Intro to Football 101: Promotion/Relegation

Just as the end of the season brings great glory for teams who win league titles, national cups, and international competitions, there are those clubs who are in way over their head, and need to cry uncle for a while.

That's why professional football has relegation. Whereas in the United States, we have minor leagues, and through parent club affiliations, players move up and down the system based on their performance. In Europe, teams- not players move up and down.

Imagine it like this, at the end of the season, the teams with the three worst records in Major League Baseball have to spend the next season in Triple-A, while the best three Triple-A teams come up to replace them.


In Europe, even teams that are miles away from winning cups or sniffing European glory still have something to play for: riches gained from another year in their country's top flight. Every country has its own number of slots up for promotion/relegation and each has their own system to resolve them. Here we will look at England.

In England, the relegation slots have already been secured. 18th-place Birmingham City (8-19-10, 34 points), 19th-place West Bromwich Albion (7-22-8, 29 points), and last-place Sunderland (3-28-6, 15 points) will spend next season in the League Championship, the level below the Premiership.

To replace them, Reading FC (winners of the Championship), Sheffield United (Championship runners-up) and the winner of a four-team playoff between the teams ranked 3rd through 6th (Watford, Preston, Leeds United, and Crystal Palace)

As you can see, the price for failure in football is very high, and teams are under constant pressure to succeed, or face life in the lower divisions.