First National: how it will be played and how promotions will be distributed in the toughest tournament in Argentina

Argentine football’s main promotion tournament and arguably the most competitive in the country, the National premierewill begin plotting its course for the 2023 season this Thursday when it takes place at the premises of the Argentine Football Federation the draw that will define the two zones in which it will be held -one of the main novelties of the event- and also the complete programme.

As has become customary in recent years, there will be changes to the way the tournament is structured and run. The 37 participating teams will be divided into two groups (one of 19 and the other of 18). Each team will play all of its area rivals at home and on the road, for which it will total 34 or 36 games before reaching the round that will define the two promotions to the Professional Soccer League that the division will grant.

The two leaders of the zones will face each other in a single match on a neutral field which will consecrate the champion and the first promoted. The teams that finish between the second and eighth place in each group enter the first round of the Ridotto for the second place in the LPF. The winners of that instance will be joined in the quarterfinals by the loser of the final for the first promotion.

The number of relegations and how they will be resolved at the end of the season are the points on which the top management of the clubs have not yet finished agreeing.. In principle, there would be two and they would correspond to the teams that finished last in each of the zones. If so, this would allow for the return of an even number of participants by 2024, with three relegations from the LPF next year and (presumed) one promotion from Primera B and another from Federal.

The contest will start on the last week of January (in which case, it would not be necessary to schedule dates during the week throughout the year) or the first of February and will have 37 groups representing the city of Buenos Aires (6) and 11 provinces : Buenos Aires (16), Mendoza (3), Córdoba (2), Chubut (2), Santiago del Estero (2), Santa Fe (1), Tucumán (1), Jujuy (1), Chaco ( 1), Between Rios (1) and San Juan (1).

There will no longer be Belgrano and Instituto, which this year obtained promotion to the Lega Professionisti, from which the relegated Aldosivi and Patronato will arrive, who will play the Copa Libertadores at the same time after winning the Argentine Cup. Ramón Santamarina and Sacachispas, who fell to Federal and Primera B respectively, will also be absent, but Racing de Córdoba and Defensores Unidos de Zárate will join, emerging from those divisions.