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About Primera División

The Primera División, known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, is a football competition among clubs in Argentina, where the national champion and participants in international club competitions are revealed. The championship of Argentina is traditionally considered one of the strongest championships in world football, along with the championships of Brazil, England, Spain, Italy and Germany.

History

Professional championships have been held since 1931 and, unlike, for example, in Italy, when calculating champion titles in Argentina, they do not take into account the pre-professional era. In 1931-1966, the national champion was determined by the usual two-round system. In 1967-1985, two tournaments were held per year - Metropolitano and Nacional. Championships in these tournaments were equal. For example, Independiente (Avellaneda) is the champion of Argentina in 1970 (Nacional), and River Plate is the champion of Argentina in 1977 (Metropolitano).

In the 1980s, five championships were held according to the "pseudo-European" system - from the 1986/87 season to 1990/91. In one season, one champion was revealed, but this system did not take root. This system was similar to the European one only in terms, but in fact it was a “spring-autumn” system, taking into account the fact that Argentina is located in the Southern Hemisphere.

From 1991 to 2012, two separate championships were held per season. They were called Apertura (Opening) and Clausura (Closing). In fact, the winner of one round of the championship with the participation of 20 teams was declared the champion. Apertura took place in the second half of the calendar year, Clausura - at the beginning of the next year, which indicates that the seasonality in Argentina was observed "pseudo-European".

In 2012, the reform of the championship began. The first half of the season was renamed from Apertura to "Torneo Inicial", and the second half from Clausura to "Torneo Final", the format of their drawing has not changed. The winners of these championships competed for the title of "the absolute champion of the season". Also, the "absolute champion" got the right to fight the winner of the Argentine Cup for the country's Super Cup. In the original version of the new rules, it was indicated that there would be only one champion in the country per season. The regulations were then changed to declare the "winners" (ganadores) (but not "champions") of the Inicial and Final tournaments as the "champions" (campeones) of the respective tournaments.

Later, a list of Argentine champions appeared on the official website of the AFA, in which the winners of the Inicial and Final were equalized with the absolute champion (Veles Sarsfield, thus, won two Argentine titles at once during the season, and to win the second he only needed to beat the winner of the Final, Newells Old Boys). This injustice was corrected in the next draw. The winners of the Inicial and the Final were still considered champions of Argentina, but in the Champions Cup matches between these teams, only the right to play for the Argentine Super Cup with the Cup winner was played out. This system lasted only one season.

In the second half of 2014, a transitional one-round championship of Argentina took place (Campeonato de Primera División 2014 (Argentina) or Torneo Transición 2014), as a result of which not a single team flew out of the Primera División. Since 2015, the championship has been held within one calendar year. Again, only one champion per season will be revealed in Argentina. The number of participants in Primera División has expanded to 30 clubs with teams from Primera Nacional. It was announced that in subsequent years the number of teams in the elite division would be reduced, but in 2016 their number remained the same. In the 2017/18 season (in which the tournament became known as the Superliga), the number of participants was reduced to 28. In the 2018/19 season, 26 teams will compete in the Superliga. In the 2017/18-2019/20 seasons, the elite echelon of Argentine football was called Superliga. In mid-2020, a new Liga Profesional de Fútbol was organized.

Format

There are 28 teams competing in the season (the last expansion from 26 teams occurred in 2022) and they all play each other in the same tournament (27 rounds in total) in a round-robin system.

Relegation

The relegation system is based on an averaging system. Two clubs with the worst three-year average are relegated at the end of the season, while the winner and runner-up of the Primera Nacional championship are promoted.