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Note: to see my most recent map-&-post on Argentina, click on the following, category: Argentina.
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The Primera Division Argentina, Clausura 2008 began last weekend. This map shows the clubs in the league this season, with a list of each club’s league titles, and Copa Libertadores titles.
The Primera Division Argentina has 20 teams. The Apertura season runs from August to December. The Clausura season runs from February to May. Relegation is decided by the clubs with the worst three-year average. This is called the Promedio. The bottom two clubs on the Promedio table are relegated after each Clausura (in May); while two teams are promoted from the second division. 17th and 18th place in the Promedio table must play in a relegation/ promotion playoff with the 3rd and 4th place finishers in the second division. This system is very tough on the just-promoted clubs, as their Promedio score will be taken from just the one season. That means they must finish well above the bottom four to be safe from relegation worries. **{Click here, to be directed to the Hasta El Gol Siempre site, to see the current Promedio table…it will be the fourth table down.}
The Promedio system benefits the bigger clubs, at the expense of the smaller clubs. There have been recent situations where big clubs like River Plate have finished in the botton 2, yet avoided relegation, thanks to this rather cynical system.
There is no national cup in Argentina, so the Copa Libertadores has even more prominence. The Copa Libertadores is the all-South America cup competition (plus Mexico). {Click here, for an overview of the Copa Libertadores.}
The Argentine football world is dominated by clubs from, and nearby the capital, Buenos Aires. 14 of the 20 clubs in the Clausura 2008 are from within 60 miles of Buenos Aires.
The two biggest clubs in Argentina are Boca Juniors, and River Plate, both from Buenos Aires. River has won an astounding 32 league titles, and 2 Copa Libertadores titles. Boca has won 22 league titles, and 6 Copa titles. These two get the lions’ share of the media attention (domestically, and worldwide), but there are several other successful clubs.
Independiente, from Avellenada (which is part of greater Buenos Aires, just southeast of the city center) actually has the most Copa titles in Argentina, 7, although they haven’t won one in over 2 decades; they have 16 league titles (the last in the 2002-Apertura). San Lorenzo, from Buenos Aires, have won the league 13 times (their last was last years’ Clausura). Racing Club, from Avellenada, rounds out “the big 5.” They are from Avellenada, and have 16 league titles and 1 Copa title (although 9 of their titles were won in the nineteen-teens and nineteen-twenties, back in the amatuer era [pre-1930]). Estudiantes, from La Plata, 50 miles southeast of Buenos Aires, have won 5 league titles and 3 Copa titles.
There are two successful clubs from the central Santa Fe Province city of Rosario: Newell’s Old Boys (7 titles), and Rosario Central (4 titles).
The small Buenos Aires club Lanus won the Apertura 2007. It was their first title. Newly promoted Tigre, from the northern part of greater Buenos Aires, finished second, and the small club Banfield, from just south of the capital, finished third. Boca finished 4th (after winning the 2007 Copa Libertadores, in June). River had a horrible season, finishing 14th. It was definately a season for the underdog.
One note about the map: there are two title wins listed for 1913 (GELP, and Racing Club), because there were two seperate FAs operating side by side in Argentina then.
For reference, here is a map of Argentina, with Provinces and neighboring countries. Click here.
Thanks to the Pitch Invasion site (http://pitchinvasion.net/). Thanks to the Hasta El Gol Siempre site (http://www.hastaelgolsiempre.com).
Thursday, this map, with an article by Sam, from Hasta El Gol Siempre, will be featured on the Pitch Invasion site.
