The AFA also organised all the Primera División championships from1893 to2016–17. From the2017–18 season the "Superliga Argentina", an entity which was administered independently and had its own statute, took over the Primera División championships.[3] Nevertheless, the Superliga was contractually linked with the main football body.[4] The last championship organised by the Superliga was2019–20, shortly after the season ended the body was dissolved.[5]
The Argentine Association Football League (inEnglish) was founded on 21 February 1893 byAlexander Watson Hutton, considered "the father" of Argentine football.[6] The Argentine Association is the oldest in South America and one of the oldest to be formed outsideEurope. In 1906, Florencio Martínez de Hoz became the first Argentine-born president of the association.[7]
The second dissident league was formed in 1919 and named "Asociación Amateurs de Football", organizing its own championships (as FAF had done) until 1926 when it merged to the official association. The dissident league included some of the most prominent teams, such asRiver Plate,Racing,Independiente andSan Lorenzo, with the exception ofBoca Juniors that remained in the official "Asociación Argentina de Football".
When both leagues merged for the 1927 season, the association was again renamed to "Asociación Amateur Argentina de Football" until the professionalization of the sport in 1931 when it switched to "Liga Argentina de Football". The first round of the recently created professional championship was on 31 May 1931.[1][8]
Despite football turning professional in Argentina, some clubs wanted to remain amateur, so they formed a new league, the "Asociación de Football Amateur y Profesionales", which organized a parallel tournament until 1934 when the dissident association merged with LAF on 3 November 1934 to form the "Asociación del Football Argentino" which has remained since.[1][9]
In 2015, during the presidential elections to elect a new president for the body, there were two candidates to occupy Julio Humberto Grondona's chair,Marcelo Tinelli –who wanted a change in how things were going, like eliminating corruption between some clubs and the AFA– andLuis Segura, who had taken charge after Grondona's death, with the intention of extending his mandate.
With 75 presidents of different Argentine clubs voting, on election day something went wrong when the final count resulted in a draw of 38 to 38 (76 votes in total). The explanation given was that one of the electors put a double vote and that mistake was not reported. As a result, the executive committee decided to postpone the election.[10]
After some meetings to put an end to the conflict, both candidates agreed to have another election in June 2016.[11]
In June 2016, AFA presidentLuis Segura was charged with "aggravated administrative fraud".[12] Segura has been replaced on an interim basis by the AFA's executive secretary, Damián Dupiellet.[13]
In 2017, the association approved the creation of a new entity, named "Superliga Argentina de Fútbol", which would take over the organization of the Primera División championship.[14] The main European football leagues such as theEnglish Premier League or theSpanish La Liga, that are organized by associations dedicated exclusively to those championships and run as separate entities from their respective National Associations, served as inspiration for the creation of the Superliga.[15]
The2016–17 Primera División championship was the last tournament organized by the AFA. Starting with the2017–18 season to2019–20 season, the"Superliga Argentina", an entity administered by itself with its own statute, organised Primera División championships.[3] In March 2020, AFA dissolved the Superliga and took over the Primera División again.[5]
The body has been renamed several times since its establishment in 1893, in most of the cases translating the original English names to Spanish. The list of names is the following:[16]
Argentine Association Football League (1893–1903)[n1 1]
Argentine Football Association (1903–1912)
Asociación Argentina de Football (1912–1927)
Asociación Amateur Argentina de Football (1927–1931)
Asociación de Football Amateurs y Profesionales (1931–1934)
Asociación del Fútbol Argentino (1934–present)[n1 2]
Notes
^The organisation was founded with the same name as its predecessor, theAAFL of 1891
^Translated intoSpanish as "Asociación del Fútbol Argentino" in 1946
^Contested by the champions of Primera División and Copa Argentina.
^Contested by the champions of Primera División and Trofeo de Campeones.
^Created and first organised by dissidentAsociación Amateurs de Football and contested by representatives of regional leagues. When the AAmF folded, the AFA took over the competition, organising it until its last edition in 1989.
^Also known as "Campeonato de la República", it received the name "Copa General de División Pedro Pablo Ramírez", due to the trophy having been donated by thede facto President of Argentina,Pedro P. Ramírez
^Held once to keep league teams in readiness while the1958 FIFA World Cup was being played
^Held once to celebrate the 100th. anniversary of the Association[24]
^Once Inicial and Final tournaments had finished, both winners played a match named "Superfinal". The Association had determined that the first edition (played in 2013) would be considered as a Primera División official title (2012–13 season), thereforeVélez Sársfield was awarded its 10th official championship after defeatingNewell's Old Boys.[25] Nevertheless, from the 2014 edition it was determined that the Superfinal would not be considered as a Primera División title but anational cup.[26]
Alexander Watson Hutton, the first president of the Argentine Football Association in 1893Ricardo Aldao (1918–19), had also presided dissident Federación Argentina de FootballAdrián Beccar Varela presided from 1927 to his death in 1929Adrián C. Escobar (1939–41)Julio Grondona had the longest tenure at the AFA, with 35 years as President of the body
^When football became professional in Argentina, the teams that wanted to remain amateur formed this league that organized its own tournaments from 1931 to 1934, when it merged with the professional body, with all of its teams being relegated to the second division.[28]
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