Nacional de Clubes
The Torneo Nacional de Clubes is a club rugby union competition in Argentina, organised by the Argentine Rugby Union. The Nacional de Clubes is the main club competition in Argentine rugby, being contested by the winners of Torneo de la URBA and Torneo del Interior, which play a single match final to define the national champion.
In its inaugural season, the tournament was contested by 16 teams, 8 from Buenos Aires and 8 from the rest of the provinces of Argentina. The competition has suffered several changes of rules and number of participants until present days. There was also a second division, "Nacional de Clubes B", with a similar format., held from 1993 to 2018, when the UAR reorganised all its tournaments.
With 11 titles, Hindú is the Nacional de Clubes' most successful team.
History
From 1993 to 2008, the competition involved 16 clubs, which were divided into four zones. The top two clubs of each zone qualified for the quarter-finals of the competition. The 16 best placed clubs in their respective regional championships were eligible to play the Nacional de Clubes. The number of teams were determined were: eight from Buenos Aires, two each from the Noroeste, Litoral and Córdoba and one from both Cuyo and Mar del Plata.Due to scheduling problems, in 2009 the UAR re-launched the Torneo del Interior, a competition that involved clubs from all provincial unions outside Buenos Aires. The new formula of this tournament coincided with a complete overhaul of the Nacional de Clubes system, so the competition was contested by only 4 teams, 2 from the Torneo del Interior and 2 from URBA.
That format remained until 2013, when the UAR announced that after a three-year hiatus, the Nacional de Clubes would return with the original 16 team format since the 2014 edition, with 9 qualifying from the Torneo del Interior and 7 from the Buenos Aires Union.
The UAR changed the tournament's format in 2019, with Torneo del Interior as a qualifier and the expansion from 16 to 24 participant clubs.
Despite of the changes introduced, the UAR modified the system in 2020, reducing the number of participants from 24 to only 4 so it would be contested by the finalists of URBA and Torneo del Interior A, which played two semifinals and one final, similar to 2009–2011 seasons format. Those changes were implemented due to the high number of matches in Argentine rugby and the creation of Super Rugby Americas Nevertheless, the COVID-19 [pandemic in Argentina] forced the UAR to suspend all its competitions and Nacional de Clubes was not held during 2020 and 2021.
Starting from the 2022 season, the tournament was modified again, reducing the number of clubs to only two teams, which play a single superfinal match.
Champions
Below are detailed all the final results:;Notes