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MATCHDAY
2008-09 |
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GROUP
III INFORMATION |
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CD Javea play in the Valencian Regional Preferente League, a regional competition which sits at Level 5 of a loose Spanish League 'pyramid system'. Like the Third Division, these premier regional leagues, of which there are more than thirty spread across the country, are administered by the football federations of each of the 17 autonomous communities of Spain; in the case of Valencia, the league is administered by the Federación de Fútbol de la Comunidad Valenciana (FFCV). The Valencian Regional Preferente League consists of 72 teams spread across four regional groups; only Andalucía can boast as big a regional competition. Although the exact composition of each group can vary from season to season, according to the geographical location of the teams promoted or relegated to the level at the end of the previous season, each 'mini-league' broadly covers the following areas: Group 1 covers the northern province of Castellon, Group 2 covers the northern part of the province of Valencia with Group 3 covering the southern part, whilst Group 4 caters for clubs in the province of Alicante, the 'Costa Blanca League'. Clubs located on the borders between the provinces can find themselves swapping between groups according to that season's composition of the league as a whole and CD Javea have occasionally switched between Group 3 and Group 4. As an example, the rojiblancos switched to Group III for the 2008-09 season because too many Alicante-based teams were relegated from the Third Division and thus Group 4 was top-heavy; UD Benissa, promoted from the Regional Primera League also find themselves playing in the Valencian group. Promotion is decided by the lottery of a play-off competition at the end of the season featuring the top three clubs in each of the four groups. A draw is made at the headquarters of the FFCV in Valencia and the three ultimate winners are promoted to the Third Division - Group 6. The format of the play-offs occasionally changes; recently it has been a simple two-legged knock-out competition consisting of three semi-finals and three finals, the winners of which are promoted. As recently as 2005 the play-offs consisted of three 'mini-leagues' of four teams each who played a round-robin series of games with the winner of each group winning promotion. Most teams are semi-professional with the occasional 'fallen giant' making up the small fully professional quota. In the case of CD Javea, the first team squad are paid a nominal sum agreed of an individual basis by both parties at the beginning of each season. At this level of the game in Spain, individuals tend to sign contracts on a short-term basis and you will rarely find a player commit himself by written contract to a club for longer than one season. There are plenty of 'journey-men' footballers at this level and there are many examples of players featuring for, say, five clubs in five years. That said, there can be a certain degree of loyalty and it is not unknown for players to commit themselves to their home-town club for several years; UD Altea's Raul Parra has made almost 250 appearances for the club. I often get asked about the standard of football at this level in Spain. On paper, the Regional Preferente equates to the Football Conference in England, just outside the Football League. In reality, the standard probably compares to the Southern League - at best - but this is, after all, essentially semi-professional non-league football. Unfortunately anyone who arrives at the Municipal Stadium in Javea expecting a Premier League standard football is going to be sorely disappointed! REGIONAL
PREFERENTE LEAGUE - GROUP 3
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