Play-offs for promotion and relegation in regional amateur football, season 2023/2024

The overview of promotion/relegation matches is maintained manually based on the schedule set by the RBFA, Voetbal Vlaanderen or the FFA. Errors may slip into the overview, so always check the official publications.

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At the end of an amateur football season in Belgium, the final table of a division is not always the last word. In most provincial and interprovincial divisions, part of the promotions is decided via play-offs — an additional mini-competition after the regular season. This system has existed for decades and is laid down in detail in the regulations of the RBFA (or KBVB), Voetbal Vlaanderen and the FFA (formerly ACFF).

Why this system exists

The play-offs essentially serve to align the number of promoted and relegated teams with the available places in the higher division, without having to revise a regular competition. Because clubs that win a period still get their chance, even if they are not top of the final table, the suspense lasts for a larger part of the season. It does add an extra layer of complexity: who may or may not take part depends on a stack of rules about period championships, direct relegation, and for A and B teams of the same club even on whether the A team will be promoted. The regulations provide a solution for almost every scenario, including the order in which extra promoted teams are designated if more places become available than planned.

The basic principle: period champions

The regular competition is split into two or three periods (for example three blocks of ten matches with sixteen clubs). After each period a separate table is drawn up, and the club that earns the most points within that period becomes period champion. That right to take part in the play-offs lapses if the period champion is also the overall (end-of-season) champion; in that case the next team in the final ranking moves up.

In concrete terms, in a second, third or fourth provincial division this usually means four teams take part in the promotion play-offs: the three period champions and the runner-up in the final ranking. A team that is relegated directly or has to play the relegation play-offs may not take part in the promotion play-offs, even if it has won a period.

How the matches work

The matches usually follow a knockout format: if the score is level after 90 minutes, extra time and possibly penalties follow. The example of the province of Antwerp in the 2025-2026 season shows the set-up: in fourth provincial, 28 teams (seven divisions × four participants) start across four matchdays, after which three winners are promoted to third provincial. In third provincial twelve teams start, in second provincial eight. If more places become available than planned, a fixed ranking (points, goal difference, goals, place in the regular competition, possibly a draw) determines who is next in line.

Relegation follows similar logic in the opposite direction: besides the teams relegated directly, a triangular tournament is sometimes played between teams that finished in a given place, to designate the last relegated team.

One level up: the interprovincial play-offs

Above the provincial play-offs are the Interprovincial Play-offs Voetbal Vlaanderen (IEVV). These bring together the period champions of first provincial from the five Flemish provinces, plus a sixteenth team from one province on a rotating alphabetical basis. In the 2025-2026 season that was the province of Antwerp. The sixteen teams are drawn against each other in eight matches, followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final; the winners progress to third division VV. The FFA has a comparable system, organised on the same basic principles but with its own number of participants.

The interprovincial level has existed since the 1993-1994 season, originally as a way to designate extra promoted teams to Promotion (then fourth division) when the competition structure was expanded. The format has been adjusted several times since, including after the major reform of 2016, which split Belgian football into professional and amateur football and had the play-offs organised per language wing (Voetbal Vlaanderen versus FFA) instead of at national level.

Also at national level

The play-off principle is not limited to the provincial levels. The federal regulations (Book B, Title 7) list seven types of play-offs: play-offs for first national, play-offs for promotion and relegation in second and third national (for both Voetbal Vlaanderen and FFA), the interprovincial play-offs and the provincial play-offs. In addition there is a separate mini-competition, the "play-offs", which designates the team promoted from first national to 1B in professional football.