The National League Cup is an annual association football competition in England. The National League Cup is open to clubs playing in the National League and, since its revival in 2024, professional under-21 teams playing in the Premier League 2.
History The competition was formed for the inaugural season of what was then called the Alliance Premier League, in 1979–80 and existed for twenty-two seasons before being axed at the end of the 2000–01 season. It was briefly reformed for the 2004–05 season, in the form of the Conference Challenge Cup, but following a poor response it was again agreed not to renew the competition for the next season.
With the transfer of sponsorship of the Conference to Blue Square for the start of the 2007–08 season two seasons later, the re-introduction of the competition was announced, scheduled to commence that year. On 23 June 2009, the Conference League Cup's sponsor, Setanta's GB division, went into administration and ceased broadcasting.
In the 2024–25 season, the competition was revived as the 32-team National League Cup, with 16 National League clubs and 16 under-21 teams from Premier League 2.
Format
The competition was a knockout tournament with pairings drawn at random – like the FA Cup there is a minimal form of seeding, in that members of the (higher-level) Conference National entered together at a later stage in the tournament, and the draw for each round took place after the completion of the round before.
The revived edition for 2024–25 consists of four groups of four National League and four Premier League 2 teams each, with each National League team playing four home games against the under-21 teams in their group. The top 2 teams from each group advance to the quarter-finals.
Winners SeasonWinnerRunner-upBob Lord Challenge Trophy 1979–80 Northwich Victoria Altrincham 1980–81 Altrincham Kettering Town 1981–82 Weymouth Enfield 1982–83 Runcorn Scarborough 1983–84 Scarborough Barnet 1984–85 Runcorn Maidstone United 1985–86 Stafford Rangers Barnet 1986–87 Kettering Town Hendon 1987–88 Horwich RMI Weymouth 1988–89 Barnet Hyde United 1989–90 Yeovil Town Kidderminster Harriers 1990–91 Sutton United Barrow 1991–92 Wycombe Wanderers Runcorn 1992–93 Northwich Victoria Wycombe Wanderers 1993–94 Macclesfield Town Yeovil Town 1994–95 Bromsgrove Rovers Kettering Town 1995–96 Bromsgrove Rovers Macclesfield Town 1996–97 Kidderminster Harriers Macclesfield Town 1997–98 Morecambe Woking 1998–99 Doncaster Rovers Farnborough Town 1999–2000 Doncaster Rovers Kingstonian 2000–01 Chester City KingstonianConference Cup 2004–05 Woking Stalybridge CelticSetanta Shield 2007–08 Aldershot Town Rushden & Diamonds 2008–09 AFC Telford United Forest Green RoversNational League Cup 2024–25 Leeds United U21 Sutton United 2025–26 Boreham Wood West Ham United U21
Source: (note: source does not list finals for 1986–87 to 1988–89)
References
External links Setanta Shield results 2007–08 on BBC Sport Setanta Shield results 2008–09 on BBC Sport