The Argentine football league system include tournaments organised by the

Argentine Football Association The Argentine Football Association (, ; AFA) is the governing body of football in Argentina based in Buenos Aires. It organises the main divisions of Argentine football league system, Argentine league system (from Argentine Primera División, Pri ...

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

promotion and relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

, 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 axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. 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 (2025)

Below the second division championship (

Primera Nacional Primera Nacional (usually called simply Nacional B, (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 38 teams ...

), 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 may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera Ely Rafael Primera Ros ...

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 ( ...

and Torneo Promocional Amateur. Those are usually called "zona metropolitana" (metropolitan zone) because those tournaments have been historically played by teams from the city of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

and the

Greater Buenos Aires Greater Buenos Aires (, GBA), also known as the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (, AMBA), refers to the urban agglomeration comprising the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of B ...

, 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, located northwest of Buenos Aires on the west bank of the Paraná River, is the third-most populous city in the ...

, Santa Fe,

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. According to the 2022 Argentina census, census, the La Plata Partido, Partido has a population of 772,618 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 938,287 inhabit ...

, Zarate, Campana, Luján, Junín,

General Rodríguez General Rodríguez is a city in the urban agglomeration of Greater Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the administrative centre An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county ...

, 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 () 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 2014 as a result of a change in t ...

and Torneo Regional Federal.

History

Tournaments organised by the Association and its predecessors have been held since

1893 Events January * January 2 – Webb C. Ball introduces railroad chronometers, which become the general railroad timepiece standards in North America. * January 6 – The Washington National Cathedral is chartered by Congress; 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 association football, football association of Argentina and predecessor of current Argentine Football Association. The association has a historic importance in football for having organised th ...

(the first organised body in the country) in

1891 Events January * January 1 ** 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 African territories. * January 4 – The Earl of Zetland issues a ...

.''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 Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

, 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 en ...

, 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

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, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...