Country Turkey Founded 1989
as PAF Ligi Divisions 4 | Confederation UEFA First season 1989-1990 Number of teams 37 | |
The U21 Ligi, is the reserve team league for the top Turkish football teams in the Süper Lig and 1. Lig. The league is split into western and an eastern division.
History
The league started in 1989-1990 and was named TFF PAF Ligi (Profesyonelliğe Aday Futbolcular) until 2008-2009 season. The 1993-1994 season was called TFF BAL Ligi (Deplasmanlı Bölgesel Altyapı Ligi). From 2009 till 2014 the league was called TFF A2 Ligi. Since the 2014-2015 seasoen the name has been U21 Ligi.
Teams are not relegated from the U21 Ligi based on their final league position, but on the league position of their respective clubs' senior teams. If a senior team is relegated from the 1. Lig, then the reserve team is relegated from the U21 Ligi and replaced by the reserve team of the promoted team from the 2. Lig.
Until the year 2009, only U21 teams of the Süper Lig could participate in the U21 Ligi. Since the 2009-2010 season, 1. Lig teams could have participated and therefore the league is split into a western (20 teams) and eastern group (18 teams) and the winner of each group play a final match.