MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA - JULY 16: Boca Juniors fans celebrate during the pre-season International Friendly between Melbourne Victory and Argentina's Boca Juniors at Etihad Stadium on July 16 2010 in Melbourne Australia. (Photo by Robert Prezioso/Getty Images)
Argentina Creating 40 Round Season, Combining Top Two Divisions
Argentina are abandoning the Apertura/Clausura format they pioneered for a 40 round season that will combine the top divisions and ensure that the big clubs stay in the top flight.
Argentina Creating 40 Round Season, Combining Top Two Divisions
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Argentina Creating 40 Round Season, Combining Top Two Divisions
The Argentine Football Association has decided to combine the Top and National B Division of their football ladder to create one season-long, 40 round season. As part of the change, season averages and relegation promotions will be eliminated with the bottom four teams in the table being automatically relegated each season. According to AFA spokesman Ernesto Cherquis Bialo, the new competition format is expected to be begin in August 2012.'
It is a major change for a country that pioneered the Apertura/Clausura split-season format in 1990 and has seen 16 other countries in Latin America follow suit by implementing the format since. The format is being change will ensure that the top teams will not be relegated like River Plate were this season. River's relegation will be a major financial hit to the league and also led to rioting in Buenos Aires as the historic club was knocked out of the top division for the first time in club history.
Now that the motion has been proposed and approved by the AFA, an assembly will finalize all the details of the new competition format on October 18. One of the things that the assembly will have to determine is how the teams will classify to the all-important Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana.
