The National League in England will restart same time as EFL

THE National League has been aligned with the EFL for the remainder of the season, as revealed by MailOnline yesterday, after the rest of non-League football was scrapped and all of the results expunged.

The same will apply to the women’s game below the Super League and Championship level, with no promotion or relegation to occur from any of those leagues.

The National League has been exempted to give clubs battling for to move up to League Two the chance to win promotion.

There are two promotion spots to League Two available for National League clubs, with the result that as many as 10 of the 24 clubs are still in contention.

Barrow have a four-point lead at the top and are favourites, but with four play-off places also up for grabs there is a reluctance to simply void the season, which would lead to rows over who is promoted and potentially costly legal battles.

National Leagues North and South will also remain live, with the FA saying yesterday that it is working to resume competitions from that level up ‘as quickly as possible.’

The FA also said it was ‘reviewing all options’ to complete the men’s FA Cup and other cup competitions.

Following talks with the FA and EFL this week it was decided that the National League’s fixture list will be adapted to mirror that of the Football League, which is hoping to resume following a seven-week suspension at some point in May.

National League clubs have between seven and nine matches of a 46-game season left to play.

There was confusion earlier this week when it was reported that the National League was going to be cancelled.

A number of clubs made a request to the FA that the season be scrapped due to the costs of continuing to operate and pay wages during the shutdown.

But the proposal angered clubs who feared they could be denied promotion if League Two was not played to completion.

As a result the two competitions will be allowed and the National League will resume when the EFL does.