The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in England (although for historical reasons a small number of Welsh clubs also compete). The system has a hierarchical format with promotion and relegation between leagues at different levels, and allows even the smallest club to dream of rising to the very top of the system. There are over 140 leagues, containing over 480 divisions. The exact number of clubs varies from year to year as clubs join and leave leagues or fold altogether, but an estimated average of 15 clubs per division implies that over 7,000 clubs are members of a league in the English football league system.
