Playoff is here. We will still have to wait for next Saturday the 15th, but all the machinery is already greased for the most exciting qualifying rounds of the season. After its conclusion, four clubs and all of their footballers will have had their lives completely changed. They will go to Second Division, a professional competitionl, where a lot of money moves in terms of sponsorships and television and where dreaming of playing against Real Madrid, Barcelona or Atlético is already possible. With the dispute of the last day of the promotion phase, the 16 candidates who will travel to Estremadura with the illusion of returning with an even greater prize. Life or death crosses, without double chances and with fans in the stands. Then, everything you need to know about the Playoff:
Classifieds
As first of the group: Badajoz, Linares, Ibiza, Real Sociedad B (Sanse) and Burgos.
As group seconds: San Sebastián de los Reyes, UCAM Murcia, Barcelona B, Bilbao Athletic and Celta B.
As group third parties: Castilla, Algeciras, Andorra, Amorebieta and Zamora.
As best room: Calahorra.
Dates: when is the Playoff?
The Playoff will be held from next week in Extremadura in four different venues. The Royal Spanish Football Federation has not yet confirmed the match schedules, although everything indicates that will be distributed between Saturday and Sunday and it will be tried to avoid the coincidence with the unified day of First Division.
The first round, therefore, will be played next weekend, Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 May. The final for the promotion, a week later: the weekend of May 23. First of all, this Monday the 10th the draw for the initial crosses will be held. In between, the final draw will be cast on Monday 17th.
Format: what are the Playoff rules?
The Playoff has changed remarkably with respect to previous years. This season the 16 qualifiers will be paired first with each other, unlike the crosses between leaders from other campaigns. The draw, of course, will not be pure: it will pit the best against the worst.
So: the best room will face a leader; the other four leaders against four third parties chosen by lottery. There is a third unpaired, which will be a rival of one of the five seconds. The remaining four seconds will be measured against each other for a place in the final.
After the first round, a new draw will be held to match the eight survivors. The same rules will continue to exist of pitting the best against the worst and avoiding crossing between clubs in the same group. In this way, there is the possibility that, for example, the four from Group II who have entered the Playoff will be promoted.
All the qualifying rounds will be a single match, but there will be privileges for the leaders and the best classified. They will proceed to the next phase or will be promoted with a draw to 120 minutes. There will always be extra time, but never penalties in the event that they face each other, a team that has been in a better position compared to another that has finished below. As an example, Badajoz will go up if they draw their two games. The same would not happen to Calahorra.
On May 23, the four teams that make the leap to professional football will be definitively known. The 12 eliminated will be satisfied with the new category, the First RFEF, with the same conditions as the rest, although, yes, they will have bonuses to their performance such as the guaranteed place in the next Copa del Rey.
This is the Playoff
-Eight heats, 'semifinals', pit the best against the worst.
-After that, four heats, 'finals, which will also pit the best against the worst for four places in LaLiga SmartBank.
-Everything is a single party in neutral headquarters.
-Yes, there will be public, up to 50% capacity.
-In case of a tie, there will be an extension. If the extension ends with a draw, the best classified in the previous phase will pass. If they classified the same, there will be penalties.
Venue: where is it held?
Not counting last season, The Playoff has always been played in the traditional stadiums of the teams, with roundtrip playoffs. The calendar and the pandemic forced the 2019-20 to be played in Malaga. This year Marbella was again a candidate, along with A Coruña and other alternatives. Finally, it will be in Extremadura.
The four stadiums chosen by the Royal Spanish Football Federation will be able to host a 50% capacity due to the health restrictions of the Autonomous Community. These are the New Vivero de Badajoz, Francisco de la Hera de Almendralejo, Municipal de Villanovense and Vicente Sanz de Don Benito Stadium. The draws will be held at the Palacio de Congresos de Mérida.
Learn more about the Playoff venues.