In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style competitions, many leagues known as the Second Division have fallen to a lower tier in countries' football league system.

This list of Second Divisions in association football, divided by authority, includes country and actual level.

AFC

UEFA

First division is a term that has had various meanings, at various times, in the sport of baseball, but originally referred to the rankings within a league. Teams which ranked in the top half of the league standings table (e.g. the top 5 teams in a 10-team league) were said to have finished in the "first division", while teams in the bottom half of the standings were said to be in the "second division".

In the major leagues before 1969, players on teams finishing in the first division received monetary shares from the Players' Pool, which was funded by gate receipts from that year's World Series; specifically, prior to the aforementioned expansion, the team winning the World Series received 42% of this money, the team losing the World Series got 28%, with the second-, third- and fourth-place teams in each league being awarded 7½%, 5% and 2½% respectively. Concomitant with the expansion, 1% was taken from both of the World Series teams and given to each of the teams finishing in fifth place.

The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013.

History

The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SFL). Prior to 1975, the SFL had been split into two divisions (Division One and Division Two). The effect of the reconstruction was to split these two divisions into three, with the top flight named the Premier Division, second tier the First Division, and a new third tier was created known as the Second Division. A fourth tier, known as the Third Division, was created in 1994.

In 1998, the Premier Division clubs broke away from the SFL to form the Scottish Premier League (SPL). The Second Division continued as before, but it was now the second level of the SFL. In 2013, the SFL and SPL merged to form the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL). The SPFL named its third tier as Scottish League One, which effectively replaced the Second Division.