Machida and Iwata have been promoted to the first tier of Japanese football. It’s the first time in Machida’s history, whereas Iwata go straight back up after one season

3rd - 6th will playoff for the final promotion spot Iwata 2023 Verdy 2006 Chiba 2009 Kofu 2007 Yamagata 2015 Nagasaki 2018

The bottom two teams, Omiya Ardija and Kanazawa, have been relegated to the third tier. It’s the first time in Omiya’s history, meanwhile Kanazawa is back down after 9 seasons

Would be interesting to see them win their first championship though

The top 8 are seperated into two groups where each team plays each other twice, with the top team of each advancing to the final, where the winner of that final will play the winner of the Apertura, Millonarios

Group A: Águilas, Tolima, Junior, Cali

Group B: Independiente, América, Nacional, Millonarios

The bottom two teams over a 3 season point average, Unión Magdalena and Atlético Huila, have been relegated to the second tier

The top 3 teams of each group qualify for the playoffs, with the 2nd and 3rd placed teams playing against each other, San Fransisco vs Alianza and Miguelito vs Herrera, with the winners playing against the 1st placed teams, Tauro and Independiente

And with the fewest goals scored, they managed to stay up on the final matchday after winning…you guessed it by 0-1 after only scoring 9 goals away from home all season, cheers from an Australian interested in South American football

The top 4 of each group have qualified for the promotion playoffs, where they will play 2 legged ties to determine the winner of the Torneo Clausura

This winner will play against the winner of the Torneo Apertura from earlier in the season, Ureña, in a promotion final to determine who gets promoted to the Primera División 2024

The loser will play against the bottom team, Mineros, from the first tier Primera División 2023 in a promotion/relegation playoff

Yeah that extra match is ‘derby week’ where each team plays against their rival or the team geographically closest to them

In the Apertura they reverse the fixtures for the home/away

The top eight teams have qualified for the promotion playoffs, which will be split into two groups where they play each other twice and the top team of each to advance to the two legged final

The winner will then play against the winner of the Apertura, Patriotas, in a two legged final to see who gets promoted to the first tier of Colombian football

It doesn’t end there, with the loser of the promotion final to get a second chance and play against the top team of the aggregate table (Apertura + Clausura + finals) in a two legged final to see who gets the other promotion spot