Primera Federación

The Primera Federación, initially known as Primera RFEF, is the third división in the Spanish football system, operating under La Liga and the Spanish Segunda División. This division was created in 2020 by the Royal Spanish Football Federation and was preceded by the Segunda División B, which worked as the third football division in the country. Before the 2021-22 tournament edition began, The Spanish Federation rebranded it as Primera Federación, dropping the initials of its parent organization.

The Primera Federación is played by two groups of 20 teams each. The allocation of each team depends entirely on where they play. Group 1 is filled with teams from the North and West of Spain, while Group 2 welcomes clubs from the country's South and Eastern sides. The Spanish Federation decided to lower travel costs and make things easier for all teams.

Every club in each group faces its rivals twice per season, which occurs between August and June of the subsequent year. The winner of each group gets automatically promoted to the Segunda División. Both title holders from each group lock horns in a two-leg tie to determine the category’s champion. The team with the better record hosts the second leg; if necessary, extra time and penalties are used to determine the winner.

Added to the two automatic promotions for the group winners, the Primera Federación also has two more promotion spots to the Segunda División via a promotion playoff played by the clubs finishing in second to fifth place in each group. All ties are played on a home-and-away basis, with the better-ranked team hosting the second leg.

The league has one of the highest relegation rates in Europe, as ten out of the 40 teams involved face the risk of being relegated. The five teams with the worst records in each group get dropped to the Segunda Federación division, where they are registered in their corresponding region.

The Primera Federación has an additional bonus to all teams involved, since the top seven teams in each group get an automatic invite to play in the subsequent season’s Copa del Rey. Reserve teams are allowed to play in this league by the Spanish Federation, although there are some rules to their involvement. The Primera Federación allows reserve teams to play in the division if their parent teams are at least one league above them. Some reserve teams have earned promotion in the past, albeit subject to the aforementioned rule.