The Valencian Community, alongside Andalusia, remains a dominant source of clubs for the First RFEF, contributing five teams in total. Among them, four hail from Alicante: Alcoyano, Intercity, La Nucia, and Eldense. With 40 teams in play, the Spanish Football Federation, which will decide which four teams earn promotion to professional football, is weighing proposals from regional bodies. The competition will be organized into two groups of 20. For many, a North-South arrangement appears the most practical and manageable. The final decision will be announced after an assembly at the RFEF headquarters in Madrid.
Option 1 is widely favored by the participating sides. It is considered the most geographically and competitively balanced. Shorter travel distances would keep teams closer to home for derbies, and the federation believes this layout preserves parity between the two groups in terms of potential and strength.
Contrasting with last season, when Group 2 featured stronger competitiveness—Alcoyano clashing with clubs from Catalonia, the Balearics, Andalusia, and Madrid, including several intra-group derbies—Group 1 in the East-West split did not satisfy many fans and clubs.
Under the North-South proposal, the four Alicante clubs would be grouped with teams from Andalusia, Extremadura, Madrid, and Murcia, and would also include sides from Ceuta. This arrangement would avoid matchups with Galicians, Basques, Castile and León, Navarrese, Catalan, and Balearic clubs.
Option 2 mirrors Option 1 but replaces Ceuta with the Balearic Islands. While Majorcan teams might not feel the impact, Ceuta would face greater travel challenges to reach the north and Catalonia. Option 3 divides the map into East-West, a plan the RFEF dislikes because it offers little difference in potential and would still pose transfer hurdles for Ceuta. Option 4 would also affect North African clubs and would require heavier transfers for Alicante teams within a more competitive bloc.
Alcoyano, Intercity, Eldense and La Nucía Learn Their 36 Opponents in the First RFEF
Pedro Rojas
RFEF Extends Financial Assistance to Clubs in the First RFEF
The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) is providing upfront funding to clubs competing in the First RFEF, with a planned total disbursement for the year. The scheme offers up to 12 million euros in advances, with a ceiling of 400,000 euros per club, and the support is interest-free and aimed primarily at settling player debts.
Non-professional clubs in this category, covering both the prior season and the upcoming one (2022-23), will access funds drawn from the federation’s own resources and recently established initiatives. An Emergency Fund will allocate resources according to the clubs’ needs, to be repaid over four to eight seasons depending on circumstances.
The federation emphasized that clubs must commit the received funds to paying player and coaching staff salaries and, where possible, Social Security obligations, especially if arrears have already been documented.
One club may receive a maximum of 20% of the club budget declared for the 2021-22 season, with a cap of 400,000 euros for the total amount in any given case. A single organization may request different sums at different times, provided the overall cap is not exceeded.
The RFEF stressed awareness of potential budget imbalances the distribution might cause in a new competition without a long-term revenue forecast for clubs. The plan acknowledges the pandemic era and the global economic volatility, which has driven price increases and uncertain income. The federation described the 12 million euros as financial oxygen intended to support the category while the format stabilizes and the experiment of this first edition continues.
At the federation’s helm, President Luis Rubiales presented figures from the last General Assembly, noting a projected profit of 32 million euros, with a portion allocated to an Emergency Fund as part of ongoing commitments for the Olympic cycle.
Source attribution: RFEF communications and announcements regarding First RFEF allocations and structural proposals.