The principal competitions in England are the FA Premiership, the Football League, the FA Cup, and the Football League Cup (both cup competitions are knockout events).

The Premiership was formed in 1992 and comprises 20 teams. The Football League is made up of three divisions with promotion and relegation between them with clubs such as Manchester United, Arsenal FC, Liverpool FC, Chelsea FC and Leeds in the Premiership.  Promotion and relegation also exists between the First Division of the Football League and the

Premiership (which has the stronger teams) and between the Third Division of the Football League and the Football Conference, a league of essentially semi-professional players.

The FA Cup is annually contested by all members of the Premiership and Football League and also by many amateur and semi-professional teams. It is organized on a knockout basis with the final game being staged at Wembley Stadium, London, in May. The League Cup was instituted in the 1960-1961 season, but it was not until the 1969-1970 season that all 92 Football League clubs took part. All finals up to 1966 were played on a two-leg “home and away” basis but since then they have been played as a single match at Wembley Stadium.

The Scottish Football League was formed in 1890, two years after the Football League. A second division was added in 1893, and the League was totally restructured in 1975-1976 when the leading ten teams formed a new Premier Division, and the remainder were divided into Divisions One and Two. From the 1994-1995 season a third division was introduced, with all four Scottish divisions now having ten teams each. The number of teams in the Premier Division was raised to 12 in 1986-1987, but reduced to 10 again from 1988-1989. The Scottish FA Cup was first held in 1874 and most of the finals have been at Hampden Park, Glasgow. The Scottish League Cup was first contested in 1946-1947. Prior to 1977-1978 the teams were split into eight or nine groups with the winners going through to a knockout competition. All three competitions have been dominated by Glasgow Rangers and Glasgow Celtic.

The Irish Football Association was formed in 1880 and the League began in 1890. In that year, too, the Irish Cup was inaugurated. In Northern Ireland, Linfield has been the most successful club, followed by Glentoran. With the political division in the 1920s, the Irish FA continued to run the game in Northern Ireland, while a new FA controlled football in the Republic of Ireland

The Welsh FA was created in 1876 and the Welsh Cup began in 1878. The most important Welsh clubs—Swansea, Cardiff, and Wrexham—play in the English League.