For more information on the current structure of the NLS, see the main article.
The history of the English non-League football system encompasses the history of non-League football in England. The non-League football system describes the hierarchical system of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs that sits below the English Football League. Currently, The Football Association administers the top six levels of the English non-League football system. It has named this the National League System (NLS). The NLS spans six levels of the overall English football league system, and consists of around 48 divisions in total.
Although many of the leagues within the National League System have been around for a long time, the System itself is a fairly recent development. It was created by The Football Association in the 1990s to bring together various ad hoc arrangements from around the country, and to give clubs a clear path of promotion and relegation from the lower levels of the pyramid right through to the professional leagues.