2016–17 Campeonato de Portugal
| Season | 2016–17 |
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← 2015–16
2017–18 →
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The 2016–17 Campeonato de Portugal (also known as Campeonato de Portugal Prio, for sponsorship reasons) is the fourth season of Portuguese football's renovated third-tier league, since the merging of the Second and Third Divisions in 2013, and the second season under the current Campeonato de Portugal title. A total of 80 teams compete in this division, which began on 20 August 2016 and will end on 18 June 2017.
The competition format consists of two stages. In the first stage, the 80 clubs were divided in eight series of 10 teams, according to geographic criteria. The only exceptions were teams from Madeira, which were placed in the first series, and teams from the Azores, which were distributed through the latter series. In each series, teams play against each other in a home-and-away double round-robin system.
In the second stage, the two best-placed teams from each first-stage series will be divided in two groups of eight teams, again according to geographic proximity, with home-and-away matches. The two group winners will secure promotion to the LigaPro. To determine the overall division champion, the group winners will contest a one-off grand final on neutral ground.
On 15 March 2016, the LPFP announced that four teams (instead of three) will be relegated to the 2017–18 Campeonato de Portugal, and two teams (instead of three) will be promoted directly from the Campeonato de Portugal to reduce the number of LigaPro teams to 20 for the 2017–18 season. There will be also a two-legged promotion/relegation play-off involving the 17th- and 18th-placed teams of 2016–17 LigaPro and both second-placed teams of the Campeonato de Portugal promotion groups (North and South).
The remaining eight clubs from each first-stage series will be divided in eight groups of eight teams, with home-and-away matches, but there will be a reshuffle so that teams from Series A, C, E and G ending the first stage on seventh to tenth place will be placed on second stage's Series B, D, F and H and vice versa. Each teams only conserves 25% of first-stage points. The bottom-two teams from each group will be relegated to the Districts Championships. The sixth-placed teams will be paired into four two-legged play-out ties, with the four winners being paired into two further two-legged play-out ties. All six play-out losers will also be relegated.
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