Tercera División


Tercera División is the fourth level of the Spanish football league system. The top three are the Primera División, often referred to as "La Liga" in English, the Segunda División, and Segunda División B.

Current format

The current format has been in place since 2006. The Tercera División features 360 teams divided into 18 regional groups, corresponding to the autonomous communities of Spain. Each Group is administered by a regional football federation. At the end of the season the first four teams in each group qualify for promotion play-offs to decide which teams are promoted to Segunda División B. At least the three teams finishing bottom of each group may be relegated to the Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol. However the number of teams relegated can vary. The eighteen group champions also qualify for the following season's Copa del Rey. However reserve teams are ineligible. Along with teams from Segunda División B, the remaining teams from the division compete in the Copa Federación.
Until the 2018–19 season, the eighteen group winners had the opportunity of direct promotion to the Segunda División B. The 18 group winners are drawn into a two-legged series where the nine winners promote to the Segunda División B. The nine losing clubs entered the playoff round for the last nine promotion spots.
The 18 runners-up were drawn against one of the seventeen fourth-place clubs outside their group and the 18 third-placed clubs were drawn against one another in a two-legged series. The twenty-seven winners advanced with the nine losing clubs from the champions' series to determine the 18 teams that enter the last two-legged series for the last nine promotion spots. In all the playoff series, the lower-ranked club played at home first. Whenever there was a tie in position, a draw determined the club to play at home first.
In the 2019–20 season, the promotion playoff rules were altered by an RFEF resolution after that season was suspended and later curtailed during the coronavirus disease pandemic in Spain. Thus, the top four teams in each group at suspension time were deemed to qualify for the playoffs, which will be contested on a regional basis at neutral venues. The 18 group winners are drawn against the fourth-place clubs while the 18 runners-up are also drawn against the fourth-place clubs within their groups, all in two-legged series. The 36 first round winners will play single knockout games in each of their regions, from which 18 are promoted to the Segunda División B. The 18 losing clubs will be able to play additional playoff rounds if possible for the remaining two spots in the third division, which will expand to 100 teams divided into five groups of 20, to be subdivided into 10 subgroups of 10 teams each, only for 2020–21.
GroupRegionWinners Relegation
1CompostelaPreferente de Galicia
2LealtadPreferente de Asturias
3LaredoPreferente de Cantabria
4PortugaleteBasque lower levels
5 and L'HospitaletPrimera Catalana
6AlcoyanoPreferente Comunidad Valenciana
7NavalcarneroPreferente de Madrid
8ZamoraPreferente de Castilla y León
9 Eastern Andalusia and Linares DeportivoPrimera Eastern Andaluza
10 Western Andalusia and Betis DeportivoPrimera Western Andaluza
11PoblensePreferente
12MarinoInterinsular Preferente
13Lorca DeportivaPreferente de Murcia
14VillanovensePreferente de Extremadura
15MutilveraPreferente de Navarra
16 La RiojaSD LogroñésPreferente de La Rioja
17TarazonaPreferente de Aragón
18SocuéllamosPreferente de Castilla-La Mancha

History

During the inaugural La Liga season of 1928–29 a third level of teams known as Segunda División B was also organised. This division featured 10 teams and at the end of the season Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa were crowned champions. However the 1929–30 season saw the first of many reorganisations of the Spanish football league system and the Tercera Division was born. During its first season the division featured 33 teams divided into eight groups. The eight group winners qualified for a play-off and CD Castellón eventually beat Barakaldo CF 3-2 to be declared champions. The most significant reorganisation came at the start of the 1977–78 season with the revival of Segunda División B which replaced the Tercera División as the third level.
The Tercera División will drop down to the fifth level and Segunda Division B to the fourth after the RFEF's creation of a new third division of two groups with 20 teams each which begins play in 2021–22.

Evolution of the Tercera División

Historical classification

League or status at the end of the 2018–19 season:
2019–20 La Liga
2019–20 Segunda División
2019–20 Segunda División B
2019–20 Tercera División
2019–20 Divisiones Regionales
To be determined
No longer affiliated with RFEF
Clubs that no longer exist

;Notes

Latest group champions and promoted teams

In bold, group champions are promoted to Segunda División B. Administrative promotions not included in this table.

Records

;Most seasons:
;Most points:
;Most games played:
;Most wins:
;Most draws:
;Most losses:
;Most goals scored:
;Most goals received:
;Most group titles:
;Most promotion play-offs played:
;Highest attendance: