in 2008, north region junior league sides formartine united and turriff united both submitted bids to join the highland league, following in the footsteps of past junior league side inverurie locos. if both teams were to join, the highland league would have a total of 17 teams. an even team league is preferred, so only one club's application was likely to be successful. whichever team is successful in their application was planned to join in the 2009–10 season. however banks o' dee and strathspey thistle also applied, giving the potential for an 18 team highland league in 2009-10 if three of these four clubs were elected.