 | |
| Organising body | AFA |
|---|---|
| Founded | 12 April 1891; 134 years ago (1891-04-12)[1][2] |
| First season | 1891 |
| Country | Argentina |
| Confederation | CONMEBOL |
| Number of clubs | 30 |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| Relegation to | Primera Nacional |
| Domestic cup(s) | Copa Argentina Supercopa Argentina Trofeo de Campeones Supercopa Internacional |
| International cup(s) | Copa Libertadores Copa Sudamericana |
| Current champions | Platense (2025 Apertura)(1st title) |
| Most championships | River Plate (38 titles)[3][4] |
| Most appearances | Hugo Gatti (765)[5][6] |
| Top scorer | Arsenio Erico (295)[7] |
| Broadcaster(s) | ESPN Premium TNT Sports (Argentina)[8] |
| Website | ligaprofesional.ar |
| Current:2025 season | |
ThePrimera División (Spanish pronunciation:[pɾiˈmeɾaðiβiˈsjon]; English:"First Division"), known officially asLiga Profesional de Fútbol, orTorneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professionalassociation football league inArgentina and the highest level of theArgentine football league system.[9] Organised by theArgentine Football Association (AFA), it operates on a system ofpromotion and relegation with thePrimera Nacional (Second Division), with the teams placed lowest at the end of the season being relegated.
Argentina held its first championship in1891,[10] making it the first country outside the United Kingdom to establish a football league. The Football League had debuted in England in 1888, followed by the Scottish and Irish leagues in 1890.[11] In the early years, only teams fromBuenos Aires,Greater Buenos Aires,La Plata andRosario[12] were affiliated to the national association. Teams from other cities would join in later years.
In1931, the Primera División became professional when 18 clubs left the amateur leagues to form their own professional competition.
The Argentine championship was ranked as one of the top ten strongest leagues worldwide for the 2015 calendar year by theInternational Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). Argentina placed 4th afterLa Liga (Spain),Serie A (Italy), andBundesliga (Germany), but has since descended to 19th in the 2021 list.[13]
The 2024 season will feature 28 teams, including 26 from the previous season and two promoted from the2023 Primera Nacional. The league will run from May 12 to December 15.
Participating teams played each other in around-robin system totaling 27 rounds. The team with most points at the end of the season is crowned champion.
On 17 October 2024, the AFA announced that there would be no relegations that season and the 2025 Primera División would feature 30 teams.[14]
Relegation is based on anaveraging system.[15] At the end of the season, the two teams with the worst three-year averages are relegated, while the winner and runner-up of Primera Nacional championship are promoted to Primera.
The Primera División champion gains a place to play theTrofeo de Campeones de la Liga Profesional v. the winner ofCopa de la Liga Profesional.
The4th edition ofCopa de la Liga Profesional will be held in the second half of 2023, when the league tournament concludes. It will begin on 20 August and will end on 16 December. Teams will be divided into two zones (A and B) and will play each other in a single round robin format, totalising 14 fixtures.[16]
As of2022, five clubs from Argentina are eligible to play theCopa Libertadores. The champion of Primera División automatically qualifies for the tournament. The other four teams best placed in the table at the end of the tournament (2nd to 5th) are also eligible to play the Cup.
For theCopa Sudamericana, six teams are eligible. Clubs placed 6th to 11th in the table at the end of the tournament, gain a place to play the cup.
In 1891 theAssociation Argentine Football League was established, with Alex Lamont ofSt. Andrew's Scots School as one of its board members.[19] The AAFL was the first football league outside of the British Isles.,[20] to establish a football league. The first amateur Primera División matches were played on 12 April 1891: Buenos Aires FC vs.St. Andrew's andOld Caledonians vs. Belgrano FC.[1][2]
A single doubleround-robin tournament was played each year, and the team with the most points was crowned as champion, except for1936, during that year the winners ofCopa de Honor and theCampeonato played a match for the championship title. The single tournament arrangement lasted until 1966.
During this period, the traditional "Big Five" clubs, namely,River Plate,Boca Juniors,Independiente,Racing andSan Lorenzo dominated Argentine football. No other team besides them had won the league championship in these 36 years.[21][22][23][24] The most serious title challenge came fromBanfield in 1951, when they finished with the same number of points as Racing Club in the league table. However, they lost 1–0 in the two-legged first place playoffs and gave the title to Racing.[23]
Theaveraging system for relegations was implemented for the first time in the1957 championship,[25] withFerro Carril Oeste becoming the first team to be relegated under that system.[26] Averaging continued until1963, when the championship returned to its old format (with the worst placed teams being relegated).[27] Nevertheless, there were no relegations until1967 (withUnión (SF) andDeportivo Español being sent toPrimera B after playing a relegation tournament contested by teams of First and Second divisions to define the promotions and relegations).[28]
In 1967, the single tournament format was abandoned and replaced by two championships in each year: theMetropolitano and theNacional. The Metropolitano only allowed clubs competing in the old tournament to participate, while the Nacional was open to teams from regional tournaments.[24] The format of competition was also altered, with the double round-robin tournament replaced by the two-group championship Metropolitano and single round-robin Nacional in that year.
This change revolutionized Argentine football, allowing smaller clubs—such as Estudiantes de La Plata, Vélez Sarsfield, and Chacarita Juniors—to challenge the dominance of the five clubs that had previously won all championships.
Between 1967 and 1969, the Metropolitano and Nacional had gone through several format changes. 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.[24]
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.[24]
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.[29][30]
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.[29]
After 20 years since the last time it had been used, the average system for relegations returned in the1983 Metropolitano championship,[25] two years afterSan Lorenzo was relegated. That year,River Plate finished 18° out of 19 teams and would have been relegated under the old system, along withRacing de Córdoba. The first teams to be relegated on average wereRacing andNueva Chicago.[29]Boca Juniors was also struggling at that time and had a dismal1984 season. These facts have led to speculation that the averaging system was instituted to minimize the chance of big teams being relegated.[25]
Following the advice ofArgentina national football team's then coachCarlos 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 doubleround-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, Apenalty shootout took place and the winner of the shootout would get two points while the loser still had one. This format was scrapped in the following season.
Five years later, the single championship was split into two single-round tournaments, giving birth to theApertura and Clausura arrangement.[31] 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 againstNewell's Old Boys, costing them their first official championship since 1981 despite an unbeaten run in theClausura. In 1992 the game was held as well (this time betweenNewell's Old Boys andRiver Plate), but regardless of the result (which favoredRiver Plate) both teams were awarded the title ofChampion. After 1992, the practice was quickly abandoned, so that two champions (on equal footing) were crowned every season and no deciding game is played.
Originally, two points were given to match winners except in the1989–90 season. Starting in1995–96, the rule was changed and three points were given for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss.
The1999–2000 season introduced thepromotion and relegation system for the first time, where the two clubs placed 1st and 2nd within the four teams with the lowest average, had to play a two-leg series with teams fromPrimera B Nacional to keep their place in the division.[32]
For the 2012–13 season, the Torneo Apertura and Clausura became "Torneo Inicial" and "Torneo Final," being disputed with the same format as before but proclaiming only one champion each season, unlike the last format that had two champions (Apertura and Clausura, respectively).[33]
Before those changes, a controversial project for the 2012–13 season had been proposed: it consisted in a new tournament that would contain both the Primera División and Primera B Nacional teams: the former was not going to have any relegated team in its 2011–12 season and include sixteen teams from the latter, Primera B Nacional. The tournament would also include a team from the Primera B Metropolitana and one from the Torneo Argentino A, creating a 38-team league. These changes were strongly opposed by the media and the people, and finally the tournament was called off. However, the project for the new format was successfully picked up starting from the 2015 season.
Once the initial and final tournaments had finished, both winners had to play a match for theCopa Campeonato (familiarly known asSuperfinal). TheAFA had previously determined that the first edition (played in 2013) would be considered as a Primera División official title (2012–13 season), thereforeVélez Sarsfield was awarded its 10th official championship after defeatingNewell's.[34]
Nevertheless, from the 2014 edition it was determined that theSuperfinal would not be considered as a Primera División title but an official cup.[35]
Due to this the 2015 and 2016 seasons were played as single tournaments with only one champion per season, the Copa Campeonato has not been held since then.
Starting August 2014, the "Torneo de Transición" was held, with 20 teams participating (17 from the2013–14 season and 3 promoted from the2013–14 Primera B Nacional). No teams were relegated at the end of the championship.[36]
In 2015, the format switched to a tournament with 30 teams. The first five clubs of the Zonas A & B of2014 Primera B Nacional season promoted to the Primera División. Those 10 teams, with the addition of the 20 clubs currently participating in the top division, qualified to contest the next season.[37]
That same year, theAFA announced the format for the next five seasons of the Primera División:[38]
In February 2020, President of AFAClaudio Tapia stated that the Superliga had been established to position Argentine football as a product, but it failed in that purpose. As a result, the AFA would take over the organisation of Primera División championships, according to Tapia's statement.[39] One month after those announcements, the president of the Superliga, Mariano Elizondo, resigned.[40]
The Superliga was replaced by a similar body, named "Liga Profesional de Fútbol", directly linked to AFA and presided byMarcelo Tinelli.[41] It was expected that Superliga was dissolved once the2020 edition ofCopa de la Superliga Argentina finished,[40] but due to theCOVID-19 pandemic the cup was cancelled, accelerating times. In May 2020, the LPF was launched by the AFA.[41]
| Year | Level | Relegation to |
|---|---|---|
| 1891–1898 | 1 | (None) |
| 1899–1910 | 1 | Segunda División |
| 1911–1926 | 1 | División Intermedia |
| 1927–1932 | 1 | Primera División B |
| 1933–1948 | 1 | Segunda División |
| 1949–1966 | 1 | Primera División B |
| 1967–1986 | 1 | Primera División B Torneo Regional |
| 1986–present | 1 | Primera B Nacional |
As of2024, twenty-eight teams are competing in the league, the 26 teams that took part in theprevious season as well as two promoted teams from the2023 Primera Nacional.[42]
Since thefirst championship held in 1891, 29 clubs have won the Primera División title at least once. The list include all the titles won by each club since the first Primera División championship held in 1891. Clubs initalic no longer exist or are currently disaffiliated from the AFA.
The all-time top scorer of Primera División Argentina isforwardArsenio Erico with 295 goals.[7] Most players on the all-time top scorers table had their golden age before the 1970s, with all of the top five all-time scorers having retired before 1973. The only player retired after that year in the top twenty list isMartín Palermo, who played forEstudiantes (LP) andBoca Juniors in Primera División.
In Argentina, matches are broadcast byAmerican companiesESPN andTurner, which signed a contract for 5 years where both companies agreed to payA$ 3,200 million per year. Local companyTorneos, who was formerly the official broadcaster of the Argentine championship from 1985 until 2009, will take over the content production of the games for Fox and La Corte will handle content production for Turner whileCablevisión,DirecTV and Telecentro will be the TV operators.[8][43]
Until the agreement with Fox and Turner was signed, Argentine football matches were broadcast nationally byEl Trece,Telefe,America TV, andChannel 7. Games were free inArgentina from 2009 to 2016 thanks to the "Fútbol para Todos" (Football for Everyone) program, when theNational Government and AFA decided rescind the agreement. The Government paid A$9,500 million for 7 years.[44]
The league attracts television audiences beyondSouth America,Europe,Africa andMENA. The matches are broadcast in over 80 countries. In Latin America the matches are broadcast live byESPN (three matches per week),TyC Sports International (all the matches per week) and another streaming platforms likePrende TV,Star+ and Fanatiz (together with AFA Play). In the United States, the matches are streamed onParamount+ since 2021.[45]BeIN Sports broadcasts the games live in France and MENA regions.ITV showed highlights on a regional basis with the introduction of overnight broadcasting in 1988–89.Channel 5 showed highlights from 1999 to 2003, whilePremier Sports showed live games across 2011 and 2012.
In the United States, in the 2004–05 season,ESPN Deportes (instead of Fox Sports networks), broadcast some matches fromEl Clásico del Domingo (Like other football competitions asBundesliga,Ligue 1 orCopa Libertadores).
