The Argentine football league system include tournaments organised by the

Argentine Football Association The Argentine Football Association ( es, Asociación del Fútbol Argentino, ; AFA) is the governing body of football in Argentina based in Buenos Aires. It organises the main divisions of Argentine league system (from Primera División to Torn ...

. Clubs affiliated to the body compete in the tournaments, which are split into categories or divisions. Rules establish a system of

promotion and relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

, a process where teams are transferred between two divisions based on their performance for the completed

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

. The best-ranked team or teams in the lower division are ''promoted'' to the higher division for the next season, and the worst-ranked team or teams in the higher division are ''relegated'' to the lower division for the next season.

Current league system (2022)

Below the second division championship (

Primera Nacional Primera Nacional (usually called simply Nacional B, in English "National B Division", and known as Primera B Nacional until the 2019–20 season) is the second division of the Argentine football league system. The competition is made up of 37 tea ...

), tournaments leagues are split between two groups, the first of them include the promotion/relegation system for clubs directly affiliated to AFA playing in Primera B,

Primera C The Primera C Metropolitana is one of the two professional leagues that form the fourth level of the Argentine football league system. Primera C Metropolitana is made up of 20 clubs mainly from the city of Buenos Aires and its metropolitan area (G ...

and

Primera D The Primera D is one of two leagues that form the fifth division of the Argentine football league system. Made up of 11 clubs from Buenos Aires Province, the league is the only one that remains amateur. The other league at level five is the Torne ...

. Those are usually called "zona metropolitana" (metropolitan zone) due to those tournaments have been historically played by teams from the city of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

and

Greater Buenos Aires Greater Buenos Aires ( es, Gran Buenos Aires, GBA), also known as the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area ( es, Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires, AMBA), refers to the urban agglomeration comprising the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the adjac ...

, plus the addition of twenty one clubs from the cities of

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous ci ...

, Santa Fe, La Plata, Zarate,

Campana Campana (Italian and Spanish for "bell") may refer to: Places * Campana Partido, Argentina, a ''partido'' (administrative subdivision) in Buenos Aires Province ** Campana, Buenos Aires Province, a city in Campana Partido * Campana Island, Capit� ...

, Luján, Junín,

General Rodríguez General Rodríguez is a city within the urban agglomeration of Greater Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the administrative centre for General Rodríguez Partido. The triple crime The Triple crime ( es, Triple crimen) to ...

, Cañuelas, Pilar and Mercedes. The second group is formed for clubs indirectly affiliated to AFA that play in regional leagues, under the supervision of Consejo Federal ( es), dependent on the AFA. Competitions reserved for those clubs are

Torneo Federal A The Torneo Federal A (in English "Federal A Tournament") is one of the two professional leagues that form the regionalised third level of the Argentine football league system, along with Primera B Metropolitana. The competition was established in 2 ...

and Torneo Regional Federal.

History

Tournaments organised by the Association and its predecessors have been held since 1893 (the year when the current AFA was established). Nevertheless, the first championship was organised by the

Argentine Association Football League The Argentine Association Football League was the first football association of Argentina and predecessor of current Argentine Football Association. The association has a historic importance in football for having organised the first official cham ...

(the first organised body in the country) in 1891.''Historia de fútbol de AFA: orígenes 1891/1899'', by Carlos Yametti – Edición del Autor (2011) – Although the AAFL was dissolved that same year, AFA has recognised that championship as the first Primera División competition, adding it to its continuity.Campeones de Primera División
on AFA website Until the creation of Campeonato Nacional in 1967, only clubs directly affiliated to AFA had taken part in tournaments organised by the body. From

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

, with the creation of Campeonato Nacional B, teams from regional leagues (clubs indirectly affiliated to AFA) added to the regular competition.

Historic tables

The following charts detail all league competitions organised by the Argentine Association ( National cups are not included):

Year by year

Defunct tournaments indicated in

By tournament

Defunct competitions indicated in

References

External links

AFA official site

Sólo Ascenso

Ascenso del Interior
(regional)
Interior Futbolero

Promiedos
(results) {{Navboxes , titlestyle = background:#ccccff , list = {{Argentine Primera División {{Primera B Nacional {{Primera B Metropolitana {{Primera C Metropolitana {{Primera D Metropolitana {{League systems

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...