In the sports leagues - especially soccer leagues - of many countries, relegation means the mandated transfer of the worst team(s) (often the bottom 3) of a higher league into a lower league at the end of the season. An equal number of best team(s) from the lower league enjoy the opposite procedure, promotion.

A notable exception to this system is sport in the United States, where teams are not relegated. Compared to the American method, this has the effect of regularly rearranging the leagues according to the teams' playing strength, and also prevents the games of the not-so-good teams of each league from becoming boring towards the end of the season.

One argument in favour of the North American system is that the embarassment in coming last is often enough to cause bottom teams to play hard at the end of the season. Another is that teams in lower grades often struggle financially, so relegation can potentially mean severe hardship or even bankruptcy for demoted clubs. Relegation can be a heart-wringing melodrama for the fans, but just avoiding it can also be a source of pure bliss and continuing legends, sometimes even more so than winning the title.

The following are the promotion and relegation rules for the English Premier League and Football Leagues, to serve as an example:

1. English Premier League (level 1): Bottom 3 teams relegated.
2. Football League Championship (level 2): Top 2 automatically promoted; next four teams play off, with the winner gaining the third promotion spot. Bottom 3 relegated.
3. Football League 1 (level 3): Top 2 automatically promoted; next four teams play off, with the winner gaining the third promotion spot. Bottom 4 relegated.
4. Football League 2 (level 4): Top 3 automatically promoted; next four teams play off, with the winner gaining the fourth promotion spot. Bottom 2 relegated.
5. Conference league (level 5): Top team promoted, subject to stadium being of required standard; next four teams play off, with the winner gaining the second promotion spot (again with the same stadium requirement). If stadia are not of the required quality, teams from League 2 are not relegated.

Recently, the United Soccer League of North America (with teams from across the United States and Canada) discussed a possible relegation system, and implemented two leagues, the USL division one and two.