The
Primera División ( ) is the top level of Argentine
football
league, and is organized by the Argentine
Football Association
. Founded in 1893, it is currently composed
of 20 teams.
The Argentine league is regarded as one of the strongest leagues in
the football world. Teams from Argentina have won the
Copa Libertadores,
Copa Sudamericana and the now defunct
Intercontinental Cup
more than any other country.
The 2009 Clausura, the most recent tournament, was won by
Vélez
Sársfield.
River
Plate is the most successful club in the league's history with
33 championships.
Format
The 20 teams play two single
round-robin tournaments each year:
the
Clausura, from February to June, and
the
Apertura, from August to December.
Thus, there are two champions each season. Unlike most European
countries, Argentina has no official cup competition.
The names
of the tournaments, "Clausura", literally means Closing,
and "Apertura", literally means Opening, reflect Northern
Hemisphere
sports
seasons. This scheme was introduced in 1990 to replace
the austral season, and was at the time alien to Argentines — who
live in the Southern
Hemisphere
and are used to sports seasons that span a single
calendar year (for example 2004, as opposed to 2004/05).
Since then, many South and Central American leagues adopted the
format, including
Uruguay,
Mexico and
Chile,
although Uruguay is to return to austral season in 2009.
2009-10 teams
Relegation and promotion
Relegation is based on an
averaging system.
At the end of each season, the two teams with the worst three-year
averages are relegated, and the best two teams in the
second division are promoted.
The teams placed 17th and 18th in the averages table play the
"promoción", a promotion and relegation playoff, against the 4th
and 3rd second division teams respectively in a two-leg format
decided on aggregate goals, but without the
away goals rule. In case of a tie, each goes back
to its league of origin. Thus, the number of teams promoted each
year varies between two and four. Newly-promoted teams only average
the seasons since their last promotion.
Averaging was instituted in 1983, two years after
San Lorenzo de Almagro were relegated
in
1981. That year,
River Plate finished 18th out
of 19 teams and would have been relegated under the old system.
Racing
Club
and Nueva Chicago were
the first teams to be relegated on average. Boca Juniors was also struggling at that time
and had a dismal
1984 season. These facts have
led some to speculate that the averaging system was instituted to
minimize the chance of large clubs being relegated, and indeed none
of the five clubs considered to be the largest has been relegated
again after 1983.
International competitions
Traditionally, two teams from Argentina have played in the
Copa Libertadores each year. Since
1987,
CONMEBOL has
arranged other competitions, originally the now-extinct
Supercopa, then
Copa CONMEBOL, and lastly
Copa Mercosur, all replaced by the
Copa Sudamericana now. The number of
Argentine teams playing the Libertadores has also gone up to five.
Thus, at least five teams have an international schedule in
addition to their league commitments.
Owing to the outstanding performance of Argentine clubs in
international competitions, like having won the Copa Libertadores,
Copa Sudamericana and now defunct Intercontinental Cup for the
largest number of times, Primera División is often considered one
of the strongest leagues in the world. For example, it is
consistently included in the top five or top ten strongest leagues
in the world by
International
Federation of Football History and Statistics.
Copa Libertadores
- For details of the past qualifying methods of Copa
Libertadores, see Qualifying
method of Copa Libertadores in Argentina
Historically, the results of the previous season determine the
participation in these international competitions. The places of
Copa Libertadores are allocated to the champions of
Apertura and
Clausura of
the previous season, as well as the three best teams which have
gained the highest number of points considering the combined talbe
of Apertura and Clausura, besides the two champions. For example,
Copa Libertadores 2008 was represented by Apertura 2006 champion
Estudiantes, Clausura 2007
champion
San Lorenzo, and the
three best placed teams in the combined table of Apertura 2006 and
Clausura 2007. Though Apertura 2007 was held much closer to Copa
Libertadores 2008, the champion of Apertura 2007 cannot get the
place because Apertura 2007 was considered to be the same season of
Copa Libertadores 2008. So, champions of the Apertura have to wait
for more than a year to play in the Copa Libertadores.
For Copa Libertadores 2009, the qualification criteria are changed.
The champions of previous season's Apertura and Clausura, and the
Apertura of the same season are also eligible to play in Copa
Libertadores. The remaining two places are filled by the best two
teams in the combined table of these three tournaments. For
example, Copa Libertadores 2009 would be represented by the
Apertura 2007 champion, Clausura 2008 champion and also Apertura
2008 champion. The remaining places are allocated to the two teams
having the highest points in the combined talbe of these three
tournaments. The Argentine Football Association has not announced
the qualification arrangement beyond 2009. However, it is believed
that teams will qualify to the tournament according to the results
of Clausura and Apertura of the year before. For example, those
five teams having the most points in the combined table of Clausura
2009 and Apertura 2009 would qualify to Copa Libertadores
2010.
The Copa
Libertadores remains the most prestigious competition in South
America, and the Primera División Argentina was the most successful
league in the cup's history, having won the competition for 21
times ; Independiente has a record
seven wins, followed by Boca with six, Estudiantes with four, River Plate with two, and
Racing
Club, Argentinos Juniors
and Vélez Sársfield
with one apiece.
Copa Sudamericana
For
Copa Sudamericana,
Boca Juniors and
River Plate have been joining
the cup every season regardless of their position in the Primera
División, by invitation from
CONMEBOL.
Besides, the four best placed teams from the combined points totals
in the previous season's Apertura and Clausura would also qualify
to the tournament. However, starting in 2010, there will be no more
invitations, and the six best placed teams of the season will be
joining the cup, even when these do not include Boca Juniors or
River Plate.
As three of five places of Copa Libertadores are also allocated
according to the combined table, teams can qualify to both Copa
Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana through the same mechanism and
Argentina teams in these two tournament are usually highly
overlapped. For example,
Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata,
Banfield and
Vélez Sársfield
qualified to both Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana owing to
their results in the aggregate table in season 2005/06.
The Primera División Argentina is the most successful league in
this competition, having won the trophy four times since its
inception in 2002.
History
Amateur era (1891-1931)
In 1891
Argentina was the first country outside the United Kingdom
to establish a football league. During the
amateur era
Alumni Athletic
Club were the most successful team, with 10 championships (one
under the name
English High School).
Professional era (1931-1966)
Professionalism was instituted in
1931.
In the
early years, only teams from Buenos Aires
, Greater Buenos
Aires (notably Avellaneda
) and La
Plata
were affiliated to the national association.
Teams
from Rosario
and Santa Fé
joined in later years.
A single double
round-robin
tournament was played each year, and the team with the most
points was crowned as champion, except for 1936, during that year
the winners of
Copa de Honor and the
Campeonato
played a match for the championship title. The single tournament
arrangement lasted until 1966.
During
this period, the traditional "big five" clubs, namely, Boca Juniors, River Plate, Independiente, Racing and San
Lorenzo dominated Argentine football. No any team
besides them had won the league championship in these 36 years. The
most serious title challenge came from
Banfield in
1951, when they gained the same points with Racing Club
in the league table. However, they lost 1-0 in the two-legged first
place playoffs and gave the title to Racing.
The Metropolitano and Nacional (1967-1985)
In
1967, the single tournament format was
abandoned and replaced by two championships in each year: the
Metropolitano and the
Nacional. The Metropolitano
only allowed clubs competing the old tournament to participate,
while the Nacional was open to teams from regional tournament. The
format of competition was also altered, with the double round-robin
tournament be placed by the two-group championship Metropolitano
and single round-robin Nacional in that year.
This change brought about a revolution in Argentine football, as
small teams, like
Estudiantes de
La Plata at first, and
Vélez
Sársfield,
Chacarita Juniors
and others in later years, broke down the hegemony of the five
clubs who had won all the championships up to that date.
1967-1969
The Metropolitano and Nacional had gone through several format
changes throughout the period. In the first three years, the
Metropolitano was a two-group championship, with the best two teams
from each group competing the semi-finals of the knock-out
stage.
The six best teams of each group would advance to the Nacional,
with four more teams coming from regional tournaments, to compete
for the Nacional championship in a single round-robin format. The
seventh and eighth team of each group, alongside four teams from
regional tournaments, played the Promocional tournament, which, in
1969, was replaced by the Petit tournament contested without
regional teams.The ninth to twelfth teams of each group entered the
Reclasificatorio tournament to determine the relegating
teams.
1970-1985
In
1970, the format of the Metropolitano and
Nacional underwent a reform. Since that year, and until
1985, the Nacional had become a group tournament with
playoffs, while the Metropolitano had been competed under a single
or double round-robin system, except for the
1974,
1976 and
1979 edition, which were also contested as a group
tournament with playoffs.
Despite the format change in 1970, teams still entered the Nacional
championship, Petit tournament and Reclasificatorio tournament
according to their rankings in the Metropolitano in that year.
However, in 1971, the tournaments were separated. Teams did not
enter the Nacional by finishing at the top ranks of Metropolitano.
On the other hand, the Petit tournament and Reclasificatorio
tournament were abandoned. The Metropolitano and Nacional became
two truly individual tournaments. Although the old system was
reused in 1972, the separation was instituted again in 1973 and was
adopted throughout the remaining Metropolitano and Nacional
era.
The Metropolitano was always played first, until the order of the
tournaments was reversed in
1982.
European-styled seasons (1985-1991)
Following the advice of
Argentina national football
team's then coach
Carlos
Salvador Bilardo, the structure of play was modified in
1985. Traditionally, like other countries in
Southern Hemisphere, football season began and ended according to
the calendar year. However, upon the reform, European style season
was adopted for the first time among all the South American
countries. Moreover, instead of holding two championships every
year, only one double
round-robin
tournament was contested, like football leagues in Europe. The
team topping the table at the end of season was crowned the
champion.
In 1985, after the Nacional was played, the Metropolitano was not
held, while the new single tournament (1985/86) was played for the
first time.
In 1988/89 season, three points were given to match winners. If a
draw occurred,
penalty shootout was
taken place and the winner of the shootout would get two points
while the loser still had one. This format was waived in the
following season.
Apertura and Clausura (1991-present)
Five years later, the single championship was split into two
single-round tournaments, giving birth to the current
Apertura and
Clausura arrangement. In
1991 the two
champions played winner-take-all matches. This practice was very
controversial, especially since one of the biggest teams
Boca Juniors lost the finals against
Newell's Old Boys, costing them their
first official championship since
1981 despite
an unbeaten run in the
Clausura. In
1992 the game was held as well (This time between
Newell's Old Boys and
River Plate), but regardless
of the result (which favored
River Plate) both teams were
awarded the title of
Champion. After 1992, the practice
was quickly abandoned, so that two champions (on equal footing) are
crowned every season and no deciding game is played.
Originally, two points were given to match winners except the
1989/90 season. In 1995/96, the rule was changed and three points
were given for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss since
then.
Even though the current structure provides provincial teams a road
to promotion, teams from the Buenos Aires-Rosario axis still
dominate. Only one team from outside this axis has ever won a title
(
Estudiantes LP, 4 times),
and a reversal of this trend is unlikely to occur in the
foreseeable future.
Professional era champions
- For Amateur Era champions see Champions
1891-1930
- Metropolitano and National seasons
- European-styled seasons
- Apertura and Clausura seasons
Top-three finishes
Other official competitions
Other than the league tournaments, AFA also officially recognizes
three other competitions.
These three competitions are not considered league tournaments, but
the competitions are official and the championships are regarded as
official titles. For example, there are "two stars" on the jersey
of Gimnasia y Esgrima, representing the title of Copa Centenario
and their only league title in 1929.
Topscorers
The all-time top scorers of Primera División Argentina are
Arsenio Erico and
Angel Labruna both with 293 goals. However,
Arsenio Erico holds a better
percentage scoring 293 goals in 332 games compared with
Angel Labruna 293 goals in 515 games. Most
players on the all-time top scorers table had their golden age
before 1970s, with all of the top five all-time scorers having
retired before 1973. The only current player in the top twenty list
is
Martín Palermo, who had
played for
Estudiantes and
Boca in the Primera División.
See also
References
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