Real Madrid Castilla begins today against Las Rozas de Iván Helguera the most convoluted season in the history of Second B. The madridista subsidiary, which for the second season will have Raúl as coach, was placed in group 5, newly created. When last season was suspended, the relegations were canceled, but the category welcomed 22 new teams promoted from the Third Division. To accommodate new entrants and take on the reduction of the calendar (the competition will start two months later than usual), The RFEF, apart from expanding the number of groups to five, has designed a competition format with several phases and subgroups. In fact, Castilla will only face 12 of the remaining 19 teams in their group 5.
It should also be noted that this will be a transitional season after which Second B will disappear and will give way to two new categories: the First RFEF and the Second RFEF. Therefore, this year the teams will not only fight to be promoted to the Second Professional Division (LaLiga SmartBank) or avoid relegation to the Third Division, but to play the following season in the third step of Spanish football that will occupy the new First RFEF (with 40 teams and which has been colloquially speaking as Second B Pro) or in the fourth rung, that of the Second RFEF (with 90 teams).
The restructuring of non-professional men's soccer competitions
| Cat. | Temp. 2020-2021 | Temp. 2021-2020 |
| 1st | First Division (LaLiga Santander) | |
| 2nd | Second Division (LaLiga SmartBank) | |
| 3rd | Second B | First RFEF (40 teams) |
| 4th | Third | Second RFEF (90 teams) |
| 5th | Regional | Third RFEF |
| 6th | Regional | Regional |
With these premises, we explain below Castilla's itinerary for this 2020-2021 season, in which between 26 and 28 games await, depending on the objectives for which Raúl's pupils end up fighting, most of them champions of the last Youth League with the Juvenile last August. All teams will play the first two phases and the third will be reserved only for the 16 clubs that fight in the playoff for promotion to the Second Division.
FIRST PHASE – subgroup A
The first part of the season against Castilla will consist of 18 games. In that he will face 9 rivals in a double round. For this first phase, the groups have been divided into two subgroups: A and B. Castilla (in A) will only be measured in this first phase against those of the same subgroup, that is, the other 7 teams from Madrid (Atlético B, Majadahonda, Internacional, Las Rozas, Getafe B, Sanse and Navalcarnero) and the two from Mallorca (Atlético Baleares and Poblense). (In subgroup B there are the 4 Castilian-La Mancha -Villarrubia, Talavera, Villarrobledo and Socuéllamos-, the 5 Extremadura -Extremadura, Badajoz, Don Benito, Mérida and Villanovense- and Melilla)
The classification after the 18 days will serve to rebuild group 5 for the second phase. The first three of each subgroup A or B will form subgroup C, from 4th to 6th they will form subgroup D and from 7th to 10th they will form subgroup E.
IMPORTANT: All the matches in this first phase are important, because the points and results against all rivals (not only those who advance to the same phase) carry over to the second phase. In other words, even if Castilla reaches the last matchday mathematically classified for one of the subgroups, they must seek victory to advance with 3 more points to the second phase.
SECOND STAGE
Subgroup C
If it is from 1st to 3rd in the first phase.- If Castilla is among the top three in the first phase, they will fight to qualify for the promotion playoff to the Second Division and, in any case, they will automatically obtain a place for the First RFEF 2021-2022. In this second phase in subgroup C they would face in a double round league only against the first three classified in subgroup B of the first phase.
After playing the 6 rounds, the first three of this subgroup (and the fourth, if it turns out to be the best of the five groups) will play the playoff for promotion to Second Division. The rest of the teams finish the competition.
Subgroup D
If it is from 4th to 6th in the first phase.- In that case, Castilla will fight to qualify for the First RFEF 2021-2022. In this subgroup D, they would face the teams classified from 4th to 6th in subgroup B of the first phase in a double round league.
After the 6 days have been played, the competition ends. The first two of this subgroup obtain a place for the First RFEF 2021-2022 and the other four play the Second RFEF 2021-2022.
Subgroup E
If it is from 7th to 10th in the first phase.- In that case, Castilla will fight to qualify for the Second RFEF 2021-2022 and not be relegated to Third. In this subgroup E they would face the teams classified from 7th to 10th in subgroup B of the first phase in a double round league.
After playing the 8 days, the competition ends. The first two of this subgroup play in Second RFEF the 2021-2022, the last four (from 4th to 8th) descend to Third. The 3rd must avoid being the worst of the five groups so as not to descend to Third; If he is one of the best four, he will also play the 2021-2022 in Second RFEF.
THIRD PHASE – Playoff for promotion to Second Division
If Castilla plays the second phase in subgroup C and remains in the top three (or is the best fourth of the five groups), they will extend their season to fight for promotion to the Second Division. This year's playoff dispenses with the champions round, so whatever the position of the teams, they will have to overcome two rounds to achieve promotion. The qualifiers will be a single match and in a single neutral venue in concentration format
The mess of coefficients
Reading the Second B rankings is going to take a lot of attention this season. Not only because of the convoluted competition system, but because instead of points To determine some positions, you will have to resort to the coefficients of points per game. This will happen, for example, to determine who is the best quarter of subgroups C that accesses the promotion playoff, since groups 2 and 3 have 21 teams instead of 20 and, therefore, there will be teams that have two games more than others.
Further, The coefficients within the same group or subgroup will also be used in the event that, due to the development of the pandemic, one team cannot play the same number of games as the others.. Of course, to take that team into account, the competition rules require that they have completed at least 80% of the games that the others have played.