This has just happened to me, season ending 09/01/16 and I have been promoted from level 9 to 10 while being in 8th place with a 4 point gap to 7th. Yes, I did deliberately lose my last 5 games to make sure I wasn't promoted as I was busy training all of my team. Having got my starting 11 all to scout level+ and all having appropriate skills, I had also managed to get the exact subs I wanted to cover my formation and also get those trained to just below scout level and also with appropriate skills. Having had to endure heavy defeats by reversing my players positions (striker in goal - keeper as CF etc) I was all set to have a near perfect team for an assault on the triple crown but now find that I'm promoted to level 10 and now have a slightly better than good team.

Why does this happen??? It clearly states that top 7 (SEVEN) get promoted!!! Could someone please give me an explanation