2016–17 National League (division)

National League 2016–17
Season information
Winners	Lincoln City
Promoted	Lincoln City Forest Green Rovers
Relegated	Southport North Ferriby United Braintree Town York City
Season statistics
← 2015-16	2017–18 →

The 2016–17 National League season, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the second season under English football's new title of National League, thirteenth season consisting of three divisions and the thirty-eighth season overall. The National League covers the top two levels of Non-League football in England. The National League is the fifth highest level of the overall pyramid, whilst the National League North and National League South exist at the sixth level. The top team and the winner of the play-off of the Premier division will be promoted to Football League Two, while the bottom four are relegated to the North or South divisions. The champions of the North and South divisions will be promoted to the Premier division, alongside the play-off winners from each division. The bottom three in each of the North and South divisions are relegated to the premier divisions of the Northern Premier League, Isthmian League or Southern League.

The division will consist of 24 clubs. As of 8 May 2016, twenty-one teams have achieved qualification for the 2016–17 season.

Promoted to League Two

• Cheltenham Town, promoted to Football League Two
• Grimsby Town, promoted as playoff winners to Football League Two

Relegated from League Two

• Dagenham & Redbridge, relegated from Football League Two
• York City, relegated from Football League Two

Relegated to National League North/South

• FC Halifax Town, relegated to National League North
• Altrincham, relegated to National League North
• Kidderminster Harriers, relegated to National League North
• Welling United, relegated to National League South

Promoted from National League North/South

• Solihull Moors, promoted as champions of National League North
• Sutton United, promoted as champions of National League South
• North Ferriby United, promoted as playoff winners of National League North
• Maidstone United, promoted as playoff winners of National League South

Stadia and locations

Team	Stadium	Capacity
Aldershot Town	Recreation Ground	7,100
Barrow	Holker Street	5,000
Boreham Wood	Meadow Park	4,502
Braintree Town	Cressing Road	4,145
Bromley	Hayes Lane	5,000
Chester	Deva Stadium	6,000
Dagenham & Redbridge	Victoria Road	6,078
Dover Athletic	Crabble Athletic Ground	6,500
Eastleigh	Ten Acres	5,200
Forest Green Rovers	The New Lawn	5,032
Gateshead	Gateshead International Stadium	10,000
Guiseley	Nethermoor Park	3,000
Lincoln City	Sincil Bank	10,120
Macclesfield Town	Moss Rose	6,355
Maidstone United	Gallagher Stadium	3,063
North Ferriby United	Grange Lane	2,700
Solihull Moors	Damson Park	3,050
Southport	Haig Avenue	6,008
Sutton United	Borough Sports Ground	5,013
Torquay United	Plainmoor	6,500
Tranmere Rovers	Prenton Park	16,789
Woking	Kingfield Stadium	6,036
Wrexham	Racecourse Ground	10,771
York City	Bootham Crescent	7,872

League table

2016–17 National League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Lincoln City  (C) (P)	46	30	9	7	83	40	+43	99	Promotion to the Football League Two
2	Tranmere Rovers	46	29	8	9	79	39	+40	95	Qualification to the National League play-offs
3	Forest Green Rovers  (P) (O)	46	25	11	10	88	56	+32	86
4	Dagenham & Redbridge	46	26	6	14	79	53	+26	84
5	Aldershot Town	46	23	13	10	66	37	+29	82
6	Dover Athletic	46	24	7	15	85	63	+22	79
7	Barrow	46	20	15	11	72	53	+19	75
8	Gateshead	46	19	13	14	72	51	+21	70
9	Macclesfield Town	46	20	8	18	64	57	+7	68
10	Bromley	46	18	8	20	59	66	−7	62
11	Boreham Wood	46	15	13	18	49	48	+1	58
12	Sutton United	46	15	13	18	61	63	−2	58
13	Wrexham	46	15	13	18	47	61	−14	58
14	Maidstone United	46	16	10	20	59	75	−16	58
15	Eastleigh	46	14	15	17	56	63	−7	57
16	Solihull Moors	46	15	10	21	62	75	−13	55
17	Torquay United	46	14	11	21	54	61	−7	53
18	Woking	46	14	11	21	66	80	−14	53
19	Chester	46	14	10	22	63	71	−8	52
20	Guiseley	46	13	12	21	50	67	−17	51
21	York City  (R)	46	11	17	18	55	70	−15	50	Relegation to the National League North or National League South
22	Braintree Town  (R)	46	13	9	24	51	76	−25	48
23	Southport  (R)	46	10	9	27	52	97	−45	39
24	North Ferriby United  (R)	46	12	3	31	32	82	−50	39

Updated to games played on 29 April 2017
Source: National League official site
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round; (Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament

Play-offs

Main article: 2017 National League play-offs

		Semifinals				Final
		Tranmere Rovers	3 2 (5)
		Aldershot Town	0 2 (2)
							Tranmere Rovers	1
							'Forest Green Rovers	3
		Forest Green Rovers	1 2 (3)
		Dagenham and Redbridge	1 0 (1)

First leg

3 May 2017	Aldershot Town	0–3	Tranmere Rovers	Recreation Ground, Aldershot
19:00			Stockton  3', 75' Norwood  48'

4 May 2017	Dagenham & Redbridge	1–1	Forest Green Rovers	Victoria Road, Dagenham
19:00	Maguire-Drew  45+'		Noble  29' (pen.)

---

Second leg

6 May 2017	Tranmere Rovers	2–2 (5–2 agg.)	Aldershot Town	Prenton Park, Birkenhead
12:15	Stockton  20' Norwood  90+4'		Mensah  43' Hughes  50' (o.g.)	Attendance: 10,241 Referee: Scott Oldham

7 May 2017 15:00	Forest Green Rovers	2–0	Dagenham & Redbridge	The New Lawn, Nailsworth Attendance: 3,237 Referee: Martin Coy
	Doidge  34' Marsh-Brown  45'	Report

---

Final

Main article: 2017 National League play-off Final

14 May 2017 15:00	Tranmere Rovers	1–3	Forest Green Rovers	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 18,801 Referee: Anthony Backhouse
	Jennings  22'	Report	Woolery  12', 44' Doidge  41'

Results

Home \ Away

ALD

BRW

BOR

BRA

BRO

CHR

D&R

DOV

EAS

FGR

GAT

GUI

LIN

MAC

MAI

NFU

SOL

SOU

SUT

TOR

TRA

WOK

WRX

YOR

Aldershot Town

2–2

2–0

2–0

4–0

0–0

3–1

1–0

0–1

0–4

3–0

1–0

0–0

1–2

1–0

2–0

2–0

2–1

2–0

1–1

3–1

4–0

2–0

0–0

Barrow

1–0

1–1

2–1

1–1

3–2

2–1

2–3

4–0

2–3

0–0

3–0

3–0

1–1

3–0

3–1

2–1

0–1

0–0

0–0

2–1

2–2

1–1

2–0

Boreham Wood

1–1

1–1

0–1

0–0

1–1

1–3

5–0

0–1

1–0

0–4

0–0

2–0

2–4

0–1

1–0

0–0

2–0

1–0

2–0

0–1

2–1

0–1

1–1

Braintree Town

2–0

0–2

1–2

2–2

1–2

3–2

1–2

1–1

0–1

1–4

2–0

0–4

1–3

0–0

1–0

0–1

2–0

1–0

1–3

0–1

1–3

1–2

1–1

Bromley

2–2

4–1

1–0

0–5

0–1

1–3

0–2

0–5

1–5

3–2

1–1

0–1

2–0

3–0

0–1

3–1

1–0

1–0

0–2

2–1

4–3

3–0

Chester

2–0

1–2

0–2

1–0

1–1

3–0

5–0

0–1

1–2

1–2

2–0

2–5

2–3

1–3

3–0

0–3

2–2

4–0

1–0

2–3

2–3

1–1

0–2

Dagenham & Redbridge

1–0

1–4

0–2

3–0

2–1

3–2

2–0

4–0

2–1

0–5

1–2

1–0

1–1

0–2

2–0

4–4

3–0

2–2

0–1

0–0

1–1

3–0

1–0

Dover Athletic

1–2

3–1

1–4

6–1

1–0

3–1

1–2

3–0

4–3

2–0

2–0

2–0

2–2

1–1

2–0

0–0

3–0

3–1

1–2

1–4

3–1

1–1

2–2

Eastleigh

1–1

2–0

2–2

0–2

2–1

0–3

0–1

2–4

1–1

1–1

2–1

0–1

0–1

3–0

2–0

2–0

1–1

2–1

3–0

0–2

0–1

1–1

1–1

Forest Green Rovers

2–1

0–0

2–0

1–1

1–0

2–0

1–1

1–1

1–1

1–0

3–0

2–3

3–0

2–2

0–1

2–1

5–1

1–1

5–5

2–2

4–3

3–0

2–1

Gateshead

1–1

4–1

1–1

1–1

0–2

3–0

1–0

4–2

2–2

3–1

1–1

1–2

1–1

1–2

0–1

0–0

3–0

1–0

0–0

0–1

2–1

2–2

6–1

Guiseley

1–0

1–0

3–1

0–0

1–4

1–1

0–2

0–4

1–1

0–1

1–1

2–1

1–2

2–1

1–2

1–1

2–1

2–1

2–0

1–2

1–1

2–3

6–1

Lincoln City

3–3

1–2

2–0

3–0

1–0

1–0

2–0

2–0

0–0

3–1

3–0

3–1

2–1

2–0

6–1

0–0

4–0

1–3

2–1

2–1

3–2

1–0

1–1

Macclesfield Town

0–2

0–1

0–2

2–0

1–2

0–0

1–4

2–1

0–1

0–1

1–1

1–2

1–2

3–0

1–0

1–3

3–1

0–0

2–0

4–2

3–1

3–0

1–3

Maidstone United

0–2

2–1

1–0

2–1

0–2

4–2

0–1

1–4

2–1

1–4

0–2

1–1

0–0

2–1

1–2

2–4

4–2

1–1

2–1

0–1

0–3

2–2

1–1

North Ferriby United

0–3

0–1

2–4

0–0

1–2

0–1

0–4

1–2

2–1

0–3

1–0

3–2

0–1

0–2

0–2

1–4

0–1

2–1

1–0

1–4

2–1

0–0

0–1

Solihull Moors

0–2

2–4

1–1

3–3

1–0

3–2

2–5

2–3

2–0

0–1

0–2

3–2

0–1

2–3

2–0

2–0

4–0

3–0

0–1

0–3

2–2

0–1

1–2

Southport

1–1

1–4

1–0

4–5

1–2

0–1

1–4

0–1

4–3

2–0

0–3

0–1

1–1

1–2

3–2

2–4

0–0

1–1

1–2

1–1

2–1

3–2

2–0

Sutton United

2–0

0–0

1–0

1–2

2–0

5–2

1–0

0–6

1–1

1–2

3–0

1–0

1–1

2–0

2–2

5–1

1–3

2–2

2–0

1–0

4–1

1–0

2–2

Torquay United

0–0

1–1

0–1

3–1

1–0

0–1

1–0

2–1

2–3

4–3

3–1

1–2

1–2

1–1

2–3

2–0

3–0

1–2

2–3

0–0

1–2

1–1

2–0

Tranmere Rovers

2–2

2–0

2–1

1–0

2–2

2–2

0–2

1–0

2–1

0–1

0–1

1–0

0–1

1–0

2–1

1–0

9–0

4–1

3–2

2–1

3–1

2–0

1–0

Woking

1–2

1–1

0–0

2–3

2–1

3–1

1–3

1–0

3–3

0–1

3–0

0–0

1–3

1–0

2–4

1–1

2–1

0–0

2–1

3–1

0–3

2–0

1–1

Wrexham

0–2

2–2

2–1

0–1

2–1

0–0

0–1

0–0

0–0

3–1

0–2

3–1

1–2

0–3

1–3

1–0

1–0

1–0

1–0

1–1

0–1

2–1

2–1

York City

0–1

2–1

1–1

3–0

0–2

1–1

0–2

0–1

3–1

2–2

1–3

1–1

1–4

1–0

1–1

0–1

4–0

5–3

2–2

0–0

0–0

4–1

1–3

Updated to games played on 29 April 2017
Source: The National League
¹The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

As of matches played 17 April 2017

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Ricky Miller	Dover Athletic	36
2	Christian Doidge	Forest Green Rovers	25
3	Andy Cook	Tranmere Rovers	23
4	Michael Cheek	Braintree Town	19
5	Byron Harrison	Barrow	18
	Oliver Hawkins	Dagenham & Redbridge
	Danny Johnson	Gateshead
8	Gozie Ugwu	Woking	16
9	James Alabi	Chester	15
	Richard Bennett	Barrow
	Matt Rhead	Lincoln City
	Corey Whitely	Dagenham & Redbridge

See also

• National League (division) 2016–17: Match day 46