A test match in football is a match played at the end of a season between a team that has done badly in a higher league and one that has done well in a lower league of the same football league system. The winner of the test match plays in the higher league the following year, and the loser in the lower league. Football (soccer) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... A league system is a hierarchy of leagues in a sport that teams can be promoted or relegated between, depending on finishing positions or playoffs. ...

When the Football League was first expanded to two divisions in 1893, test matches were employed to decide relegation and promotion between them, but the practice was scrapped in favour of automatic relegation and promotion in 1899. In recent years the League has favoured playoffs instead of test matches: The requisite number of teams at the bottom of the higher league are automatically relegated; the same number of teams, less one, are promoted automatically from the lower division, with the final promotion place going to one team from the following four, after semi-final and final playoff matches. For example, the bottom three in the Premiership are automatically relegated, the top two in the Championship are promoted, while the teams in third, fourth, fifth and sixth enter the playoffs. The Football League logo The Football League (often referred to as the Coca-Cola Football League for sponsorship reasons) is a league competition for English football (soccer) clubs (though a few Welsh clubs also take part) containing three divisions (the Football League Championship, Football League One and Football League Two... 1893 (MDCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1899 (MDCCCXCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... FA Premier League logo The FA Premier League (which, for sponsorship/legal reasons, is often referred to as the Barclays Premiership in the UK and the Barclays English Premier League internationally) is a league competiton for English Football clubs located at the top of the English football league system (above... The Football League Championship logo The Football League Championship (often referred to as The Championship for short or 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 FA Premier...

In 2004, Italy's football (soccer) league used a two-legged test match to determine one spot in the top level of its system, Serie A. Some leagues in continental Europe combine automatic promotion/relegation with test matches. For example, in the Netherlands, only one club is automatically relegated from its top level, the Eredivisie, each season. The next two lower-placed teams enter a promotion/relegation mini-league with high-placed teams from the Dutch First Division (although not the winner, which earns automatic promotion). 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Italian Serie A Serie A is the top division of the Italian Football League, the highest football league in Italy. ... The Eredivisie (English: Honor 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. ...

Test matches in rugby union

Test matches are also used in rugby union. The National Provincial Championship (NPC), the domestic rugby competition in New Zealand, long used this system to determine which teams could potentially move between its top two divisions. However, the NPC has at least temporarily abandoned the test match system due to a 2006 reorganization of the competition. Image from a test-match between Ireland and the New Zealand All Blacks. ... The National Provincial Championship (which for sponsorship reasons, is referred to as Air New Zealand NPC or just simply NPC) is New Zealands principal domestic rugby union competition. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In 2007, South Africa will introduce a test match related to the Super 14, a competition between regional teams from that country, New Zealand and Australia. Through 2005, the competition was known as the Super 12. After that season, the competition was expanded to 14 teams, with South Africa receiving a fifth team to go along with the four it had in the Super 12. However, due to considerable political wrangling within South African rugby, the country added two new franchises instead of one—but the competition rules only allow five South African sides to play in the Super 14 each year. The country's rugby federation decided to guarantee four South African teams places in the following year's Super 14, with the fifth having to play a test match with the franchise currently outside the competition. 2007 (MMVII) will be a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The current Super 14 logo The Super 14 is a rugby union championship competed for by teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. ... The South African Rugby Football Union (SARFU) is the governing body for rugby union in South Africa and is affiliated to the International Rugby Board. ...