In many sports leagues around the world (with North American and Australian professional leagues being the most notable exceptions), relegation (or demotion) means the mandated transfer of the least successful team(s) of a higher division into a lower division at the end of the season. This is usually accompanied by the most successful team(s) from the lower division enjoying the opposite procedure, promotion. A list of professional sports leagues: Auto racing Champcars, formerly CART (Official Page) Formula One, Grand Prix racing (Official Site) IRL (Indy Racing League) (Official Page) NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) (Official Page) NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) (Official Page) Baseball Major League Baseball Minor League Baseball... North America North America is a continent[1] in the Earths northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. ...

The number of teams exchanged between the divisions is normally identical, unless the higher division wishes to change the size of its membership or has lost one or more of its clubs (due to financial insolvency, for example) and wishes to restore its previous membership size. Of course, such variations will almost inevitably affect lower divisions as they are compelled to accept a different number of teams compared to the number of existing teams leaving the division, if the lower division does not wish to change its size then it must imitate the procedure of the higher division thus affecting the division(s) below it, and so on. This is called the knock-on effect. For example, in 1995 the English Premier League voted to reduce its numbers by two and achieved the desired change by relegating four teams instead of the usual three, whilst only allowing two promotions. Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... The original FA Premier League logo, used until 2007 The Premier League (officially known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons, colloquially known as The Premiership), is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top echelon of the English football league system (above The Football League). ...

The system is seen as the defining characteristic of the 'European' form of professional sports league organization. Promotion and relegation have the effect of regularly rearranging the leagues according to the teams' playing strengths. At the same time, they maintain the importance of games played by many low-ranked teams near the end of the season, whereas a low-ranked North American team's final games serve little purpose; losing may even be beneficial to such teams, yielding a better position in the next year's draft. The downside of relegation, however, is (potential) severe economic hardship or even bankruptcy for demoted clubs. Professional sports leagues are organized in numerous ways. ... A (sports) draft is the process by which professional sports teams select players not contracted to any team, often from colleges or amateur ranks. ... Notice of closure stuck on the door of a computer store the day after its parent company, Granville Technology Group Ltd, declared bankruptcy (strictly, put into administration—see text) in the United Kingdom. ...

Structure

For example, here are the promotion and relegation rules for the English Premier League, Football League, and the Football Conference. For more details, see English football league system. The original FA Premier League logo, used until 2007 The Premier League (officially known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons, colloquially known as The Premiership), is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top echelon of the English football league system (above The Football League). ... The Football League is a league competition featuring professional football clubs from England and Wales, and is the oldest such competition in world football. ... The Football Conference is a football league at the top of the National League System of non-League football in England. ... The English football league system, otherwise known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in England (although for historical reasons a small number of Welsh clubs also compete). ...

1. Premier League (level 1): Bottom three teams relegated.
2. Football League Championship (level 2): Top two automatically promoted; next four teams compete in a playoff, with the winner gaining the third promotion spot. Bottom three relegated.
3. Football League One (level 3): Top two automatically promoted; next four teams play off, with the winner gaining the third promotion spot. Bottom four relegated.
4. Football League Two (level 4): Top three automatically promoted; next four teams play off, with the winner gaining the fourth promotion spot. Bottom two relegated.
5. Conference National (level 5): Top team promoted, subject to stadium being of required standard; next four teams play off, with the winner gaining the second promotion spot (again with the same stadium requirement). If stadia are not of the required quality, teams from League Two are not relegated. Note that Conference National is not part of The Football League, but instead is the top level of the National League System, a comprehensive system of lower-level leagues which itself has promotion and relegation between its levels. Bottom four relegated along geographical lines (two to North, two to South).
6. Conference North and Conference South (level 6, running in parallel): Top team in each automatically promoted; next four teams in each compete in playoff, with winners getting their division's second promotion spot. 3 relegations from each and drop to either the regional league or the Isthmian League, (North Relegated teams - 2 to Northern League and 1 to Isthmian, South Relegated teams - 2 to Southern League and 1 to Isthmian)

Formerly, geographical separation started at the Third Division (now League One), which from 1921 to 1958 was divided into North and South. The FA Women's Premier League, the top two divisions of women's football in England, are also geographically divided, but only the bottom two are relegated from the Premiership and replaced by the champions of the Northern and Southern divisions. The original FA Premier League logo, used until 2007 The Premier League (officially known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons, colloquially known as The Premiership), is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top echelon of the English football league system (above The Football League). ... The Football League Championship (often referred to as The Championship for short, the Coca-Cola Football League Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League. ... A playoff in sports (North American professional sports in particular) is a game or series of games played after the regular season is over with the goal of determining a league champion, or a similar accolade. ... Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Coca-Cola Football League 1 for sponsorship reasons) is the second-highest division of The Football League and third-highest division overall in the English football league system. ... Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Coca-Cola Football League 2 for sponsorship reasons) is the third-highest division of The Football League and fourth-highest division overall in the English football league system. ... Conference National (currently billed as the Blue Square Premier for sponsorship reasons) [1] is the top division of the Football Conference. ... The National League System comprises the seven levels of the English football league system immediately below the level of the FA Premier League and The Football League. ... The Football Conferences logo Conference North (often referred to as Nationwide North for sponsorship reasons) is a division of the Football Conference in England, taking its place immediately below the Conference National. ... Conference South (currently billed as Blue Square Southern for sponsorship reasons) is one of the second divisions of the Football Conference in England, taking its place immediately below the Conference National. ... From the 1992-93 to the 2003-04 season, the Football League Third Division was the third-highest division of The Football League and the fourth-highest division in the overall English football league system. ... Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Third Division North of The Football League was a level in English association football, which ran parallel to Third Division South from 1921 to 1958. ... The Football League Third Division South was a level of English professional football which ran in parallel to Third Division North from 1921 to 1958. ... The FA Womens Premier League is the major womens football competition in England. ... Association football is the unofficial national sport of England. ... The FA Womens Premier League National Division is at the top of the English womens football league pyramid. ... The FA Womens Premier League Northern Division is a league in the second-level in the womens football pyramid in England, along with the Southern divisions. ... The FA Womens Premier League Southern Division is a league in the second level in the womens football pyramid in England, along with the Northern division. ...

The current promotion and relegation rules for the top two divisions of other major European leagues are:

• Spanish La Liga: Bottom three teams relegated. Top three teams from the Segunda División automatically promoted.
• Italian Serie A: Bottom three teams relegated. Top two teams from Serie B automatically promoted. If the difference between third and fourth place is less than ten points, the next four teams play off with the winner gaining the third promotion spot, otherwise the third placed team is promoted.
• German First Bundesliga: Bottom three teams relegated. Top three teams from the Second Bundesliga automatically promoted.
• French Ligue 1: Bottom three teams relegated. Top three teams from Ligue 2 automatically promoted.
• Dutch Eredivisie: Bottom team automatically relegated; top team in Eerste Divisie automatically promoted. Next two Eredivisie teams enter into a play-off system with the eight best remaining teams from the Eerste Divisie (the six winners of six-match periodes plus the two best other teams), with the two winners being promoted to or remaining in the premier division.
• Scottish Premier League: Bottom team relegated and top team in Scottish First Division automatically promoted if its ground meets Premier League standards. Otherwise, the bottom team will remain in the Premier League.

Other relegation schemes consider points acquired over more than one season. For instance in the Argentine first division, the points average of the last 3 seasons is computed, and the 2 teams with the lowest averages are directly relegated. The 3rd and 4th from the bottom play home-and-away matches against the 3rd and 4th from the top of the second division respectively (process called "promoción"), and the winner of each key stays in, or moves to, first division. Thus, the number of teams promoted each year varies between two and four. Newly-promoted teams only average the seasons since their last promotion (see 2003/2004 Argentine Relegation for an example). (Professional Football League), commonly known as La Liga and also known as Primera División, is the professional football league in Spain. ... Liga de Fútbol Profesional The Segunda División is the lower of the two professional leagues in Spain consisting of 22 teams. ... This article is about the Italian football league. ... Serie B is the name of the second highest football league in Italy. ... The Bundesliga is the highest level of Germanys football league system. ... The 2nd Bundesliga is the Second Division of professional football in Germany. ... Ligue 1 (Première division or Division 1 until 2003) is the top division of French and Monegasque football, one of two divisions making up the LFP, the other being Ligue 2. ... Ligue 2 is the second division of French football. ... The Eredivisie (English: Honorary Division) is the highest football league in the Netherlands. ... The Eerste Divisie is an division for clubs who are relegated from the Eredivisie,but the champion of the Eerste Divisie promotes to the Eredivisie,and the clubs who ended position 2-7 play Nacompetitie,and the number 1 of the group also promotes to the Eredivisie. ... The Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League commonly known as the Scottish Premier League, Premier League or SPL is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top level of the Scottish football league system - above the Scottish Football League. ... Scottish Division One is the highest division of the Scottish Football League and the second highest in the Scottish football league system. ... Primera División (First Division) is the top category of Argentine football (soccer), and it is organized by the Argentine Football Association. ... Primera B Nacional (usually called simply Nacional B, in English National B Division) is the second most important category of Argentine football (soccer), and its organized by the Argentine Football Association. ... The 2003-04 Argentine First Division season saw Boca Juniors ecstatic after a title run that also included the Intercontinental Cup. ...

While the purpose of the promotion/relegation system is to maintain competitive balance, it may also be used as a disciplinary tool in special cases. On several occasions the Italian Football Federation has relegated clubs found to have been involved in match-fixing, most recently in 2006 when the season's initial champions Juventus were relegated to Serie B, and two other teams were initially relegated but then restored to Serie A after appeal (see 2006 Serie A scandal). The Italian Football Federation (Italian: , FIGC), also known as Federcalcio, is the governing body of football in Italy. ... Match fixing or game fixing in organized sports occurs when a match is played to a completely or partially pre-determined result. ... Juventus Football Club (from Latin [1] iuventus: youth, IPA: ); (pronounced yoo-ven-toos) also known as Juventus Turin (or Juventus Torino), Juventus, or simply Juve, is a football club from Turin, Italy. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ...

A small number of clubs have managed to avoid relegation. Among them are Arsenal in England, Rangers, Celtic, Aberdeen (who did once finish in a relegation position, but were reprieved because Falkirk failed to meet stadium criteria) and Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C.of Scotland; Inter Milan of Italy; Hamburger SV of Germany; Sporting Lisbon F.C., Benfica F.C. and F.C. Porto of Portugal; Peñarol and Nacional of Uruguay; and Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao of Spain. Rangers Football Club are a football club from Glasgow, Scotland who currently play in the Scottish Premier League. ... Celtic Football Club (pronounced seltik in IPA; AIM: CCP)[1] is a Scottish football club, competing in the Scottish Premier League, the highest form of competition in Scotland. ... Aberdeen Football Club is a football team from Scotland, who compete in the Scottish Premier League. ... Falkirk Football Club are a Scottish football team based in Falkirk, playing in the Scottish Premier League after winning promotion from the Scottish First Division in season 2004/05. ... Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club is a Scottish football team based in the city of Inverness. ... Football Club Internazionale Milano is an Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy, which plays in Serie A. The club was founded March 9, 1908. ... Hamburger SV is a German football club based in Hamburg. ... Futebol Clube do Porto (pron. ... Club Atlético Peñarol is a famous football team in Montevideo, Uruguay. ... Nacional is the Spanish and Portuguese word for national. ... Real Madrid Club de Fútbol is a Spanish sports club most widely known for its professional football team based in Madrid. ... Futbol Club Barcelona, known familiarly as Barça (IPA: baɾ.sÉ™), is a sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. ... Athletic Club is a football club from Bilbao in Biscay (in Basque, Bizkaia), Spain. ...

Uniquely, Derry City, a Northern Ireland club from a city on the border with the Republic of Ireland, have avoided relegation in both countries. From 1929 to 1972, they remained in the top flight of the North's league system, the Irish Football League. Due to safety concerns surrounding The Troubles, Derry City were forced to leave that league. In 1985, they joined the Republic's league system, the Football League of Ireland, at the second level, earned promotion to the top flight in 1987, and remained in the top level until the league was replaced by the new FAI League of Ireland in 2007. Derry City were chosen to play in the new FAI Premier Division, maintaining their record of never being relegated. Derry City F.C. are an Irish football club based in the city of Derry. ... Northern Ireland (Irish: ) is a part of the United Kingdom lying in the northeast of the island of Ireland, covering 5,459 square miles (14,139 km², about a sixth of the islands total area). ... Official logo of the Carnegie Premier League. ... For other uses, see Troubles (disambiguation) and Trouble. ... The Football League of Ireland, usually known simply as the League of Ireland or the eircom League (from the leagues sponsorship by Irish telecommunications company eircom), is a league of football clubs in Ireland. ... The FAI eircom League of Ireland (Irish: Curadh na hÉireann Cumann Peile na hÉireann) is the Republic of Irelands new national football league system created following the merging of the FAI and the League of Ireland. ... The FAI eircom League of Ireland Premier Division (or eircom League Premier, as commonly referred to in the media and by the public) is the top tier of the Republic of Irelands new national football league created following the merging of the FAI and the League of Ireland. ...

Non-relegation systems

Main article: Major professional sports league

A notable exception to this system is sport in North America, where teams are not promoted or relegated. Colleges, most notably the extensive and lucrative NCAA programs, rather than sport clubs as in Europe, act as primary suppliers of players to two professional team sports: American football and basketball. Baseball drafts players out of either college or high school, while most hockey players are drafted out of major junior, a youth club system, with a growing number of players coming out of American collegiate programs. Baseball and hockey do in fact have lower-level professional leagues, referred to as minor leagues, but most of these teams affiliate with a major league team in player development contracts. The minor league system can be viewed as an informal relegation system based on individual players rather than teams. Players remain employees of (or, in the case of hockey, under contract to) the parent organization and are assigned to the minor league level appropriate to their skill and development. Skillful players are often promoted, or 'called up', to the parent major league team while underperforming players or players recovering from a major injury are 'sent-down' to an affiliated minor league team. Such promotions and demotions, however, are not mandatory but are made at management's discretion. The term major professional sports league is used to describe the most important and well regarded leagues in the biggest professional sports in a country or region. ... North America North America is a continent[1] in the Earths northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. ... The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA, often said NC-Double-A) is a voluntary association of about 1200 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletics programs of many colleges and universities in the United States. ... United States simply as football, is a competitive team sport that is both fast-paced and strategic. ... This article is about the sport. ... This article is about the sport. ... Ice hockey, known simply as hockey in areas where it is more common than field hockey, is a team sport played on ice. ... Minor leagues in the sense intended in this article are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. ... Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of play in professional baseball in North America. ...

Recently, the United Soccer Leagues of North America, having teams from across the United States and Canada, discussed a relegation system and set up two leagues, the USL divisions one and two. This still differs from the promotion and relegation model because it is limited to two levels; the European systems usually extend over all ranks from the lowliest village amateur teams to the nation's top professional teams. The United Soccer Leagues (USL) is directly affiliated with the United States Soccer Federation (USSF), United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) and the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA). ...

Australia also does not feature any promotion and relegation systems in any of the major professional codes—Australian rules football, rugby union, rugby league, or football. Many amateur club competitions in these and other sports have them, but only with amateur ranks. This article is about the national league in Australian rules football. ... The Super 14 is the largest rugby union football club championship in the southern hemisphere, consisting of provincial teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. ... poo The National Rugby League (NRL) is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

In Japan, the J. League uses a promotion and relegation system (for the first two divisions it is the same as the Spanish, French, and German systems above), but professional baseball does not, perhaps owing to American influence. (Professional American football, despite being an American sport, uses a promotion and relegation system in Japan as well — which the now-defunct NFL Europa did not have.) Similar differences between football and baseball have become established in other East Asian countries where both games are played professionally, namely South Korea, China, and Taiwan. The Japan Professional Football League ), or J.LEAGUE ), is the top professional football (soccer) league in Japan and one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football. ... Part of the History of baseball series. ... The X-League (not to be confused with Vince McMahons XFL) is well-organized professional American football league in Japan. ... NFL Europa is an American football league which operates in Europe. ...

Professional sumo wrestling, which is not a team sport at all, has promotion and relegation between ranks of individual wrestlers. A Yokozuna, or grand champion, however, can never be relegated once he has achieved the distinction; he is instead expected to retire when he is no longer competitive at the top level. The Japan Sumo Association (日本相撲協会 or Nihon Sumo Kyokai) is the body who operate and control professional sumo wrestling in Japan. ... A sumo match Sumo (相撲 Sumō), or sumo wrestling, is today a competition contact sport wherein two wrestlers or rikishi face off in a circular area. ... Makuuchi (幕内 )) or makunouchi (幕の内 )), is the top division of professional sumo. ...

Historical comparisons

Early baseball leagues in America

In baseball, the earliest American sport to develop professional leagues, the National Association of Base Ball Players was established in 1857 as a national governing body for the game. In many respects it would resemble England's Football Association when founded in 1863. Both espoused strict amateurism in their early years and welcomed hundreds of clubs as members. The National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) was founded in 1857 by sixteen baseball clubs located in the New York metropolitan area. ... See also: 1856 in sports, 1858 in sports and the list of years in sports. Boat race Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race - Oxford Football (soccer) Believed to be the founding date of Sheffield F.C., the worlds oldest football club Births boys are hott Deaths Cricket: The founding of... The Football Association (The FA) is the governing body of football in England and the Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. ... See also: 1862 in sports, 1864 in sports and the list of years in sports. Boat race Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race - Oxford Horse racing Prix de lArc de Triomphe first run as the Grand Prix de Paris Births Deaths Categories: 1863 ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Amateur. ...

However, baseball's National Association was not able to survive the onset of professionalism. It responded to the trend — clubs secretly paying or indirectly compensating players — by establishing a "professional" class for 1869. So quickly as 1871, most of those clubs broke away and formed the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NAPBBP).^[1] That new, professional Association was open at a modest fee, but it proved to be unstable, and it was replaced by the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs in 1876. The capitalist founders of the new League judged that in order to prosper, they must make baseball's highest level of competition a "closed shop" with a strict limit on the number of teams, each member having exclusive local rights.^[2] Professional sports are sports in which the participants receive payment for playing, as opposed to amateur sports where they are not. ... See also: 1870 in sports, other events of 1871, 1872 in sports and the list of years in sports. // Baseball The first all-professional league, the National Association is founded. ... The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NAPBBP), or simply the National Association (NA), was founded in 1871 and lasted through the 1875 season. ... The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the National League, is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada and the worlds oldest extant professional team sports league. ... See also: 1875 in sports, other events of 1876, 1877 in sports and the list of years in sports. // Baseball February 2 - The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs is formed in New York at the Grand Central Hotel in New York City. ...

The modest National League guarantee of a place in the league year after year would permit the owners to consolidate fan bases in their exclusive territories and give them the confidence to invest in infrastructure such as improved ballparks. In turn, those would guarantee the revenues to support travelling halfway across a continent for games.^[3] Indeed, after its first season the new league banked on its still doubtful stability by expelling its members in New York and Philadelphia (the two largest cities), because they had breached agreements to visit the four western clubs at the end of the season.

The NL's dominance of baseball was challenged several times but only by entire leagues, after its first few years; and usually with eight clubs, the established norm, a prohibitively high threshold for a new venture. Two challengers succeeded beyond the short-term, with the National League fighting off a challenge from the American Association after a decade (concluded 1891) and accepting parity with the American League in 1903 with the formation of the organization that would become Major League Baseball. The peace agreement between the NL and the AL did not change the "closed shop" of top-level baseball but rather entrenched it by including the AL in the shop. This was further confirmed by the Supreme Court's 1922 ruling in Federal Baseball Club v. National League, giving MLB a legal monopoly over professional baseball. The American Association (AA) was a baseball major league from 1882 to 1891. ... American League The American League (or formally the American League of Professional Baseball Clubs) is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States of America and Canada. ... See also: 1902 in sports, 1904 in sports and the list of years in sports. Cycling First Tour de France won by Maurice Garin Football (Australian Rules) Victorian Football League Collingwood wins the 7th VFL Premiership (Collingwood 4. ... MLB and Major Leagues redirect here. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries  Atlas  Politics Portal      The Supreme Court of the United States (sometimes colloquially referred to by the acronym... In Federal Baseball Club v. ...

Early football leagues in England

In contrast to baseball's NABBP, the first governing body in English football survived the onset of professionalism, which it formally accepted in 1885. Perhaps the great geographical concentration of population^[4] and the corresponding short distances between urban centres was crucial. Certainly it provided the opportunity for more clubs developing large fan bases without incurring great travel costs. Indeed, professional football did not gain acceptance until after the turn of the 20th century in most of Southern England, and the earliest league members travelled only through the Midlands and North.^[5] The National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) was the first organization governing American baseball. ... See also: 1884 in sports, other events of 1885, 1886 in sports and the list of years in sports. // Baseball World Series - Chicago NL ties St Louis AA, 3 games to 3 with one tie. ... The north, the midlands and the south Southern England is an imprecise term used to refer to the southern counties of England. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The north, the midlands and the south Northern England, The North or North of England is a rather ill-defined term, with no universally accepted definition. ...

When The Football League was founded in 1888, it was not intended to be a rival of The Football Association but rather the top competition within it. The new league was not universally accepted as England's top-calibre competition right away. To help win fans of clubs outside The Football League, its circuit was not closed; rather, a system was established in which the worst teams at the end of each season would need to win re-election against any clubs wishing to join. The Football League is a league competition featuring professional football clubs from England and Wales, and is the oldest such competition in world football. ... See also: 1887 in sports, other events of 1888, 1889 in sports and the list of years in sports. // Boat race Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race - Cambridge Football (soccer) The Football League founded - Preston North End champions FA Cup - West Bromwich Albion beat Preston North End 2-0 April 7... The Football Association (The FA) is the governing body of football in England and the Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. ...

A rival league, the Football Alliance, was formed in 1889. When the two merged in 1892 it was not on equal terms; rather, most of the Alliance clubs were put in the new Football League Second Division, whose best teams would move up to the First Division in place of its worst teams. Another merger, with the top division of the Southern League in 1920, helped form the Third Division in similar fashion. Since then no new league has been formed of non-league clubs to try to achieve parity with The Football League (only to play at a lower level, like independent professional leagues in North American baseball today). The Football Alliance was an association football league in England from 1889 to 1892. ... See also: 1888 in sports, other events of 1889, 1890 in sports and the list of years in sports. // Baseball World Series - New York NL defeats Brooklyn AA 6 games to 3. ... See also: 1891 in sports, 1893 in sports and the list of years in sports. Athletics C. B. Fry equals the world record for the long jump of 23 ft. ... From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football. ... From 1889 until 1992, this was the highest division overall of organized football in England. ... For other uses, see Southern Football League (disambiguation). ... See also: 1919 in sports, other events of 1920, 1921 in sports and the list of years in sports. // Baseball (Major League) January 3 - Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sells Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $125,000 and a $350,000 loan, beginning the Curse of... From the 1992-93 to the 2003-04 season, the Football League Third Division was the third-highest division of The Football League and the fourth-highest division in the overall English football league system. ... The National League System, otherwise known as the football pyramid, is a comprehensive league structure for football clubs in England playing below the level of the FA Premier League and The Football League. ...

For decades, teams finishing near the bottom of The Football League's lowest division(s) faced re-election rather than automatic relegation. But the concept of promotion and relegation had been firmly established and it eventually expanded to the football pyramid in place today. Meanwhile, The FA has remained English football's overall governing body, retaining amateur and professional clubs rather than breaking up. The English football league system, otherwise known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in England (although for historical reasons a small number of Welsh clubs also compete). ...

External link

• Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation Source for historical information on promoted and relegated teams.

Notes and references