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 The Royal Spanish Football Federation ( es, Real Federación Española de Fútbol; RFEF) is the governing body of football in Spain. It is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid. It was founded on 14 October 1909 ...

. It is below the top two professional leagues, the ''Primera División'' (also known as

La Liga 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's ...

) and the ''

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

'', and above the ''

Segunda Federación Segunda Federación, previously called Segunda División RFEF, also officially known as Segunda B-Segunda Federación, is the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system containing 90 teams divided into five groups. It is administered by t ...

'' and ''

Tercera Federación Tercera Federación, previously known as Tercera División RFEF, is the fifth tier of the Spanish football league system. It is below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional divisions ...

''.

History

In 2020, the

announced the creation of three new divisions, two semi-professional and one amateur: the Primera División RFEF as the new third tier of the Spanish system; the Segunda División RFEF as the new fourth tier, broadly using the same format as the

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

created in 1977; and the Tercera División RFEF as the fifth tier, along the same lines as the

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

from 1977 whereby groups are limited to teams from each of the nation's autonomous communities and is administered by a local body. On 30 June 2022, after just one season of existence, Primera División RFEF was renamed to Primera Federación.

League format

The Primera Federación is made up of a total of 40 clubs divided into two groups of 20 teams distributed by geographical proximity, initially with a north-west/south-east split. In its first season, 4 teams will be relegated from the

(La Liga 2) and the remaining will come from the

. Like the other Spanish divisions, it takes place annually, beginning at the end of August or early September, and ending in May or June of the following year. The twenty teams in each group play each other twice, home and away, for a total of thirty-eight matches. At the end of the season, the seven teams that accumulate the most points in each group, excluding reserve teams, qualify for the next edition of the

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

. At the end of the season a total of four teams are promoted to the second tier with the champions in each group achieve automatic promotion to

. The second to fifth place teams will play promotion play-offs to the second division, where two of eight teams win the play-offs and are promoted to Segunda División. The bottom five in each division are relegated to the fourth tier.

Reserve teams eligibility

Reserve teams can participate in the Primera Federación if their first teams compete in a higher division, but cannot compete in the same division. If a team is relegated or promoted to the same division, the reserve team will be denied promotion or automatically relegated to ensure they remain one division separate.

Clubs

The member clubs of the Primera Federación for the 2022–23 season are listed below.

Seasons

Bold: overall champion

Champions and promotions

Bold: overall titles

References

External links

Official website RFEF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Primera Federacion 3

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 ...

Semi-professional sports leagues Sports leagues established in 2021 2021 establishments in Spain