Relegation vs. Promotion

In every sport there are various different leagues. For soccer, each country has their own levels of leagues. We might only know of the best ones but there are about 3 leagues per country in most sports. Each of these teams got to their positions by being either relegated or promoted. Teams want to be promoted to the point where they play in the top division such as the Barclays Premier League or maybe even the La Liga BBVA. Players want to make it to the highest league so they can move to the bigger teams and then make more money.

The effects of relegation and promotion can be either good or bad. Sometimes we see a club go completely bankrupt because they have moved down leagues. But there is also teams that can come out of nowhere and do extremely well and move their way up to the top division.

Promotion

In 2002, the Football Association allowed the club Wimbledon F.C. to move to Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire. The team that came to Milton Keys was then called the Milton Keynes Dons. The fans from Wimbledon F.C. bought the club back thus creating two teams. The MK Dons have then moved themselves up the ranks and currently they are in the Football League Championship. We could see the rise of the club and see them in the top division. The team started from the bottom being relegated from years finally was good enough to keep moving forward. Promotion is good, because players and the club are making more money and they get more recognition.



Relegation

No team wants to hear that their club has been relegated to a lower division, but it has to happen every season. As much as it breaks our hearts, it makes for a very fun thing to watch. In the early 1990’s, the Barclays Premier League had a dominant team in that of Leeds United. Leeds United showed great promise among the league, signing players such as Eric Cantona, Alan Smith, Fabian Delph, and many others that were and now are very good players. They were the dominant team until their after their Champions League semi-final season. We saw the team not being able to pay their big players, so they started selling some players and before you knew it they were relegated the whole way to Football League 1, which is two levels down from the Premier League. Since then the team has started to come back making their up to the Football League Championship and have been doing well but not enough to be promoted yet. After this all happened, a new famous term has been popularized around England called Pulling A Leeds. Basically it is used when a club shows financial mismanagement. But relegation can affect even the best of teams. 

We also see some great clubs that are very close to getting relegated. This happened to Borussia Dortmund, a club in Germany. In the past couple of years in the German Bundesliga there have been two powerhouses, they were Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. Dortmund had their three big super stars Marco Reus, Mario Gotze, and Robert Lewandowski. Bayern then bought Gotze and Lewandowski. Bayern tried to get Reus but he was loyal to his club. The two clubs played for the 2014 Bundesliga title. Bayern finished on top with a 2-1 victory. Both teams had high hopes because of their previous success. Reus was hurt during the season which also led the team to not play well for the coming season as he was their star player. Last season Dortmund and Reus were not clicking, and found themselves at the bottom of the table and almost saw their team being relegated. Near the end of the season the club pulled it back together and kept themselves in the division. This season they have come out very well and are currently 4-0 at the top of the German Bundesliga. They have a very good team now including world class players such as Marco Reus, Pierre Emerick Aubamayang, Mats Hummles and many more. So we see the scare of relegation force teams to start clicking and playing well. 

The debate about Relegation vs Promotion is whether it should still be a thing or if it should be terminated, forcing teams to stay in their current position. I personally believe that it should remain as it is. It would not benefit the lower level teams if they were forced to stay where they are because they would stay making very little money and most players would not want to play for a team where they aren’t getting a good fan base. 

Everyone has their viewpoint on this topic. 

Whats Yours?