How does promotion and relegation work?

At the end of a season, the worst-performing clubs in a league move down to the division below, and the best-performing clubs from that division move up. The pyramid connects, so in principle a club can rise from amateur football to the top division over successive seasons.

A typical arrangement: the bottom three of a 20-team top division are relegated. From the division below, the top two are promoted automatically, and teams finishing third to sixth enter play-offs — a knockout mini-tournament deciding the third promotion place. The play-off final is often the most valuable single match in the sport, because of the revenue difference between divisions.

The system is standard across most of the world and is the norm in European football, as well as in many other sports and countries.

It is not universal. Most North American major leagues — the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL — are closed, with a fixed set of franchises. No team is ever relegated. Instead, competitive balance is managed through a draft, in which the worst teams get first pick of incoming players, and through salary caps.

The two models produce different incentives. Promotion and relegation means every match matters for someone, including at the bottom of the table in the final weeks, and it makes failure genuinely costly. A closed league gives franchises financial stability and predictable value, but creates the possibility of deliberately losing to secure better draft picks.

Proposals to close European football, most visibly the 2021 Super League attempt, collapsed largely because removing relegation was unacceptable to supporters.