Claudio Tapia, president of the AFA; It is one of the engines of this project. Photo: Archive
A championship of 28 threatens competitiveness, but also affects the “product”., as they like to call the First Division tournament in the corridors of the AFA. It is impossible that there are 14 attractive parties. And even more so with football hit by the economic crisis and unable to compete with other markets. Hence the idea of gradually returning to 22 by 2026 after the monster of the 30 mega-league that Julio Grondona had conceived before dying has re-emerged due to the pandemic and the abolition of relegation.
However, there is too much time left for 2026 and in the last few hours a proposal has been made that btries to restructure Argentine football in another way. And the plan, already anticipated by Clarin in March of this year, is to return immediately to a 20-team league without mass relegations. There is also the possibility that there will be no more dips.
The proposal plans to continue with two annual competitions, as has happened so far, but with a different format. Better to go to parties.
First of all, the Professional Football League Cup will be played, which will see the participation of 30 teams divided into two zones of 15. It will be necessary to see if, to reach that number, it will be decided to abolish relegation this season, something that many leaders want low. and others openly refuse. Or if they keep the original plan and the quotas to go up from the First National are doubled.
In that Professional League Cup there will be a regular phase of 14 games plus a classic or inter-zonal one and then there will be knockout playoffs among the top four of each zone until the champion is defined in a path that will include quarter-finals, semifinals. and a final. It will be 18 weeks in the first half and the champion will go non-stop to the Copa Libertadores 2024. So far, apart from the incorporation of two teams, there will be nothing new. The new one would arrive in a hypothetical second half.
How come? Because the League Cup will also serve as a qualifier for the “Top 20 LPF Tournament”, which will be played by 20 teams on 19 dates and will crown a champion who will also go to the Copa Libertadores the following year. Those 20 teams will be the top 10 in each League Cup zone.
What will happen to the five worst in each League Cup zone? Those 10 A-teams will join the top 10 of the First National and play the “First LPF Qualifying Tournament”. Then there will be 20 teams that will play 19 dates all against all. The winner will go to the Copa Sudamericana 2024 and, together with the other nine best placed, will remain in the First Division the following year. While the other 10 remaining teams will play the following year in the second category, an elegant way to decree the relegation (or non-promotion) of that group of “relegated”.
“From a sporting point of view the clubs have more competition, as all the teams fight for something and every point is important. In the first half of the year they all fight to be in the top 20, so the League Cup 15 matches serve to something. And in the second half of the year, the 20 teams playing in the Top 20 LPF Tournament play for the 9 places in the international cups. And the remaining 10 teams play to stay in the First Division, added to 10 teams that will play for the promotion , in addition to the place at stake for the South American “, reads the draft to which this newspaper had access last March.
In total, the teams will play 34 dates, which allows them to respect the breaks, FIFA dates and gives space for the clubs on the calendar to play other competitions during the week.
“Promotions and relegations become more dynamic and therefore less traumatic, giving the clubs the possibility to recover quickly in the event that in a few years they have to go down and vice versa for those who have to go up”, completes the project. he also talks about the possibility of eliminating the averages for the descent.
What would the odds for international lottery cups look like? The champions of the League Cup, the Top 20 LPF Tournament and the Argentina Cup will go to the Libertadores, plus the three best placed in the Top 20 Tournament. For the South American, in the meantime, in addition to the winner of the First LPF Tournament Qualification, the next five classified in the Top 20 of the LPF Tournament, after the three that will go to the Libertadores.
All this system, without counting the ranking for the cups, would be replicated in the Ascenso tournaments, where currently there are championships with 37 teams (Primera Nacional) and 11 (Primera D).
And the product?
The project, another Argentine invention ?, contemplates it this new competition format may be more attractive when it comes to monetizing the competition to generate more resources for clubs. Not only will there be more teams, as they will end up being 40, but there will also be more matches. Between the first and second semester there will be around 600 games per year. That is, more showcase for sponsors.
The project also foresees the distribution of money. “In the first half of the year, the current criteria will continue to be maintained or new distribution criteria will be evaluated, both for the 28 clubs and for those 2 clubs that rise, taking the sporting and television results of the 2022 season”, begins the argument at the time of see how revenues from national television rights are distributed.
And he continues: “In the second half, the 20 best teams will receive according to the criteria defined for the first half. For the remaining 10 teams, from the corresponding amount to be received, according to the criteria defined for the first half, from which a percentage is subtracted. it is assigned, by position, to the 10 best teams of the National B “.
As for the distribution of money for the proceeds of international television rights, the scheme does not foresee major changes. “They are distributed equally and throughout the year, among the 28 first class teams in 2022. The distribution criteria for the 2 promoted teams will be evaluated”, he proposes.
Conditions
The 10 teams of the First National that will play the qualifying tournament will be considered “guests” at the time of the rights and obligations of the law and will have no voice or vote in the Executive Committee of the Professional League, according to the draft. But they must comply with the infrastructural requirements and adapt to the economic-financial control mechanisms established by the Lega Professionisti.
Source: Clarin
