The final four for promotion to the Second Division are already known. Eight teams fight for the dream of making the leap to professional football and, after a difficult season, they are only one game away from achieving it. The parties They will be played this weekend, May 22 and 23, at Francisco de la Hera (Almendralejo) and Nuevo Vivero (Badajoz).
The draw resulted in the cross between Badajoz, the team that has given the best performance during the season and which has just eliminated Zamora (2-0), and Amorebieta.Xabi Alonso's Real Sociedad B will face Algeciras de Salva Ballesta, who eliminated Sanse in the previous round. Ibiza, another of the teams that has given the best performance this season and favorite for the second consecutive year to climb, will face UCAM Murcia, which eliminated Barça B. on penalties. And finally, Burgos, seeded and who arrives to win at Calahorra (1-0), they will have to face Bilbao Athletic.
What is certain is that in these finals there will be no penalty shoot-out. In the event that the tie persists after the extension, the one that rises will be based on classification criteria in the League. What makes the four seeds (Badajoz, Real Sociedad B, Ibiza and Burgos) have an advantage. An award for the trajectory of the entire season and criteria that were already used last season.
Of the eight teams that are still in contention only two do not know what it is to play in the silver category of Spanish football. It's about Ibiza and Amorebieta. Badajoz played in the fifties and sixties and also in the 90s. The last time they played in Segunda was in 2002-03. A year earlier it would descend and would not climb Burgos again. And in 2003-04, Algeciras would do the same, after a brief passage through the silver category in this century, although it did have a greater presence in the middle of the last century. Of the two subsidiaries that still have options, the one that has been in the Second Division the longest has been Bilbao Athletic (14), playing the last time in 2015-16. Real Sociedad B, meanwhile, only did it for two seasons (60-61 and 61-62). The last to be promoted to Second was UCAM, in 16-17, returning to Second B. the following season.
Pairings
Real Sociedad B – Algeciras (Saturday 22 at 8:00 p.m., Francisco de la Hera)
Badajoz – Amorebieta (Saturday 22 at 10:00 p.m., Nuevo Vivero)
Burgos – Bilbao Athletic (Sunday 23 at 8:00 p.m., Francisco de la Hera)
Ibiza – UCAM Murcia (Sunday 23 at 12:00, Nuevo Vivero)