Alasarjoihin

Alasarjoihin is a Finnish term used to describe being relegated to lower divisions within a multi-tiered league or organizational structure. The base noun alasarja means "lower series" or "lower division," and the illative suffix -iin marks direction toward. The form alasarjoihin literally means "to the lower divisions" and is commonly used in sports journalism and official league communications to describe teams moving down from higher tiers after a season.

The concept is most common in team sports such as football, ice hockey, and basketball in countries that use promotion and relegation. In such systems, teams finishing at the bottom of a top division may compete in alasarjoihin in the following season, joining teams from the same lower tier. The term can also appear in non-sport contexts to describe subgroups within a larger organization or study that occupy a lower tier, but such usage is less frequent.

Within Finnish discourse on hierarchy, alasarja and alasarjoihin are paired with yläsarja (upper division) to describe the full ladder of divisions, with rules for promotion and relegation determined by the governing bodies of each sport or league and subject to periodic restructuring.