2. Lig (Turkey)

Second League (Turkey) (TFF 2. Lig) - the third level professional club division in the Turkish league system, run under the Turkish Football Federation. Regulations: the competition is organized in groups, with the group composition and the number of clubs per group set by the season statute, and teams play a home-and-away round-robin within their group, with 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss. If clubs are level on points, the federation’s criteria apply: for two tied teams, head-to-head points and then head-to-head goal difference are considered first (away goals are not used as a tie-breaker), followed by overall goal difference and goals scored, then further criteria, and if equality still remains an additional match may be ordered; for three or more tied teams, a mini-table from their head-to-head results is used first with points, goal difference and goals scored applied in order, then overall goal difference and further criteria, and if needed additional match or matches may be ordered. At the end of the season, each group winner is promoted to the First League (TFF 1. Lig), and one more promotion place is decided via play-offs: typically, the teams finishing 3rd to 6th play a first round as single-leg ties hosted by the higher-ranked side, the winners then play a two-legged round, the 2nd-placed team enters in the next two-legged round, and the two group play-off winners meet in a single final at a neutral venue; in two-legged rounds, if points and aggregate goals remain level after both matches, extra time is played in the second leg and, if necessary, a penalty shoot-out, and the final also uses extra time and penalties if level after normal time. The clubs finishing in the relegation positions in each group drop to the Third League (TFF 3. Lig), with the number of relegated teams defined by the season statute.