 football in the united kingdom is organised on a separate basis in each of the four countries of the united kingdom, with each having a national football association responsible for the overall management of football within their respective country. there is no united kingdom national football team. it has been the most popular sport in the united kingdom since the 1860s. for details about football in the four countries, see: * football in england * football in northern ireland * football in scotland * football in wales this article provides some comparisons concerning football in the different countries. ==football associations==  each of the countries of the united kingdom, sometimes referred to as the home nations, has a national football association responsible for the overall management of football within their respective nation: the football association, (fa) is responsible for england and the crown dependencies and was founded in 1863, the scottish football association (sfa) was founded in 1873 followed by the football association of wales in 1876 and irish football association (ifa) in 1880. they are the world's four oldest national football associations and play an important part in football worldwide as they take up four of the eight seats on the international football association board (ifab), which determines the laws of the game, (the other four seats being occupied by fifa. ==league systems==  there are separate club football league systems for england, scotland, wales and northern ireland though some clubs play outside their country's respective system for mainly logistical reasons. wales did not get a national league until 1992 (though regional leagues existed prior to that), which explains why the top welsh clubs play in what is now regarded as the english system. the english football league system includes hundreds of interlinked leagues, consisting of thousands of divisions. the premier league is at the top, followed by the football league and then the football conference, where the structure starts to become regional and includes the northern premier league, the southern league, the isthmian league and many more besides. the welsh clubs of cardiff city, colwyn bay, merthyr tydfil, newport county, swansea city and wrexham play in the english system. chester city, who played in the foot
Football_in_the_United_Kingdom