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The Midland Football Alliance was a semi-professional league, initially created in time for the start of the 1994-1995 season. The first Alliance was formed by invitation, and comprised of 10 clubs from each of the West Midland (Regional) League and the Midland Football Combination.

In 2014 the Midland Football Alliance was replaced by the current Midland Football League Premier division.

This website provides history and information about the Midland Football Alliance in its 20 year history between 1994 and 2014.

Founder Members

The original MFA had 20 founder members who competed in the first season in 1994-1995. These were:

Barwell, Boldmere St Michaels, Bolehall Swifts, Brierley Hill Town, Chasetown, Halesowen Harriers, Hinckley Athletic, Knypersley Victoria, Oldbury United, Paget Rangers, Pershore Town, Rocester, Rushall Olympic, Sandwell Borough, Shepshed Dynamo, Shifnal Town, Stapenhill, Stratford Town, West Midlands Police, Willenhall Town.

However, more midlands non league football teams were soon to join. The league expanded to 22 teams at the start of the 1999-2000 season. This was achieved by having 2 additional teams promoted, but none relegated in the previous season. The Alliance remained at 22 teams for the remainder of its existence.

League Structure

The MFA sat on level 9 of the English football league "Pyramid" system. Teams promoted from the MFA could join the Southern League Division One (Midlands) or the Northern Premier League Division One (South). Teams relegated from the MFA would join the West Midlands Regional League Premier or the Midland Combination Premier. In each case, the destination league would largely depend on the georaphical location of the team in question.

Defying The Odds: MFA Successes

Since the first ball was kicked way back in 1994, over 55 different midlands clubs played in the league. Many sides moved onwards and upwards to higher divisions, others slipping back to where they were promoted from and sadly one or two disbanded altogether.

In the period the Midland Alliance was in existence, a number of our member clubs did extremely well in FA Competitions. Three of them: Chasetown, Leamington and Coalville Town all reaching the first round proper of the competition and all going out to Football League opposition. Oadby Town also reached the Semi Final of the FA Vase. Our clubs' achievements did wonders to raise the profile of the MFA. Suddenly we has teams featured on national TV and in the press. We had bookmakers creating special bets for our teams to progress, and various promotions for people who wanted to bet on the giant killings. For a time, the Midland Football alliance was the talk of punters, pundits and journalists across the country, and we all enjoyed our time in the spotlight.

Betting on non league football is not unusal of course, however the MFA is proud that in its entire history it never courted any controversy around betting activity in any of its matches. The competition was always played in the spirit it was intended.