The Hellenic Football League, currently known as the Uhlsport Hellenic Football League for sponsorship reasons, is an English men's

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

league covering an area including the English

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, southern

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

, southern

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

, southern

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, northern

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

and southern

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

. There were also teams from

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

and one each from

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

and

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

until the 2020–21 season.

History

Levels 9–10 Football League areas in England

The league was established in 1953. In the 2000–01 season, the Hellenic League absorbed the

Chiltonian League The Chiltonian League was an English football league, existing from 1984 until its merger with the Hellenic League in 2000. While never having a defined place in the English football league system, successful clubs moved from the Chiltonian Leagu ...

. The league now has a Premier Division and Division One as part of the National League System. The league also runs Division Two East, Division Two West, Division Two North and Division Two South below the National League System. In the 2006–07 season the Hellenic League absorbed the Banbury District and Lord Jersey FA Veterans League with three Divisions now under the Hellenic Veterans League title. Starting with the 2004–05 re-organisation the Hellenic League became a step 5 and 6 league in the National League System. Premier Division clubs play at Step 5 level, which offers progression to the

Southern Football League The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English fo ...

Division One (Step 4) for Premier Division winners who have the required ground status. Hellenic League Division One teams play at Step 6 level, promotion to the Step 5 Premier Division can be gained by clubs finishing in the top two of Division One dependent on required ground facilities as specified by

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

. Acceptance to HL Division One is offered to teams playing in the various Step 7 county leagues of the related Hellenic League area. 38 teams play in the Hellenic Premier and Division One. 18 teams play at Veterans level (players aged 35 or over).

Champions

The league started with only a Premier Division, before Division One was added in 1956. For the 1971–72 season, Division One was split into Division One A and B. The following season, Division One A and B were merged and a Division Two was created. The following season, Division One and Division Two were merged. In 2000, the league absorbed the

and Division One was regionalised into East and West. In 2021, Division One East and West were merged again.

Cup winners

The Hellenic League football cups are the Supplementary Cup and the Challenge Cup. The Floodlit Cup existed until 2018–19.

References

External links

Hellenic Football League Official Website
{{Football in England table cells 1953 establishments in England 9 Sports leagues established in 1953