Country England Divisions 5 Level on pyramid Levels 11–15 | Founded 1904 Number of teams 62 | |
Feeder to United Counties League
Spartan South Midlands League | ||
The Bedfordshire County Football League (formed as the Bedford & District League in 1904), is an English football competition for clubs in and close to the county of Bedfordshire. It has run with five divisions (four in the 2014–15 season) and is headed by the Premier Division, which is at step 7 (or level 11) of the National League System. The top club in the league may apply for promotion to the United Counties League Division One or the Spartan South Midlands League Division One.
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In the 2014–15 season, Renhold United were the Premier Division champions.
The league runs separate league cups for each division – the Premier Division clubs play for the Britannia Cup, Division One clubs play for the Centenary Cup, Division Two sides compete for the Jubilee Cup, while Division Three teams play in the Watson Shield.
The league is affiliated to the Bedfordshire County Football Association.
Recent divisional Champions
The overall League Champions were awarded the Jubilee Challenge Cup until 1993, when that cup was retired and replaced by the Premier Cup.
In 2002, Divisions Three, Four and Five were merged into two new divisions, Associate Division One and Associate Division Two
After the 2005–06 season, the league changed its name to the Bedfordshire Football League. Along with the name change, the league reorganized its five divisions by incorporating the two primarily reserve divisions (Associate Division One and Two) into the three first team divisions, ultimately creating three divisions of 16 clubs and a bottom division of 17 clubs.
The league reorganised itself again in 2009, extending its name to Bedfordshire County Football League and adding a fifth division, Division Four. The Premier Division now included 16 clubs, while 14 teams competed Divisions One, Two and Three and the new Division Four comprised 13 clubs.
The league crowned only four divisional champions in 2015, returning to five division for the 2015–16 season.
Member Clubs (2015–16)
The league has 65 member clubs for the 2015–16 season, organised into five divisions (Premier, One, Two, Three and Four) and distributed as follows:
Other Bedfordshire Leagues
Main index: Affiliated Leagues in Bedfordshire
There are a number of other leagues that are affiliated to the Bedfordshire County Football Association.