The AFA begins to define the future of Argentine football: how are the tournaments that will be voted in Ezeiza

There is a spoiler before proceeding with reading this note. Today will not be a decisive day for Argentine football. But, probably, it will set an unequivocal course in everything that has to do with the competitive system. Another spoiler: what was discussed this Friday morning in the meeting of the Executive Committee of the Lega Calcio Professionisti is closely linked to the urgency of improve club revenue through the commercialization of television rights and the interest of sponsors. They know that to get more money in, the product should be as attractive as possible. And today the product, hit by the ups and downs of the country and affected by the difficulties that clubs have to be competitive with other markets, even those of neighboring countries, is far from that goal.

That is why in the conclave that will take place from 10.30 at the AFA headquarters, in Ezeiza, it will be the first of many to talk about what will happen to Argentine football once the Qatar 2022 World Cup is over.

The big question is knowing how the First Division tournament will be playedwhich today has 28 teams and will also have 28 in 2023. And this is the great dilemma to be solved. because it’s meimpracticable and unsaleable a tournament with 14 games per weekend. For this reason, in the last few weeks the idea of ​​progressively reaching the 22 participants by force of descents – four from next year – in 2026.

It is then that a project that had seen the light a few months ago returned to the scene, led by the president of Banfield, Edoardo Spinosa, and that it was boxed up until in the last hours it started to circulate with force. Is that the plan raises the possibility, one might say supernatural, that 20-team tournaments return from next year without having to wait four seasons.

Its approval would include, in principle, the abolition of the two descents stipulated for this season – an initiative that most executives, as he was able to discover Clarione, is reluctant to approve and that could be changed. Thus, in the first part of the year, as is currently the case, the Professional League Cup would be played with an extra-large roster of 30 participants (with the two promoted by the First National Team). They will be divided into two zones of 15 and the first four of each group will go to the phase of direct elimination from the quarter-finals until the definition of the champion.

This competition would last 18 weeks and would also serve to define the magical 20 teams -the top ten of each zone of the LPF Cup- who would participate in a championship in league format, which in the sketch has a fancy name The 20 best LPF tournaments. The championship would be played all against all for 19 days. It would be a single annual short competition like those held in the opening and closing times or the Initial and Final.

What would happen to the 10 teams, the bottom five in each zone, that would remain out of the competition? they should play one sort of reclassification together with the 10 best positioned of the First National team (Second division). It would be the first LPF qualifying tournament, which will also be played on 19 dates, all against all. The winner, who will not be a champion, will qualify for the Copa Sudamericana 2024 and, along with the other top nine in the standings, will remain in the First Division for 2024. The remaining ten will compete in the First National the following year. In other words, there could be a significant turnover of participants, but the number would be maintained..

What would the odds for international lottery cups look like? The Libertadores will go to the samples the League Cup, the Top 20 LPF Tournament and the Argentine Cup, more the top three in the Top 20 Tournament. Meanwhile, for the South American, in addition to the winner of the First LPF Qualifying Tournament, the following will be added: five classified in the Top 20 LPF Tournament to follow the three who will go to the Libertadores.

All this system, without counting the cup rankings, would be replicated in Ascent tournamentswhere there are currently championships with 37 teams (First National) and 11 (First D).

This sketch, which would be in the taste of the president of the AFA and the Lega Professionisti, Claudio Chiqui Tapia, it’s not the only one in the folder. However, it is the one that develops best if the idea is to kick the scoreboard and create a bit of the unsaleable 28-team tournament. There is also a proposal, so that everything remains as it was before (Copa de la Liga, Liga, Copa Argentina) and add another competition that will exclusively involve the champions of the league. And others are also talking about two short defining tournaments in the form of playoffs in the style of the Mexican league.