What the Reducido is in Argentine football
The Reducido is a short knockout tournament among the teams that finished behind the champion, which awards a second promotion place.
In Argentine lower-league football the champion goes up directly, but a second ticket is settled separately: the Reducido. The best-placed sides that did not win the title meet in knockout ties, and the winner goes up with the champion.
In ELDT the Reducido exists only in the Argentine pyramid of Season 2, in three divisions, and is played by the sides finishing 2nd to 5th: semi-finals 2nd v 5th and 3rd v 4th, then the final. Ties are single matches with no penalties: if a tie ends level, the side that finished higher in the table goes through, which is why finishing 2nd or 3rd is worth so much.
Season 2 is the last with a Reducido. From Season 3 (7 January 2027), in every country only the champion goes up directly and the runner-up plays the promotion play-off against a club from the division above.
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