Liga III

Liga III
	Liga III logo and the motto of the competition; "Your team, your football!"
Founded	1936
Country	Romania
Number of teams	80 (5x16)
Level on pyramid	3
Promotion to	Liga II
Relegation to	Liga IV
Domestic cup(s)	Cupa României; Supercupa României
Current champions	Gloria Buzău; Rapid București; Turris Turnu Măgurele; CSM Reșița; Miercurea Ciuc ; (2018–19)
	2019–20 Liga III

Liga III (also spelled Liga 3) is the third level of the Romanian football league system. Its name was changed from Divizia C to Liga III before the start of the 2006-07 season. It was the first in this format (six series of 18 teams each).^[1]

Current formatEdit

Since the 2014-2015 season Liga III was reorganized from 6 to 5 parallel regional divisions, each with 16 teams.

RelegationEdit

The bottom four teams from each division are relegated at the end of the season to the Liga IV. From the 12th placed teams, the team with the least points is relegated. To determine these teams, separate standings are computed, using only the games played against clubs ranked 1st through 11th.

PromotionEdit

Since the 2006-2007 season, the winners of each division got promoted to the 2007-08 Liga II season. There were also two playoff tournaments held at neutral venues involving the second placed teams, one with those from series 1, 2 and 3, the other with those from series 4, 5, and 6. The winners of the playoffs also got promoted to the 2007-08 Liga II season.

Since the 2014-2015 season, the winner of each series promotes directly to the Liga II, in total 5 teams.

List of Champions and Promoted TeamsEdit

Teams Promoted are shown in Bold or in "Other Teams Promoted" Column. ^[2]^[3]

Year	Winners	Runners-up	Other Teams Promoted	Notes (summarily)
2006–07	CSM Focşani Dinamo II Bucureşti Concordia Chiajna Drobeta-Turnu Severin Arieşul Turda Liberty Salonta	None	Inter Gaz Bucureşti Muresul Deva (the two playoff winners.)	6 teams promoted from the 6 leagues.
2007–08	FC Cetatea Suceava FC Snagov FC Ploiesti Internațional Curtea de Argeș Unirea Sannicolau Mare Luceafărul Lotus Băile Felix		CS Buftea ACU Arad
2008–09	Râmnicu Sărat FCSB II Victoria Brănești CS Gaz Metan CFR Craiova Fortuna Covaci FC Baia Mare		Tricolorul Breaza Silvania Şimleu Silvaniei
2009–10	Dacia Unirea Brăila Viitorul Constanța SC Juventus București AS Alro Slatina Pandurii Târgu Jiu II Voința Sibiu	ACU Arad	ACU Arad promoted instead of Pandurii Târgu Jiu II
2010–11	FCM Bacău Callatis Mangalia Chindia Târgovişte CSM Slatina Luceafărul Oradea FC Maramureş		None
2011–12	CS Rapid CFR Suceava Unirea Slobozia CS Buftea AS Damila Maciuca ACS Recas SCM Brasov		None
2012–13	SC Mesagerul Bacau Viitorul Axintele ACS Berceni Minerul Motru Olimpia Satu Mare Unirea Tarlungeni		CS Universitatea Craiova
2013–14	Pascani FC Voluntari SC Juventus București FC Caransebes Metalurgistul Cugir CF Chindia Targoviste		None
2014–15	Bucovina Pojorâta Dunărea Călărași Chindia Târgoviște UTA Arad Minaur Baia Mare		None	5 teams were promoted from the 5 leagues newly formed and 4 teams from each series were relegated and the 12th team with least points was also relegated.
2015–16	Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe Juventus București SCM Pitesti ASU Politehnica Timisoara Luceafarul Oradea		None
2016–17	Știința Miroslava FC Metaloglobus București SCM Pitesti Ripensia Timisoara FC Hermannstadt		None
2017–18	Aerostar Bacău Farul Constanța Petrolul 52 Viitorul P. Târgu Jiu Universitatea Cluj		None
2018–19	SCM Gloria Buzău Rapid București Turris-Oltul Turnu Măgurele CSM Reșița FK Miercurea Ciuc		None	Luceafarul Oradea withdrew so Viitorul P. Târgu Jiu even though relegated to the third league was received back in the second league.