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Argentine Football - Liga Profesional y Seleccion

Punchanello

Punchanello

Rotation Player
Joined
Jun 23, 2026
Replies
320
Thought I would start a thread for anyone interested and the trainspotters.

The 2026 domestic season has been weird (weirder than most anyway) with what looks like an ad-hoc, arbitrary and unnecessarily complex set of new rules. As simply as I can describe it, the new season format is -
  • Two tournaments: Apertura and Clausura.
  • In each tournament:
    • The 30 teams are split into 2 groups of 15.
    • Teams play every other team in their group once.
    • Each team also plays 2 cross-group matches.
    • The top 8 teams from each group qualify for the Round of 16.
    • The knockout rounds (Round of 16, Quarter-finals, Semi-finals and Final) are all single-match eliminations.
  • The Apertura winner qualifies for the 2027 Copa Libertadores as Argentina 1.
  • The Clausura winner qualifies as Argentina 2.
  • Other international places are decided by the overall season standings.
League title
  • A new title, “League Champion”, is awarded to the team with the most points across the entire season.
Relegation
  • Two teamsare relegated:
    • One based on the relegation coefficient system.
    • One for finishing last in the overall season table.
 
Why is it like this? Like everything in Argentina, it's some combination of politics, self-interest and money.

The positive angle is that this is about -
  • Expanding the top tier beyond a Buenos Aires dominated league and into the provinces (30 teams)
  • Offering opportunity for smaller clubs to be more financially viable and competitive for longer across the season
The negative POV is -
  • AFA consolidating power
  • Favouritism towards BA clubs
  • A battle between the traditional member driven club model (this is still the dominant model in Argentina) and a desire for greater corporatisation of the game.
Everyone except AFA and the club executives seem to think that it's shit.

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The big match of the week; a big inter city clash - Newells Old Boys vs Boca Juniors.

Extended highlights

The Argentine calendar is insane. We are already 3 rounds done after the World Cup. Boca has played one continental game against O'Higgins (Chile), one cup match and 2 league fixtures in two weeks.
 
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Punchanello said:
The big match of the week; a big inter city clash - Newells Old Boys vs Boca Juniors.

Extended highlights

The Argentine calendar is insane. We are already 3 rounds done after the World Cup. Boca has played one continental game against O'Higgins (Chile), one cup match and 2 league fixtures in two weeks.
Click to expand...
away fans are still banned?
 
The other big match of the round was River Plate vs Rosario Central. Otamendi up against Di Maria.

River plate fans are in near revolt at the performance of the side right now and that isn't going to end soon. Otamendi with the own goal that sealed it.

From what I have seen in the apertura, Di Maria looks spritely. He probably could have gone to the WC and was definitely missed.
 
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Nico Paz is Argentina's heir apparent to the number 10 shirt according to Messi himself (or so people say).

He won't replace Messi, noone can, but he is certainly shaping to be at the centre of future systems.

 
Clausura round 3 highlights!



Apparently, River are on their worst streak in 115 years with a 0-1 loss to Central. :oops:
Tigre pounces to win 1-3 against Racing causing a near riot. Racing looked like they would have preferred to be taken out back and shot.
 
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In other big news, Gimnasia y Escrima de Mendoza (my family's home town) won, but three kids walked into this dodgy chook shed during the game and were never seen again. Local's report that it was bad, but not as bad as what happened on the pitch during the game.

1785970610770.png
 
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Sorry, I'm late with round 4 Clausura highlights. All three of you who bother will get bonus Libertadores thread as compensation.



Absolute belter first off the rank.

at 3:45 - Goal from Ignacio Russo of Tigre. He's got to be off to Europe any minute. He's built for it.
 
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Punchanello said:
Sorry, I'm late with round 4 Clausura highlights. All three of you who bother will get bonus Libertadores thread as compensation.



Absolute belter first off the rank.

at 3:45 - Goal from Ignacio Russo of Tigre. He's got to be off to Europe any minute. He's built for it.
Click to expand...

VAMOS.. what a beast of strike but the keeper was in lala land.. I know its early days but WTF River?
 
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