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- Former member clubs of the English Football League include football clubs who lost their status in the League by resigning, or by relegation, by becoming defunct, merging with another club, or joining the Premier League. The English Football League comprises professional clubs from England and Wales, and was established in 1888 as The Football League (First Division). In 1892, the Second Division was formed. A Third Division was introduced in 1920, before being regionalised as North and South. In 1958 these became the national Third and Fourth Division. The Premier League superseded the First Division as the top-flight of the English football league system in 1992, with the other three divisions renamed the First, Second and Third Divisions. They were rebranded again in 2004 as the Championship, League One and League Two. Until 1986, clubs could lose their League status by failing to gain re-election after finishing in the bottom four of the bottom division (fourth tier). From the 1986–87 season, the club finishing bottom was relegated to the Conference National (now National League), the highest level of non-League football, depending on the ability of the Conference champions to meet FA requirements. Since 2002–03, the bottom two clubs of League Two face relegation to the National League. (en)
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