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Tercera División
Founded	1929
Folded	2021
Country	Spain
Confederation	UEFA
Number of clubs	397
Level on pyramid	3 (1929–1977); 4 (1977–2021)
Promotion to	Segunda División (1929–1977); Segunda División B (1977–2021)
Relegation to	Divisiones Regionales
Domestic cup(s)	Copa del Rey; Copa Federación
International cup(s)	UEFA Europa League; (via winning Copa del Rey)

Tercera División (English: Third Division) 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 Segunda División, and the semi-professional Segunda División B.

For the 2021–22 season, Tercera División was replaced by Tercera División RFEF, which became the fifth tier due to the creation of a new, semi-professional third division by the Spanish federation (RFEF) called the Primera División RFEF.^[1]

Format

Tercera División featured 360 teams divided into 18 regional groups, corresponding to the autonomous communities of Spain (due to its size, Andalusia is divided into two groups, East and West; Ceuta is allocated to West Andalusia, while Melilla is allocated to the East). Each group was administered by a regional football federation. At the end of the season the first four teams in each group qualified for promotion play-offs to decide which teams were promoted to Segunda División B. At least the three teams finishing bottom of each group were relegated to the Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol. However the number of relegated teams often varied. The eighteen group champions also qualified for the following season's Copa del Rey, of which reserve teams were ineligible. Along with teams from Segunda División B, the remaining teams from the division competed in the Copa Federación.

Until the 2018–19 season, the 18 group winners had the opportunity of direct promotion to the Segunda División B. The group winners are drawn into a two-legged series, after which the nine winners are promoted to the Segunda División B. The nine losing clubs enter the play-off round for the last nine promotion spots.

The 18 runners-up were drawn against one of the 17 fourth-placed clubs outside their group and the 18 third-placed clubs were drawn against one another in a two-legged series. The 27 winners advanced with the nine losing clubs from the champions' series to determine the 18 teams that entered the final two-legged series for the last nine promotion spots. In all the play-off series, the lower-ranked club played at home first. Whenever there was a tie in position (like the group winners in the champions' series or the third-placed teams in the first round), a draw determined the club to play at home first.

In the 2019–20 season, the promotion play-off rules were altered by an RFEF resolution after that season was suspended and later curtailed due to the coronavirus disease pandemic in Spain. Thus, the top four teams in each group at the time of suspension were deemed to qualify for the play-offs, which will be contested on a regional basis at neutral venues. The 18 group winners were drawn against the fourth-place clubs while the 18 runners-up were drawn against the third-place clubs within their groups, all in two-legged series. The 36 first-round winners played single knock-out games in each of their regions, from which 18 were promoted to the Segunda División B. The 18 losing clubs will be able to play additional play-off rounds if possible for the remaining two spots in the third-tier division, which initially expanded to 100 teams divided into five groups of 20 and subdivided into 10 subgroups of 10 teams each, only for 2020–21.^[2] However, two more clubs were promoted after the RFEF cancelled the Tercera División repechages without replaying them,^[3] thus there are now four groups of 20 and one group of 22, subdivided into eight subgroups of 10 and two subgroups of 11.

Group	Region	Relegation
1	Galicia	Preferente de Galicia
2	Asturias	Preferente de Asturias
3	Cantabria	Preferente de Cantabria
4	Basque Country	Basque lower levels
5	Catalonia and Andorra	Primera Catalana
6	Valencian Community	Preferente Comunidad Valenciana
7	Community of Madrid	Preferente de Madrid
8	Castile and León	Preferente de Castilla y León
9	Eastern Andalusia and Melilla	Primera Eastern Andaluza
10	Western Andalusia and Ceuta	Primera Western Andaluza
11	Balearic Islands	Preferente
12	Canary Islands	Interinsular Preferente
13	Murcia	Preferente de Murcia
14	Extremadura	Preferente de Extremadura
15	Navarre	Preferente de Navarra
16	La Rioja	Preferente de La Rioja
17	Aragon	Preferente de Aragón
18	Castile-La Mancha	Preferente de Castilla-La Mancha

History

During the inaugural La Liga season of 1928–29 a third level of teams known as Segunda División B was also organised. This division featured 10 teams and at the end of the season Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa were crowned champions. However the 1929–30 season saw the first of many reorganisations of the Spanish football league system and the Tercera Division was born. During its first season the division featured 33 teams divided into eight groups. The eight group winners qualified for a play-off and CD Castellón eventually beat Barakaldo CF 3-2 to be declared champions. The most significant reorganisation came at the start of the 1977–78 season with the revival of Segunda División B which replaced the Tercera División as the third level.

On 6 May 2020, the RFEF announced the creation of a new, two-group, 40-team third division called Primera División RFEF, which made the former third and fourth divisions, Segunda División B and Tercera División, respectively, drop down a level and change into Segunda División RFEF and Tercera División RFEF; the changes were made effective for the 2021–22 campaign.^[2]^[4]

Evolution of the Tercera División

Tier\Years	1928–50	1950–55	1955–68	1968–70	1970–77	1977–79	1979–80	1980–83	1983–86	1986–87	1987–89	1989–92	1992–04	2004–06	2006–20	2020–21
3	4 to 10 groups	6 groups	14 groups	8 groups	4 groups	Segunda División B
4	Regional divisions					6 groups	8 groups	13 groups	14 groups	16 groups	17 groups	17 groups +2 subgroups	17 groups	17 groups +2 subgroups	18 groups	18 groups +36 subgroups
5	Regional divisions

Historical classification

Latest group champions and promoted teams

In bold, group champions are promoted to Segunda División B. Administrative promotions not included in this table.

Season	I X	II XI	III XII	IV XIII	V XIV	VI XV	VII XVI	VIII XVII	IX XVIII
2006–07	Deportivo B	Caudal	Noja	Zalla	Reus	Dénia	RSD Alcalá	Mirandés	Granada Atlético
	Algeciras	Eivissa	Las Palmas B	Murcia B	Jerez	Valle de Egüés	Haro	Zaragoza B	Conquense
	Other promoted teams: Girona (V), Sabadell (V), Gavà (V), Villarreal B (VI), Ontinyent (VI), Betis B (X), Lucena (X), San Isidro (XII), Villa de Santa Brígida (XII), Fuerteventura (XII), Mazarrón (XIII), Peña Sport (XIV), Guadalajara (XVIII)
2007–08	Ciudad de Santiago	Oviedo	Gimn. Torrelavega	Portugalete	Barcelona B	Alzira	Ciempozuelos	Mirandés	Roquetas
	CD San Fernando	Atlético Baleares	Atlético Granadilla	Ciudad de Lorquí	Don Benito	Izarra	Alfaro	Ejea	Toledo
	Other promoted teams: Sporting Gijón B (II), Racing Santander B (III), Sant Andreu (V), Valencia Mestalla (VI), Navalcarnero (VII), Antequera (IX), Linense (X), Peña Deportiva (XI), Las Palmas Atlético (XII), Sangonera (XIII), Murcia B (XIII)
2008–09	Compostela	Oviedo	Gimn. Torrelavega	Lagun Onak	Espanyol B	Villajoyosa	RSD Alcalá	CF Palencia	Unión Estepona
	San Roque de Lepe	Mallorca B	Tenerife B	Caravaca	Cerro Reyes	Izarra	Varea	Atlético Monzón	Toledo
	Other promoted teams: Mirandés (VIII), Sporting Mahonés (XI), Cacereño (XIV)
2009–10	Deportivo B	Caudal	Noja	Real Sociedad B	L'Hospitalet	Gandía	Rayo Vallecano B	Burgos	At. Mancha Real
	Alcalá	Atlético Baleares	Corralejo	Jumilla CF	Badajoz	Tudelano	Oyonesa	Teruel	La Roda
	Other promoted teams: Coruxo (I), Santboià (V), Alzira (VI), Getafe B (VII), Yeclano (XIII), Extremadura (XIV), Peña Sport (XV), La Muela (XVII)
2010–11	Cerceda	Marino Luanco	Noja	Amorebieta	Llagostera	Valencia Mestalla	Alcobendas Sport	Burgos	Comarca de Níjar
	Linense	Manacor	Lanzarote	Costa Cálida	Villanovense	Tudelano	Náxara	Andorra	Toledo
	Other promoted teams: Sestao River (IV), Reus (V), Olímpic (VI), SS Reyes (VII), Gimnástica Segoviana (VIII), Arandina (VIII), Sporting Villanueva (XIV), La Roda (XVIII)
2011–12	Ourense	Caudal	Noja	Laudio	Prat	Catarroja	Fuenlabrada	Valladolid B	Loja
	At. Sanluqueño	Constància	Marino	Yeclano	Arroyo	Peña Sport	SD Logroñés	Ejea	Villarrobledo
	Other promoted teams: Barakaldo (IV), San Fernando (X), Binissalem (XI), Izarra (XV), Tudelano (XV)
2012–13	Racing Ferrol	Tuilla	Tropezón	Laudio	Olot	Elche Ilicitano	Puerta Bonita	Burgos	El Palo
	Algeciras	Peña Deportiva	Las Palmas Atlético	La Hoya Lorca	Extremadura	San Juan	Haro	Sariñena	Toledo
	Other promoted teams: Celta Vigo B (I), Compostela (I), Granada B (IX), Conquense (XVIII)
2013–14	Somozas	Lealtad	Gimn. Torrelavega	Leioa	Cornellà	Eldense	Trival Valderas	Valladolid B	Marbella
	Real Betis B	Mallorca B	Atlético Granadilla	UCAM Murcia	Villanovense	Izarra	Varea	Zaragoza B	Puertollano^{[N 1]}
	Other promoted teams: Langreo (II), Rayo Vallecano B (VII), Atlético Astorga (VIII), San Roque de Lepe (X), Socuéllamos (XVIII)
2014–15	Pontevedra	Condal	Laredo	Portugalete	Ascó	Castellón	Rayo Majadahonda	Arandina	Linares
	Algeciras	Formentera	Mensajero	Jumilla	Mérida	Peña Sport	Varea	Ebro	Talavera de la Reina
	Other promoted teams: Gernika (IV), Arenas (IV), Pobla de Mafumet (V), Atlético Levante (VI), Llosetense (XI), Izarra (XV)
2015–16	Boiro	Caudal	Laredo	Zamudio	Prat	Atlético Saguntino	SS Reyes	Zamora	At. Mancha Real
	Córdoba B	Mallorca B	Villa de Santa Brígida	Lorca Deportiva	Extremadura	Osasuna B	Calahorra	Deportivo Aragón	Conquense
	Other promoted teams: Gavà (V), Navalcarnero (VII), Palencia (VIII), El Ejido (IX), At. Sanluqueño (X), San Fernando (X), Mutilvera (XV)
2016–17	Deportivo B	Sporting B	Gimn. Torrelavega	Alavés B	Olot	Olímpic	Atlético Madrid B	Gimn. Segoviana	Atlético Malagueño
	Real Betis B	Formentera	Las Palmas Atlético	Lorca Deportiva	Cacereño	Peña Sport	Calahorra	Deportivo Aragón	Talavera de la Reina
	Other promoted teams: Rápido de Bouzas (I), Vitoria (IV), Ontinyent (VI), Unión Adarve (VII), Écija (X), Badajoz (XIV)
2017–18	Compostela	Oviedo B	Gimn. Torrelavega	Cultural Durango	Espanyol B	Atlético Levante	Internacional	Unionistas	Atlético Malagueño
	Cádiz B	Mallorca B	Tenerife B	Yeclano	Don Benito	Mutilvera	Calahorra	Teruel	Conquense
	Other promoted teams: Langreo (II), Castellón (VI), Salmantino (VIII), Almería B (IX), Atlético Sanluqueño (X), Ejea (XVII)
2018–19	Racing Ferrol	Lealtad	Escobedo	Portugalete	Llagostera	Orihuela	Getafe B	Zamora	Jaén
	Cádiz B	Peña Deportiva	Tamaraceite	Yeclano	Mérida	Osasuna B	Haro	Tarazona	Socuéllamos
	Other promoted teams: Marino Luanco (II), Alavés B (IV), Prat (V), La Nucía (VI), Las Rozas (VII), Algeciras (X), Villarrubia (XVIII), Villarrobledo (XVIII)
2019–20	Compostela	Lealtad	Laredo	Portugalete	L'Hospitalet	Alcoyano	Navalcarnero	Zamora	Linares
	Betis Deportivo	Poblense	Marino	Lorca Deportiva	Villanovense	Mutilvera	SD Logroñés	Tarazona	Socuéllamos
	Other promoted teams: Covadonga (II), Atzeneta (VI), El Ejido (IX), Tamaraceite (XII)
2020–21	Arenteiro	Ceares	Cayón	Gernika	Europa	Eldense	Leganés B	Gimn. Segoviana	Vélez
	Xerez Deportivo	Ibiza Pitiusas	Mensajero	Águilas FC	Cacereño	Peña Sport	Racing Rioja	Teruel	Marchamalo
	Other promoted teams: Bergantiños, Arosa (I) Llanera, Avilés (II) Rayo Cantabria, Tropezón (III) Real Sociedad C, Sestao River (IV) Terrassa, Cerdanyola del Vallès (V) Alzira, Intercity (VI) Unión Adarve, Móstoles URJC (VII) Cristo Atlético, Burgos Promesas (VIII) Atlético Mancha Real, Antequera (IX) San Roque de Lepe, Ceuta (X) Andratx, Formentera (XI) Panadería Pulido, San Fernando (XII) Atlético Pulpileño, Mar Menor (XIII) Montijo, Coria (XIV) San Juan, Ardoi (XV) Náxara, UD Logroñés B (XVI) Brea, Huesca B (XVII) Calvo Sotelo, Toledo (XVIII)