Spain III Division

Spain. That was the end of long and disappointing waiting. Done formidably and yet much was to be still desired. In short, Barcelona dominated this championship.

Third Division – Segunda B in Spanish terms. 40 teams divided into 2 leagues, the top two teams of each promoted. The last three relegated to Tercera Division – 4th level. Only a handful familiar names here.

Perhaps Xerez were best known and that may be for the wine. They finished 6th in Group II.

Well, right to the winners then.

Group I.

Deportivo Alaves, hardly heard of outside Spain back then, ended 3rd with 50 points. Close, but not a firm contender.

Deportivo Aragon finished 2nd with 54 points. Lost the league title by a point, but was heapily promoted.

Sestao SC won the league with 55 points. A trophy is a trophy, this club does not win every day anything, so it was fine to be champion even of Third Division. Promoted, naturally.

Group II. Much more dramatic championship – 6 teams competed for promotional spots. Xerex eventually dropped out, but the second promotional spot was decided on either goal-difference or head-to-head results: Balompie Linense, Algeciras CF, and Albacete Balompie finished with 47 points each. Albacete had the best goal-difference, so it looks right they finished 2nd, but Linense had better goal-difference than Algeciras and was placed behind them, 4th. So, most possibly places were decided by head-to-head results.

Albacete Balompie – lucky 2nd and promoted.

Rayo Vallecano prevailed and won the championship with 50 points. Not an easy victory, but Rayo managed to climb back to their familiar second level quickly.