Non-league allocations 2025/26: AFC Telford United and other Shropshire sides discover their fate
AFC Telford United have been told what league they will be playing in next season following their dramatic play-off triumph.
The Bucks will return to National League North in 2025/26 - two years after suffering relegation - following the Football Association's announcement of non-league allocations for next season.
Telford came from behind to defeat Kettering Town in a dramatic Southern Central Premier play-off final at Latimer Park last week.
Next season, they can look forward to facing the likes of Hereford, Kidderminster Harriers and AFC Fylde - the only side from the National League to drop into their division.
The Bucks will also renew rivalries with Southern Central Premier champions Bedford Town, who pipped them to the league title - despite suffering a 6-2 defeat at the SEAH Stadium earlier this season.
Robbie Savage's upwardly-mobile Macclesfield, Merthyr Town and Worksop Town are the other clubs promoted into National League North.
There they join Alfreton Town, Buxton, Chorley, Curzon Ashton, Darlington, King's Lynn Town, Leamington, Marine, Oxford City, Peterborough Sports, Radcliffe, Scarborough Athletic, South Shields, Southport, Spennymoor Town and whoever loses the National North play-off final between Chester and Scunthorpe United.
Shifnal Town are also on the move up and will be placed in step-four division Northern One West this season.
There, they will take on a Bury side climbing back through the leagues after being expelled from the Football League following a financial crisis in 2019.
They will also face fellow West Midlands sides Chasetown, Stafford Rangers, Darlaston Town and Sporting Khalsa - the latter two having been moved sideways from Northern One Midlands.
Atherton Collieries, Avro, Bootle Clitheroe, Congleton Town, Kidsgrove Athletic, Lower Breck, Mossley, Nantwich Town, Newcastle Town, Runcorn Linnets, Stalybridge Celtic, Trafford, Vauxhall Motors, Witton Albion and Wythenshawe Town make up the rest of the division.
Further down the pyramid, West Midlands League champions Telford Town have been promoted to step-six division North West Counties League Division One South.
There they will be joined by Haughmond, who successfully applied for promotion from the Salop Leisure League despite missing out on the title to Shrewsbury Up & Comers.
They join Shropshire sides Allscott Heath, Market Drayton Town and Shawbury United in that division - the latter receiving a reprieve from relegation.
