Blog · Article
How promotion and relegation work in soccer
In most of the soccer world, leagues are not closed. They are stacked on top of each other, and every season the best teams in one division move up while the worst teams in the division above drop down. Moving up is promotion. Dropping down is relegation.
If you grew up with American sports, where the worst team gets a high draft pick, this can seem harsh. It is also why the bottom of a European table can be as dramatic as the top. Here is how it works, using England as the example.
The short version
- Divisions are linked in a pyramid. Each season, the top clubs in a division go up and the bottom clubs come down.
- In England, the bottom three in the Premier League are relegated, and three clubs come up from the Championship: the top two plus a playoff winner.
- Playoffs for the last promotion place are played after the regular season, with the final at Wembley Stadium in London.
- Clubs relegated from the Premier League receive "parachute payments" for up to three seasons to soften the loss of income.
- Most soccer countries use the same idea with small differences. MLS is one of the few major leagues with no promotion or relegation.
The basic idea
The table decides more than the champion. Finish high enough and you play in a bigger division next season, with bigger crowds, more television money and better opponents. Finish too low and you go the other way.
That gives almost every game a purpose. A club with no chance of winning the league may still be fighting to avoid the drop in the final weeks. It also means a small club can climb from the lower divisions to the top, one promotion at a time.
The English pyramid
The top four divisions in England are professional:
- Premier League: 20 clubs
- Championship: 24 clubs
- League One: 24 clubs
- League Two: 24 clubs
The Championship, League One and League Two together make up the English Football League (EFL). Below League Two is the National League, the fifth tier and the top of what is called non-league soccer. Under that, the pyramid splits into regional divisions and keeps going down to amateur level.
Here is how clubs move between the top five divisions, as of the 2026–27 season:
| Division | Promoted | Playoffs | Relegated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Premier League | — | — | Bottom 3 |
| Championship | Top 2 | 3rd to 8th | Bottom 3 |
| League One | Top 2 | 3rd to 6th | Bottom 4 |
| League Two | Top 3 | 4th to 7th | Bottom 2 |
| National League | Champion | 2nd to 7th | Bottom 4 |
The numbers have to balance. League One relegates four clubs, and League Two sends up four (three automatically plus a playoff winner).
For 2026–27, Coventry City and Ipswich Town were promoted to the Premier League automatically and Hull City came up through the playoffs. They replaced Wolverhampton Wanderers, Burnley and West Ham United.
How the playoffs work
In each EFL division, one promotion place is decided by a playoff among the clubs that just missed the automatic places. In League One and League Two, four clubs take part. The semifinals are played over two legs, home and away, with the higher-placed club at home in the second leg. The winners meet in a single final at Wembley. If a tie is level, the teams play two more 15-minute periods, then penalties if needed.
The Championship playoffs grew from four clubs to six from 2026–27. Under the format reported when clubs approved the change, 3rd and 4th go straight to the semifinals, while 5th hosts 8th and 6th hosts 7th in one-game ties for the other two places. The semifinals are still two legs, and the final is still at Wembley.
Because the prize is a Premier League place and the money that comes with it, the Championship playoff final is often called the most valuable single game in soccer.
Parachute payments, briefly
The gap in television money between the Premier League and the Championship is large. To soften the fall, the Premier League pays relegated clubs parachute payments, a share of the money each Premier League club receives.
- A relegated club gets them for three seasons: 55% of that share in the first season, 45% in the second and 20% in the third.
- A club that spent only one season in the Premier League before going down gets two seasons of payments, not three.
- The payments stop if the club is promoted again.
Critics, including the EFL, argue the payments give relegated clubs an unfair edge in the Championship. In 2026 the Premier League put forward a new funding deal for the EFL that would reduce parachute payments over time. If the two leagues can't agree, England's new Independent Football Regulator has the power to step in.
Other ways a club can go down or stay down
Finishing position is not the only factor. Leagues can deduct points from clubs that break financial rules or go into administration, and a deduction can push a club into the relegation places. In many countries, a club also has to meet stadium and financial standards before it is allowed to move up.
How other countries do it
The idea is the same across Europe, but the details vary:
- Germany: the Bundesliga has 18 clubs. The bottom two go down, and the 16th-placed club plays a two-legged playoff against the third-placed club in the second division, the 2. Bundesliga. The top two in the 2. Bundesliga go up automatically.
- Spain: La Liga has 20 clubs and the bottom three go down. The top two in the second division go up, and a four-team playoff (3rd to 6th) decides the third place.
- Italy: Serie A has 20 clubs and the bottom three go down. The top two in Serie B go up, with a playoff deciding the third.
- France: Ligue 1 has had 18 clubs since 2023–24. The bottom two go down, and the 16th-placed club plays a two-legged playoff against the winner of the Ligue 2 playoffs.
A few major leagues are closed. MLS in the US and Canada and the A-League in Australia add clubs through expansion and never relegate anyone. Our guide to MLS vs European soccer leagues covers what that changes. In the US, the USL has announced plans for promotion and relegation within its own leagues, with a new top division targeted for 2028.
Frequently asked questions
How many teams are relegated from the Premier League?
Three. The clubs that finish 18th, 19th and 20th drop to the Championship and are replaced by three clubs from the Championship.
What are parachute payments?
They are payments from the Premier League to recently relegated clubs, paid for up to three seasons to soften the drop in income.
Why doesn't MLS have promotion and relegation?
MLS was set up as a closed league in which new clubs join through expansion, and it has never been linked to a lower division by promotion.
Can a club be promoted in back-to-back seasons?
Yes. Nothing stops a club from going up in consecutive seasons, and some English clubs have climbed several divisions in a few years.
If you follow a club in a promotion race or a relegation fight, Get Your Sports Here can send you a short daily email about it, with every fact linked to its source, and the site shows the games it has left. What is a daily sports briefing? explains the idea, and you can set one up here.