Central League (football)

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The Central League (more commonly known as the Pontin's Holidays League after its main sponsor) is a football league in England for reserve teams of Football League clubs in the Midlands and North of England.

The league was formed in 1911 and in its early years consisted of a mix of first teams and reserve teams. However, when the Football League Third Division North was created in 1921, all the first teams in the Central League became founder members.

Since then, the league has been for reserve teams only, and eventually expanded to include virtually every professional team in the Midlands and North of England (teams in the South play in the Football Combination). In recent years, the FA Premier Reserve League was created for reserve sides of FA Premier League teams, and so the Central League's membership was reduced.

From the 2006/07 season the FA Premier Reserve League was restricted to the reserve sides of FA Premier League clubs. This meant that the reserve sides of Championship clubs rejoined the Central League.