The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be either a single game, a series of games, or a tournament, and may use a single-elimination system or one of several other different playoff formats. Playoff, in regard to international fixtures, is to qualify or progress to the next round of a competition or tournament.
The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the Isle of Man also competing. The system has a hierarchical format with promotion and relegation between leagues at different levels, allowing even the smallest club the theoretical possibility of ultimately rising to the very top of the system, the Premier League. Below that are levels 2–4 organised by the English Football League, then the National League System from levels 5–10 administered by the FA, and thereafter Regional feeder leagues run by relevant county FAs on an ad hoc basis. It also often happens that the Premier Division of a Regional Feeder League has its constitution given to it by the FA. They have to accept it or appeal but cannot reject it at an annual general meeting.
Football is the most popular sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association football clubs, England has more clubs involved in the code than any other country. England hosts the world's first club, Sheffield F.C.; the world's oldest professional association football club, Notts County; the oldest national governing body, the Football Association; the joint-oldest national team; the oldest national knockout competition, the FA Cup; and the oldest national league, the English Football League. Today England's top domestic league, the Premier League, is one of the most popular and richest sports leagues in the world, with five of the ten richest football clubs in the world as of 2022.
The FA Inter-League Cup is a football competition run by The Football Association. It was created in the 2003–04 season to provide an English representative in the UEFA Regions' Cup.
In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams can move up and down between multiple divisions arranged in a hierarchical structure, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. In a system of promotion and relegation, the best-ranked team(s) in a lower division are promoted to a higher division for the next season, and the worst-ranked team(s) in the higher division are relegated to the lower division for the next season. During the season, teams that are high enough in the league table that they would qualify for promotion are sometimes said to be in the promotion zone, and those at the bottom are in the relegation zone.
The Belgian Pro League, officially the Jupiler Pro League, due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler, is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023–24 season onwards, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Challenger Pro League.
Colby A.F.C. are a football club from Colby on the Isle of Man. They compete in the Isle of Man Football League and wear black and white kits. They play their home games at Station Fields in Colby.
Marown A.F.C. are a football club from Crosby in the parish of Marown in the Isle of Man. They compete in the Premier League of the Isle of Man Football League and wear a maroon and gold strip. Home games are played at the Marown Memorial Playing Fields at Old Church Road, Crosby. The club was formed in 1950, and run teams ranging from Under 6s to Under 16s and seniors.
The NIFL Premiership, known as the Sports Direct Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and Irish Premiership colloquially, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northern Ireland Football League – the national league in Northern Ireland. The NIFL Premiership was established as the IFA Premiership in 2008 under the auspices of the Irish Football Association as the successor to the Irish Premier League, before the Northern Ireland Football League was created for the start of the 2013–14 season. At the end of the season, the champion club is presented with the Gibson Cup.
The Syrian Premier League is a professional association football league in Syria and the top division of the Syrian football league system. The league comprises 12 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Syrian League 1st Division. The Syrian Premier League was founded in 1966, unifying the local leagues that had existed previously. Seasons mostly run from August to May.
The Bosnia and Herzegovina football league system is a series of connected leagues for football clubs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The system is hierarchical, with promotion and relegation between leagues at different levels. The top division is organized by the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the second and third levels by entity associations, and lower levels by cantonal or regional associations.
The Japanese association football league system is organized in a pyramidal shape similar to football league systems in many other countries around the world. The leagues are bound by the principle of promotion and relegation; however, there are stringent criteria for promotion from the JFL to J3, which demands a club being backed by the town itself including the local government, a community of fans and corporate sponsors rather than a parent company or a corporation.
The 2016–17 Southern Combination Football League season was the 92nd in the history of the competition, which lies at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system.
The Isle of Man Premier League is the highest division of the Isle of Man Football League and the highest overall in the Isle of Man football league system. The Premier League, which was introduced for the 2007–08 season, was previously known as the First Division. Each year, the top finishing club is crowned league champion, and the two lowest placed clubs are relegated to Division Two.
The 2021 AFC Champions League was the 40th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 19th under the current AFC Champions League title.
The 2022 AFC Cup was the 19th edition of the AFC Cup, Asia's secondary club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
The 2021–22 Northern Counties East Football League season was the 40th in the history of Northern Counties East Football League, a football competition in England.
The 2022–23 Southern Counties East Football League season was the 57th in the history of the Southern Counties East Football League, and the seventh year the competition has two divisions, the Premier Division and Division One, at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system.
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