Combined Counties League Division One

Operating at Step 6 on the English football pyramid, the Combined Counties League Division One is mainly made up of teams around the Home Counties and London.  The league sits below the Combined Counties League Premier Divisions North and South at Step 5.

It can trace its origins back to 1922 when it was founded as the Surrey Senior League though, in 1979 it rebranded to the CCL, attracting clubs from outside Surrey, expanding its reach into Hampshire, Berkshire, Middlesex and Greater London.

For the majority of its history, the CCL was only a single-division league, though in 2003, following a merger with the Surrey Premier League, it became Division One. The league made headlines internationally in 2011 when the so-called “Guernsey experiment” invited Guernsey FC into the league. They won Division One in their first season and famously chartered flights for each of their opponents.

The league has also played host to several notable alumni over the decades; AFC Wimbledon being the most famous club to be promoted from the CCL having swiftly risen through the tiers into the English Football League.

Meanwhile, arguably the most famous footballer to appear in this league is Matt Le Tissier, who in 2013, famously came out of retirement for one game to help Guernsey FC with a fixture backlog, attracting significant local media interest.

What You Need To Know

This fixture pileup was because of bad weather with the Guernsey “Fog” Factor having a considerable effect, with the club having to famously play 17 matches in 30 days which is one of the most gruelling fixture schedules in the history of English football.

Prior to becoming a Premier League star, Charlie Austin spent time at Brook House FC, now Uxbridge, while other notable players who spent time in the league include Sam Saunders (Brentford) and Richard Pacquette (QPR and Dominican Republic international).

The league has also witnessed FA Vase success, when in 2019, Chertsey Town became the first ever CCL club to win the trophy, while the league has a long association with sponsor, Cherry Red Records.

There are a number of other cups that the league is associated with as well, including the Premier Challenge Cup, while there is also the Esoteric Recordings Division One Challenge Cup.

During World War II, the league was completely abandoned and when it restarted again in 1946, it was with a handful of new member clubs that included Leatherhead who dominated the post war years, winning consecutive titles between 1946 and 1950. Although the league didn’t exist in World War I, many of its future founder members, that included Egham and Carshalton Athletic, lost considerable portions of their squads during the conflict.

There are also considerably strict ground grading regulations in the league, with many clubs needing to have a high standard of facilities in order to compete at this level.