| Current: | 2024–25 National League Cup |
| Founded: | 1979 (original)2024 (revived) |
| Number Of Teams: | 32 |
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.
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,[1] 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.[2] On 23 June 2009 the Conference League Cup's sponsor, Setanta's GB division went into administration[3] and ceased broadcasting.[4]
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.[5]
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 enter 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.[5]
| Season | Winner | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|
| Bob Lord Challenge Trophy | ||
| 1979–80 | Altrincham | |
| 1980–81 | Kettering Town | |
| 1981–82 | Enfield | |
| 1982–83 | Scarborough | |
| 1983–84 | Barnet | |
| 1984–85 | Maidstone United | |
| 1985–86 | Barnet | |
| 1986–87[6] | Hendon | |
| 1987–88 | Weymouth | |
| 1988–89 | Hyde United | |
| 1989–90 | Kidderminster Harriers | |
| 1990–91 | Barrow | |
| 1991–92 | Runcorn | |
| 1992–93 | Wycombe Wanderers | |
| 1993–94 | Yeovil Town | |
| 1994–95 | Kettering Town | |
| 1995–96 | Macclesfield Town | |
| 1996–97 | Macclesfield Town | |
| 1997–98 | Woking | |
| Farnborough Town | ||
| 1999–2000 | Kingstonian | |
| 2000–01 | Kingstonian | |
| Conference Cup | ||
| Stalybridge Celtic | ||
| Setanta Shield | ||
| Rushden & Diamonds | ||
| Forest Green Rovers | ||
Source:[7] (note: source does not list finals for 1986–87 to 1988–89)