Liga Federal de Valladares

The Liga Federal de Valladares (Federal League of Valladares), commonly known as the LFV, is a Valladar governing body that runs the major professional football leagues in Valladares. It was founded after the 30th season of the Valladar Super League and serves under the authority of the Valladar Football Association. It is heartquartered in Metropolis.

The league is responsible for overseeing, organizing, and managing the top three leagues in Valladares, Liga-1, Liga-2 and Liga-3, and is also responsible for the 60 professional football clubs that contest football in the top three tiers of Valladar football (20 in Liga-1, 20 in Liga-2, and 20 in Liga-3).

Mission
The Liga Federal de Valladares describes itself through its mission statement. The LFV must:


 * Organize, manage, and regulate all the aspects of professional football in Valladares, in accordance with the guidelines set forth by the Valladar Football Association.
 * Finance all operations or any actions that are likely to develop the resources of professional football in Valladares.
 * Apply the sanctions imposed by its authority organizations vis-à-vis members of sports clubs and its licenses and any other person bounded by these articles.
 * To defend the moral and material interests of Valladar professional club football and its members, both in Valladares and abroad.

Licensing
Membership into the Liga Federal de Valladares is restricted to the 60 clubs that have earned the right to compete in any of the top three tiers of Valladar domestic football through sporting merit. Clubs that are promoted from the Liga Nacional must apply for membership into the LFV and a license in order to be eligible to compete in Liga-3 the following season, while clubs that are relegated from Liga-3 every season lose their license and membership as well as their professional status.

Licensing criteria
Clubs must comply with the following requirements in order to be eligible for a LFV license:


 * Clubs must have competed the previous season in any of the top three tiers of the Valladar football league pyramid, or failing that, they must have been promoted from the highest tier controlled by the VFA (i.e. the Liga Nacional) on sporting merit.
 * Clubs must pay an entry fee of P$ 4,000 (roughly NSD 7,040).
 * Clubs must own or have access to a stadium able to seat at least 5,000 people for Liga-3 games, or 10,000 people for Liga-2 and Liga-1. Such stadium must have artificial lighting and meet all applicable technical criteria for television broadcasts.
 * Clubs are required to be majority-owned by club members. Exceptions to this rule are works clubs such as Fontvielle Impact, which was founded by Tamount Inc. for the leisure of the workers of its Fontvielle factory.
 * Clubs must have not been subject to administrative sanctions for the most recent three seasons.

Competition
The 60 member clubs of the LFV are grouped into three divisions: Liga-1 (20 clubs), Liga-2 (20 clubs) and Liga-3 (20 clubs). In any given season a club plays each of the others in the same division twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, though special circumstances may allow a club to host matches at other venues. This makes for a total of 38 games played each season in both leagues.

Clubs gain three points for a win, one for a draw, and none for a defeat. At the end of each season, the club with the most points in Liga-1 is crowned champion of Valladares. Teams are ranked by total points, then head-to-head record and goals, overall goal difference, and then goals scored. If points are equal, then head-to-head, goal difference and then goals scored determine the winner. If still equal, positions are decided on a drawing of lots. The three lowest placed teams in both Liga-1 and Liga-2 are relegated to Liga-2 and Liga-3, respectively.

In Liga-2 and Liga-3, the top two teams at the end of each season earn automatic promotion to the upper tier, with teams placed from third to tenth place competing in the final play-offs for the third promotion berth. The runners-up of the final play-offs are entitled to face the 17th-ranked team of Liga-1 and Liga-2 in a double-legged series for an extra promotion. The three lowest placed teams in Liga-3 are relegated to the Liga Nacional and lose their LFV membership, being replaced by the top three teams in the Liga Nacional, or the three highest-ranked teams that meet the admision criteria set by the LFV.