, ga_CHL=73 , win_ARS=16, draw_ARS=11, loss_ARS=15, gf_ARS=76, ga_ARS=73 , win_MIL=17, draw_MIL=8, loss_MIL=17, gf_MIL=79, ga_MIL=105 , win_COV=15, draw_COV=10, loss_COV=17, gf_COV=70, ga_COV=69 , win_BRE=14, draw_BRE=10, loss_BRE=18, gf_BRE=82, ga_BRE=72 , win_NOT=12, draw_NOT=13, loss_NOT=17, gf_NOT=72, ga_NOT=73 , win_SOU=14, draw_SOU=9, loss_SOU=19, gf_SOU=97, ga_SOU=105 , win_SWA=15, draw_SWA=7, loss_SWA=20, gf_SWA=90, ga_SWA=112 , win_LUT=13, draw_LUT=7, loss_LUT=22, gf_LUT=60, ga_LUT=92 , win_POR=11, draw_POR=6, loss_POR=25, gf_POR=66, ga_POR=87 , win_LEI=8, draw_LEI=7, loss_LEI=27, gf_LEI=57, ga_LEI=101 , win_NEW=9, draw_NEW=2, loss_NEW=31, gf_NEW=52, ga_NEW=125 , win_PLY=3, draw_PLY=8, loss_PLY=31, gf_PLY=39, ga_PLY=120 , col_C=#FFFF00, text_C= , result1=C , update=complete, sourc
rsssf.com
and War Hammers II

Notes

Wartime association football

North and South North and South may refer to: Literature * ''North and South'' (Gaskell novel), an 1854 novel by Elizabeth Gaskell * ''North and South'' (trilogy), a series of novels by John Jakes (1982–1987) ** ''North and South'' (Jakes novel), first novel ...