Competition
The Portuguese Third Division was established in 1948 and currently has 7 Sections with the Championship of each being divided into two phases.
The 6 Sections (A, B, C, D, E, F) within Mainland Portugal each have 12 teams and play 22 matches in the first phase. This is followed by the second phase where the top 6 teams in each Section compete in the Promotion Group and play 10 matches to determine the champion teams from each Group that will be promoted to Portuguese Second Division. The last 6 teams in each Section compete in the Relegation Group and play 10 matches to determine the last 3 teams to be relegated to the District Leagues.
In the Azores Section there are 10 teams that play 18 matches in the first phase. This is followed by the second phase where the top 4 teams in the Section compete in the Promotion Group and play 6 matches to determine the champion team that will be promoted to Portuguese Second Division. However limitations are placed on promotion to the Portuguese Second Division dependent upon the position of the 6 teams from Madeira competing in the Second Division Championship. If no teams from Azores finish in a relegation position in Second Division then the lowest placed team plays a two leg play-off with the winners of the Third Division Azores Section to determine the remaining team from Azores that will compete in the Second Division. The last 6 teams in the Section compete in the Relegation Group and play 10 matches to determine the last 3 teams to be relegated to the District Leagues. If there are six Azores teams in the Second Division similar play-off arrangements apply as in Madeira.
Read more about this topic: Portuguese Third Division
Famous quotes containing the word competition:
“Knowledge in the form of an informational commodity indispensable to productive power is already, and will continue to be, a major—perhaps the major—stake in the worldwide competition for power. It is conceivable that the nation-states will one day fight for control of information, just as they battled in the past for control over territory, and afterwards for control over access to and exploitation of raw materials and cheap labor.”
—Jean François Lyotard (b. 1924)
“Never before has a generation of parents faced such awesome competition with the mass media for their children’s attention. While parents tout the virtues of premarital virginity, drug-free living, nonviolent resolution of social conflict, or character over physical appearance, their values are daily challenged by television soaps, rock music lyrics, tabloid headlines, and movie scenes extolling the importance of physical appearance and conformity.”
—Marianne E. Neifert (20th century)
“Every sect is a moral check on its neighbour. Competition is as wholesome in religion as in commerce.”
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864)