UPDATE ON PLAYOFFS AND COPA DEL REY SITUATION, 22nd March 2018
UPDATE ON PLAYOFFS AND COPA DEL REY SITUATION, 22nd March 2018,
There was some rearranged fixtures yesterday with these results:
CD Tenerife B 1 Las Palmas C 0
CD Mensajero 5 U.S. Yaiza 1
UD San Fernando 4 CD Santa Úrsula 0
UD Ibarra 0 CD Unión Puerto 0
CD Vera 2 UD Villa Santa Brígida 2
UD Los Llanos 1 SD Tenisca 2
With CD Mensajero beating Yaiza this moves them up to 3rd spot and Las Palmas C down to 4th with Lanzarote dropping to 5th.
Things do get rather complicated in Spanish football regarding playoffs, promotion and Copa Del Rey Qualification.
Fernando Torres on the scoresheet for Atlético Madrid in their 1-2 win versus Lanzarote in 2002
The winners of the league do not automatically get promoted, they still have a playoff match both home and away against a mainland club with the winners being promoted.
The clubs who finish 2nd, 3rd and 4th will all be involved in playoffs along with the losers from the winners final who get a second chance. These teams will all be drawn against mainland sides in a two leg 1/4 final with winners onto semi then final all of which are two legged affairs with the winner being promoted to Segunda B. Its some journey!
To complicate matters further, teams who have a B or a C team cannot play in the same league as their higher team. For example in Lanzarote´s league Las Palmas C occupy 4th spot however their B team is currently in the relegation zone in Segunda B. This is bad news for Las Palmas C as the best that they can hope for is to remain in this league. Should Las Palmas B be relegated then the C team will have to drop down a league and will be automatically relegated from the Tercera Division.
The bonus of this for Lanzarote means that 5th position will be an available playoff spot.
NOW EXPLAINING THE CUP!
Lanzarote in the late 90´s and early 2000´s had a love affair with the Copa Del Rey with narrow defeats against both Real and Atlético Madrid with Zidane, Figo and Fernando Torres all making an appearance in Arrecife. A 5-1 win versus Primera Liga side CD Tenerife and other wins versus Athletic Bilbao and CD Real Mallorca among many others will never be forgotten by all who witnessed them. (go onto www.lanzarotefootball.com and click on history to see Lanzarote´s progress in the cup including highlights of the Lanzarote V Real Madrid match in 2001)
Athletic Bilbao not the only Primera Liga side to lose against Lanzarote.
The only side in the Tercera Division who qualifies for the Copa Del Rey are the league winners except of course if their first team is in the competition.
CD Tenerife B are league leaders and their first team are two leagues above in Segunda A (The Championship) so it wont be them or Las Palmas C. That means a 2nd or possibly 3rd place finish will give you entry in the cup for next season.
UD San Fernando are hot favourites to take that position as currently they are second and are 8 points ahead of Lanzarote but both sides meet this Sunday and if Lanzarote could find their 6th win on the bounce then there is still a great chance for the Rojillos to snatch that prize.
I do apologise for such a long explanation but I am often asked of this situation so felt it needed explaining. If anything is incorrect I would be happy for you to comment as rules do change, it used to be even more complicated than this.
Many people also say that they do not like this system with Champions not being automatically promoted etc however Spain has produced some brilliant players over recent years with National team results to back that up so it would be hard to justify to the Spanish Football Federation why this is wrong.
Not so long ago Sergio Ramos played against Lanzarote as a youth player for Sevilla B losing 4-0 to a rampant Rojillos side and also David De Gea was in goal for Atlético Madrid B in his younger days playing at the Arrecife stadium.
