Tercera Federación, previously known as Tercera RFEF, is the fifth tier of the

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

. It is below the ''

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

'', ''

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

'', and its fellow semi-professional divisions '' Primera Federación'' and ''

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

''. It was founded in 1929 as the third tier, and dropped down to the fourth and fifth tiers in 1977 and 2021, respectively.

History

On 6 May 2020, the RFEF announced the creation of a new, two-group, 40-team third division called

Primera División RFEF Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera Ely Rafael Primera Ros ...

, which caused the former third and fourth divisions,

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: 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 ...

and

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

, respectively, to drop down a level and change into Segunda División RFEF and Tercera División RFEF; the changes were made effective for the 2021–22 campaign. In July 2022, the division was renamed Tercera Federación.

Current format

The Tercera Federación features 18 regional groups (like the former fourth tier Tercera División), corresponding to the

autonomous communities of Spain The autonomous communities () are the first-level political divisions of Spain, administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Constitution of Spain, Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonom ...

(due to its size,

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

is divided into two groups, East and West;

Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ) is an Autonomous communities of Spain#Autonomous cities, autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta is one of th ...

is allocated to West Andalusia, while

Melilla Melilla (, ; ) is an autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of . It was part of the Province of Málaga un ...

is allocated to the East), where 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

. At least the three teams finishing bottom of each group may be relegated to the

Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol The Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol are the Spanish football regional divisions. They are administered by the ''Autonomous football federations''. The level immediately above (in the fifth tier) is the Tercera División RFEF. The autonomous regi ...

. However the number of teams relegated can vary. The eighteen group champions also qualify for the following season's

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

. However reserve teams are ineligible. Along with teams from

, the remaining teams from the division compete in the Copa Federación.

Teams

The member clubs of the Tercera Federación for the 2024–25 season are listed below.

Winners and promotions

All group champions are promoted to Segunda Federación. Administrative promotions not included in this table.

References

External links

Official RFEF Site

Group for Spanish Football Statistics Compilation

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tercera Federacion 2021 establishments in Spain 5

Spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa health treatments are known as balneotherapy. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters and hot springs goes back to pre ...

Sports leagues established in 2021