List of association football leagues without promotion and relegation

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Hariboneagle927 (talk | contribs) at 14:33, 6 May 2021. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The following is a list of association football leagues which do not or did not have a promotion and relegation process.

Leagues within the scope of this list are:

  • Top-tier football leagues with no relegation system
    • In countries without lower-tier leagues
    • In countries with lower-tier leagues not integrated to the top-tier league; closed model
  • Recognized Division II or lower leagues without promotion and relegation.

Excluded are:

  • Any Division II or lower leagues with promotion but without relegation

Leagues

Current

Top tier leagues

League Country Confederation First season Without relegation since
A-League[1] Australia, New Zealand AFC 2005–06 2005
W-League Australia AFC 2008–09 2008
Indian Super League[2] India AFC 2014 2014
Philippine Football League Philippines AFC 2017 2017
PFF Women's League Philippines AFC 2016–17 2016–17
Canadian Premier League Canada CONCACAF 2019 2019
Major League Soccer[3] United States, Canada CONCACAF 1996 1996
National Women's Soccer League United States CONCACAF 2013 2013
New Zealand Football Championship[4] New Zealand OFC 2004 2004
Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio[a] San Marino UEFA 1985–86 1995–96
Gibraltar National League[b] Gibraltar UEFA 2019–20 2019–20

Notes

  1. ^ Serie A2, the second-tier of Sanmarinese football was dissolved at the end of 1994–95 season, all teams was introduced in the new Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio
  2. ^ Gibraltar Second Division was dissolved at the end of 2018–19 season, all teams was introduced in the new Gibraltar National League

Lower division leagues

League Division Country Confederation First season Without
promotion since 		Next highest league Relegation to
National Premier Leagues 2  Australia AFC 2005–06 2005 A-League Various (State-level leagues)
USL Championship[a] 2  United States[b] CONCACAF 2017[c] 2017 Major League Soccer None
USL League One 3  United States
 Canada 		CONCACAF 2019 2019 USL Championship None
  1. ^ Established in 2011 as USL Pro; rebranded as United Soccer League (USL) in 2015 and the USL Championship in 2019.
  2. ^ The USL Championship featured teams from Canada as late as 2019, but all teams that played in the most recent 2020 season are US-based, and no Canadian team is expected to play in the 2021 season.
  3. ^ First season as second-level league.

Defunct or inactive

Top tier leagues

League Country Confederation First season Last season Years without
relegation 		Relegation to
National Soccer League  Australia OFC 1977 2003–04 1977–2004 None (underperforming clubs were de facto relegated to the state leagues but there was no set criterion for relegation)
Philippine Premier League  Philippines AFC 2019 2019 2019 None
United Football League  Philippines AFC 2010 2016 2016[5] United Football League Division 2
(2010–2015)
North American Soccer League (1968–84)  United States
 Canada		 CONCACAF 1968 1984 1968–1984 None
Women's Professional Soccer  United States CONCACAF 2009 2011 2009–2011 None
Women's United Soccer Association  United States CONCACAF 2001 2003 2001–2003 None
BeNe League  Belgium  Netherlands UEFA 2012-13 2014-15 2012-2015 None
Chinese Women's Super League(1997-2010)
National Women's Football League(2011-2014)		  China AFC 1997 2014 1997-2013 National Women's Football League (Early years)

Lower division leagues

League Division Country Confederation First season Last season Years without
promotion 		Next highest league
North American Soccer League 2  United States
 Puerto Rico		 CONCACAF 2011 2017 2011–2017 Major League Soccer
USSF Division 2 Professional League 2  United States
 Canada
 Puerto Rico		 CONCACAF 2010 2010 Major League Soccer
USL Pro / United Soccer League[a] 3  United States
 Canada 		CONCACAF 2011 2016[b] 2011–2016 North American Soccer League
  1. ^ The USL organization dropped "Pro" from the league branding in advance of the 2015 season.
  2. ^ Last season as third-level league. In 2017, the USL was granted second-division status alongside the NASL; it became the sole second-level league in 2018 and was renamed the USL Championship in 2019.

References

  1. ^ Thomas, Josh (29 March 2018). "Neil Kilkenny calls for promotion and relegation in the A-League". Goal. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  2. ^ Sarkar, Dhiman (5 April 2018). "Indian clubs face ban if single football league not started from 2019-20: Fifa-backed report". The Hindustan Times. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  3. ^ Pitt-Brooke, Jack (3 March 2018). "MLS stands alone as a closed shop in the world of football. Meet the two men trying to change that". The Independent. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  4. ^ http://www.nzfootball.co.nz/asset/downloadasset?id=d8ec9b94-cc80-43cf-99a7-b3ef49c6780b
  5. ^ Guerrero, Bob (13 January 2016). "What to expect in Philippine football in 2016". Rappler. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_association_football_leagues_without_promotion_and_relegation&oldid=1021758501"