AFA Liga Profesional de Fútbol
The Primera División, known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Mercado Libre for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organised by the Argentine Football Association, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Primera Nacional, with the teams placed lowest at the end of the season being relegated.
Argentina held its first championship in 1891, 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. In the early years, only teams from Buenos Aires, Greater Buenos Aires, La Plata, Rosario, Santa Fe and Córdoba were affiliated to the national association. Teams from other cities would join in later years.
In 1931, 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 the International Federation of Football History & Statistics. Argentina placed 4th after La Liga, Serie A, and Bundesliga, but has since descended to 19th in the 2021 list. In 2023, the IFFHS ranked Liga Profesional in the 10th. place with 966,5 points.
Format and teams
Championship
The competition format for this season will consist of two tournaments each with five stages. In the first stage, the thirty teams were divided into two groups of fifteen teams each and will play in a single round-robin format. Additionally, each team will play two inter-zone matches: against its rival from the other zone, and the second against a second team, determined by a draw. The top eight teams in each group will advance to the round of 16.The final stages will be played on a single-leg basis.
Relegation
Relegation is based on an averaging system. 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.Domestic cups
The Primera División champion gains a place to play the Trofeo de Campeones de la Liga Profesional, where winners of Apertura and Clausura tournament play to define a cup champion.International cups
As of 2026 AFA Liga Profesional de Fútbol, six clubs from Argentina are eligible to play the Copa Libertadores. The champions of Apertura and Clausura automatically qualify for the tournament. Besides, four clubs placed 2nd to 5th in the aggregate table also qualify to the competition. The 6th. team eligible to Copa Libertadores is the winner of Copa Argentina.For the Copa 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.
History
Round-robin amateur tournaments (1891–1931)
In 1891 the Association Argentine Football League was established, with Alex Lamont of St. Andrew's Scots School as one of its board members. The AAFL was the first football league outside of the British Isles., to establish a football league. The first amateur Primera División matches were played on 12 April 1891: Buenos Aires FC vs. St. Andrew's and Old Caledonians vs. Belgrano FC.Professional era tournaments (1931–1966)
A single double round-robin tournament was played each year, and the team with the most points was crowned as champion, except for 1936, during that year the winners of Copa de Honor and the Campeonato 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 and San Lorenzo dominated Argentine football. No other team besides them had won the league championship in these 36 years. The most serious title challenge came from Banfield 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.
The averaging system for relegations was implemented for the first time in the 1957 championship, with Ferro Carril Oeste becoming the first team to be relegated under that system. Averaging continued until 1963, when the championship returned to its old format. Nevertheless, there were no relegations until 1967.
Metropolitano and Nacional (1967–1985)
In 1967, the single tournament format was abandoned and replaced by two championships in each year: the Metropolitano and the Nacional. The Metropolitano only allowed clubs competing in the old tournament to participate, while the Nacional was open to teams from regional tournaments. 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.
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.
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.
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.
After 20 years since the last time it had been used, the average system for relegations returned in the 1983 Metropolitano championship, two years after San Lorenzo was relegated. That year, River Plate finished 18° out of 19 teams and would have been relegated under the old system, along with Racing de Córdoba. The first teams to be relegated on average were Racing and Nueva Chicago. Boca Juniors was also struggling at that time and had a dismal 1984 season. These facts have led to speculation that the averaging system was instituted to minimize the chance of big teams being relegated.
European-styled seasons (1985–1991)
Following the advice of Argentina national football team's then coach Carlos 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 double round-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 was played for the first time.
In 1988–89 season, three points were given to match winners. If a draw occurred, A penalty 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.
Apertura and Clausura (1991–2012)
Five years later, the single championship was split into two single-round tournaments, giving birth to the Apertura and Clausura arrangement. 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 against Newell's Old Boys, costing them their first official championship since 1981 despite an unbeaten run in the Clausura. In 1992 the game was held as well, but regardless of the result both teams were awarded the title of Champion. After 1992, the practice was quickly abandoned, so that two champions were crowned every season and no deciding game is played.Originally, two points were given to match winners except in the 1989–90 season. Starting in 1995–96, the rule was changed and three points were given for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss.
The 1999–2000 season introduced the promotion 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 from Primera B Nacional to keep their place in the division.