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 Tor ...

. 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 ...

. 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 team ...

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

AFA Afa or AFA may refer to: Mythology and religion *Afa (mythology), in the Polynesian mythology of Samoa * Afá, a West African religion, also known as Ifá in some languages Governmental * Agence française anticorruption, the French Anti-Corrupti ...

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 Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is ...

. 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 adj ...

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

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central Argentine province of Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous city in the country, and is also the most p ...

, Santa Fe,

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. According to the , it has a population of 654,324 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 787,294 inhabitants. It is located 9 kilometers (6 miles) inland from th ...

, 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, Capitán ...

, Luján, Junín, General Rodríguez, Cañuelas, Pilar and Mercedes. The second group is formed for clubs indirectly affiliated to

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 Events January–March * January 2 – Webb C. Ball introduces railroad chronometers, which become the general railroad timepiece standards in North America. * Mark Twain started writing Puddn'head Wilson. * January 6 – Th ...

(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 champ ...

(the first organised body in the country) in

1891 Events January–March * January 1 ** Paying of old age pensions begins in Germany. ** A strike of 500 Hungarian steel workers occurs; 3,000 men are out of work as a consequence. ** Germany takes formal possession of its new Af ...

.''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 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

, only clubs directly affiliated to

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 en ...

, with the creation of Campeonato Nacional B, teams from regional leagues (clubs indirectly affiliated to

) 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 List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...