Season 2025-26: Promotion/Relegation in South Central League
As we are now entering the final six weeks of the season, we thought it was time to give guidance on promotion and relegation this season. This will be similar to previous seasons, but with an additional factor - the play-offs between the second place teams in the North/South Div 1; Thames/Cherwell Div 1 and Solent/Forest Div 1s. Play-off will take place on the 18th April 2026 at Aldershot. The play-offs have been established as a result of club feedback requesting more promotions.
Promotion
As in previous seasons, promotion will be for the top two in most SC Divisions. But, there are some exceptions:
- In Premier 1, only the 1st placed team will be promoted to the National League.
- In North 1 and South 1, only the first placed team will receive automatic promotion. As mentioned above the two second placed teams will play-off for the final place in Premier 2.
- Cherwell 1, Thames 1, Solent 1 and Forest 1 will similarly have only one automatic promotion, with the second placed teams going forward to a play-off.
Relegation
All teams relegated will return to the Area/Sub-area to which their club “belongs”. This means Relegation may impact some sub areas more than others, if the sub area receives multiple teams. In this case this will result in more or less relegations to enable the Divisions to remain at 12 teams for next season.
For example, Men and Women’s Premier 1s will “lose” one promoted team to the National League, but looking at the Conference Leagues (for both men and women) it is likely that only a side from the women’s will be relegated. There will be an extra relegation from Premier 2 women, to enable Premier 2 to return to a 12-team division.
The number of relegated teams in each Division is therefore decided by:
- The number of teams relegated into that division from higher divisions.
- An extra relegation from divisions that will receive play-off winners (as three teams will be received from the lower divisions, rather than two as last season).
- Any teams who withdraw from the League are considered to have finished last in their division and therefore will “save” one of the remaining teams (withdrawn teams that wish to rejoin the League next season must start at the lowest Division).
- Additional relegations may be needed for League restructuring or bringing Divisions currently with 13 teams back to 12 for next season.
Note: to ensure that the Divisions have a suitable number of teams to play a full season (maximum 12), additional promotions and relegations may be needed, which will be decided by the ALMC once the play-offs have been concluded.
Using our crystal ball, we envisage that there will be a higher number of relegations throughout the Women’s South divisions, due to South Premier 2 being reduced to 12 teams and currently more South teams are close to relegation.
Relegation cannot be finally decided until after the play-off matches. This is because the numbers of teams in sub-area divisions will not be finalised until we know which team has qualified for promotion, from the play-offs.
We understand that teams want to know the situation regarding promotion and relegation, but at this current stage of the season, it is impossible to give a definitive answer on whether a team will be promoted or relegated.
Richard Wood
Chairman ALMC