The FA has today announced that Clapton CFC Men’s First Team will play in the Essex Senior League after our promotion to Step 5.

The allocation of which club will play in which division across the men’s non-league football pyramid was released today and CCFC are due to be in a 20-team division.

There are mouth-watering East London derbies in store against Barking, Frenford, Ilford, Romford, Soul Tower Hamlets, Sporting Bengal United, West Essex and Woodford Town.

Further afield, there will be trips into Essex to play Basildon United, Benfleet, Great Wakering Rovers and their ground sharers White Ensign, Hackney Wick (in Witham), Halstead Town, Harwich & Parkeston, Heybridge Swifts, Hullbridge Sports, Hutton and Saffron Walden Town.

We have previously played Benfleet, Hackney Wick, Hutton and Soul Tower Hamlets in league games and Harwich & Parkeston and Romford in cups. We’ve also played Barking, Sporting Bengal United and Woodford Town in friendlies.

This allocation was always most likely but there was a possibility of being placed in the Spartan South Midlands, alongside the likes of Cockfosters and Harlow Town, or moving back south of the river to the Southern Counties East Football League.

The list is subject to appeal but we can confirm that the Men’s First Team committee won’t be appealing for the first time in three seasons!

Geoff Ocran’s team will also enter the Men’s FA Cup for the first time, hoping to match some of our Women’s First Team’s heroics in the Women’s FA Cup.

Unlike our promotion from Step 7 to 6, the ground grading for Step 5 needs to be attained by the end of March 2027, rather than before the season starts.

Full list in the photo below – green means promoted into the division, red means relegated into the division and pink means reprieved from relegation.