AFA revamps Argentina's top flight with new football format for 2027 season 

The Argentine Football Association (AFA) has announced it is revamping its format for next season’s First Division championship, while ruling out the possibility of reducing the 30 teams to 20.

The Apertura and Clausura tournaments will be maintained but no longer disputed in two zones of 15 clubs. Instead it will be all against all, with 29 fixtures and an additional match-day for derbies.

The system of play-offs for the decisive rounds will also be maintained so that the Apertura tournament will conclude its regular stage on the 15th fixture with the top 16 teams in the table disputing the play-offs in a direct duel for the title.

In the second half of the year, Clausura will kick off from the 16th fixture but without carrying over the points from Apertura, while in similar fashion the play-offs for the championship will follow the 30th match-day.

The league title will also be maintained for the team topping the Annual Table after 30 fixtures. The season will thus crown three champions: the winners of Apertura and Clausura, plus the top of the annual classification.

The relegation system has yet to be confirmed. For now there will be one team based on the annual table and other for its average points over the last three seasons, though there is a push for another team to face a play-off against the team finishing in third in the second flight.

"Only River [Plate] took a stand for a tournament of 20 teams. A motion for 10 relegations was put to the managerial panel and except for River, no club agreed with the mass relegation of 10 teams in Argentine football," noted Cristian Malaspina, the president of Argentinos Juniors, after the Executive Committee meeting. 

River have long been at odds with AFA and have pushed for a 20-team top flight to match most of the strongest leagues in the world.

"The opinion of all the clubs and all the partners in those clubs was heard. We believe that this will be even more competitive than what we have now," stated Malaspina.

In context, the 2027 season will thus have two less fixtures than the current (with two tournaments of 16 match-days each in their regular phase).

On the other hand, there will be no changes in the classification for international cups, with entry into the prestigious Copa Libertadores for the three champions mentioned above, plus the winner of the Copa Argentina, and the second- and third-place finishers of the Annual Table. Those finishing between fourth and nine in the table go into the Copa Sudamericana, the region's second-tier continental competition.

– TIMES/AFP