The National League System consists of leagues below Division Three of the Nationwide League. The system is divided into four levels with the intention of providing a means of progress through the levels for ambitious clubs.

Clubs within the system progress through their particular section, Northern Premier, Southern or Isthmian which, as can be seen from the details below, means that a team in the Northern Premier section is able to progress quicker due to their being less divisions within the various higher leagues for it to go through.

Whilst clubs are able to progress into any of the higher leagues in their own section, they are not allowed to cross from one section to the other so a team wishing to progress from the Essex Intermediate League can only do so via the three Level 3 leagues in the Isthmian section.

The current system detailed below, is undergoing restructure by the Football Association in attempt to provide all clubs with the same number of "steps" through to the Football League.

The figure in brackets is the number of divisions within that league.

The names used for the different leagues are the historic names and do not include the names of the Sponsors which are liable to change.

Links to the web site of the different leagues will be uploaded as and when the leagues create web sites or they become part of either the Football Mitoo or another information system.

Where a league does not have an official site, preference has been given to the link to the Football Mitoo site which is more comprehensive.