The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

division of the

Spanish football league system The Spanish football league system consists of several professional, semi-professional and non-professional leagues bound together hierarchically by promotion and relegation. The top two tiers of the male league pyramid— Primera División ( La Li ...

. Administrated by the

Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional The Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (), also known as LaLiga (the abbreviation LFP was also used until the 2015-16 season), is a sports association responsible for administering the two professional football leagues in Spain, the Primera Div ...

, it is contested by 22 teams, with the top two teams plus the winner of a

play-off The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

promoted to

LaLiga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

and replaced by the three lowest-placed teams in that division.

History

This championship was created in 1929 by the Royal Spanish Football Federation. The league has been national, single-table except for a period from 1949 to 1968 in which it was regionalized into two North and South groups. Since 1984 it has been organized by the

. In 2006, the ''Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional'' agreed to a ten-year sponsorship agreement with the banking group

BBVA Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (), better known by its initialism BBVA, is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Bilbao, Spain. It is one of the largest financial institutions in the world, and is present ...

. Segunda División was thereby rebranded as 'Liga BBVA'. Two years later, as the BBVA sponsorship was extended to the Primera División (which received the Liga BBVA commercial name), the Segunda División was then renamed as 'Liga Adelante'. Another banking group,

Banco Santander Banco Santander, S.A., doing business as Santander Group (, , Spanish: ), is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Santander in Spain. Additionally, Santander maintains a presence in all global financial centr ...

, took over the sponsorship of both tiers in 2016, upon which the Segunda División was renamed 'La Liga 1, 2, 3', before being renamed 'LaLiga Smartbank' in time for the 2019–20 season. Since the 2010–11 season, a

for the third and last promotion slot has been played between the teams that finished 3rd to 6th (

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

s are not eligible for promotion).

League format

The league contains 22 teams that play each other home and away for a 42-match season. Each year three teams are promoted to La Liga. The top two teams earn an automatic promotion. The third team to be promoted is the winner of a play-off between the teams that finished 3rd to 6th (

s are not eligible for promotion). The play-offs comprise two-legged semi-finals followed by a two-legged final. The bottom four are relegated to

Primera Federación The Primera Federación, formerly known as Primera División RFEF, is the third tier of the Spanish football league system beginning with the 2021–22 season. It is administered by the Royal Spanish Football Federation. It is below the top t ...

.Spanish League regulations 2010/11 – see pages 12–13 of pdf

Stadia and locations

Team changes

All-time standings

Segunda División seasons

;Notelist

Champions and promotions

''Italics'': shared titles
*Championships won by Málaga CF and CD Málaga

Media coverage

Spain

Sponsorship names for seasons

* Liga BBVA (2006–2008) * Liga Adelante (2008–2016) * LaLiga 1, 2, 3 (2016–2019) * LaLiga SmartBank (2019–present)

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Segunda Division 2

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

1929 establishments in Spain Sports leagues established in 1929