Argentine Football Association

Argentine Football Association
CONMEBOL
Founded 21 February 1893 (1893-02-21) [1]
Headquarters Buenos Aires
FIFA affiliation 1912 (1912)
CONMEBOL affiliation 1916 (1916)
President Claudio Tapia
Website afa.org.ar

The Argentine Football Association (Spanish: Asociación del Fútbol Argentino, locally [asosjaˈsjon del ˈfutbol aɾxenˈtino]) is the governing body of football in Argentina. It organises the Primera División and lower divisions (from Primera B Nacional to Torneo Argentino C), the Argentine Cup, Supercopa Argentina and the Argentina national football team.

The association is based in the city of Buenos Aires. Secondly, it also organizes the amateur leagues for women, children, youth, Futsal, and other local leagues, as well as the national women's team.

History

The Argentine Association Football League (in English) was founded on 21 February 1893 by Alexander Watson Hutton, considered "the father" of Argentine football.[2] The Argentine Association is the oldest in South America and one of the oldest to be formed outside Europe. In 1906 Florencio Martínez de Hoz became the first Argentine-born President of the Association.[3]

In 1912 the president of Gimnasia y Esgrima de Buenos Aires, Ricardo Aldao, broke up with the association establishing an own league, the Federación Argentina de Football which organized a parallel tournament. Some teams moved to the FAF were Gimnasia y Esgrima, Independiente, Estudiantes de La Plata and Atlanta. The league lasted until 1914 when rejoining Asociación Argentina de Football forming a unique league for the 1915 season.

The second dissident league was formed in 1919 and named Asociacion Amateurs de Football, organizing its own championships (as FAF had done) until 1926 when it merged to official association. The dissident league included some of the most prominent teams such as River Plate, Racing, Independiente and San Lorenzo, with the exception of Boca Juniors that remained in the official "Asociación Argentina de Football".

When both leagues merged for the 1927 season, the association was again renamed to "Asociación Amateur Argentina de Football" until the professionalization of the sport in 1931 when it switched to "Liga Argentina de Football". The first round of the recently created professional championship was on 31 May 1931.[1][4]

Despite football turning professional in Argentina, some clubs wanted to remain amateur so they formed a new league, the "Asociación de Football Amateur y Profesionales", which organized a parallel tournament until 1934 when the dissident association merged with LAF on 3 November 1934 to form the "Asociación del Football Argentino" which has remained since.[1][5]

In 2015, during the presidential elections to elect a new president for the body, there were two candidates to occupy Julio Humberto Grondona's chair, Marcelo Tinelli –who wanted a change in how things were going, like eliminating corruption between some clubs and the AFA– and Luis Segura, who had taken charge after Grondona's death, with the intention of extending his mandate.

With 75 presidents of different Argentine clubs voting, the day of the elections something went wrong when the final count resulted in a draw of 38 to 38 (76 votes in total). The explanation given was that one of the electors put a double vote and that mistake was not reported. As a result, the executive committee decided to postpone the election.[6]

After some meetings to put an end to the conflict, both candidates agreed to have another election in June 2016.[7]

In June 2016, AFA president Luis Segura was charged with "aggravated administrative fraud".[8] Segura has been replaced on an interim basis by the AFA's executive secretary, Damián Dupiellet.[9]

Names

The body has been renamed several times since its establishment in 1893, in most of cases translating into Spanish the original British names. The list of names is the following:[10]

  • Argentine Association Football League (1893-1903) [note 1]
  • Argentine Football Association (1903–12)
  • Asociación Argentina de Football (1912–27)
  • Asociación Amateur Argentina de Football (1927–31)
  • Asociación de Football Amateurs y Profesionales (1931–34)
  • Asociación del Fútbol Argentino (1934–present) [note 2]

Competitions

Official association

The list of official competitions organized by the Argentine Football Association since its creation in 1893 are:[11][12]

Current competitions
Name Time
Primera División1891–present [note 3]
Copa Argentina1969-70, 2011–present [note 4]
Supercopa Argentina [note 5]2012–present
Defunct competitions
Copa de Honor Municipalidad de Buenos Aires1905–36
Copa de Competencia Jockey Club1913–33
Copa de Competencia La Nación1913–14
Copa Dr. Carlos Ibarguren1913–58
Copa Estímulo1920–26
Copa Adrián C. Escobar1939–49
Copa Gral. P. Ramírez [note 6]1943–45
Copa de Competencia Británica George VI1944–48
Copa Suecia [note 7]1958
Copa Centenario de la AFA [note 8]1993
Copa Campeonato (Superfinal) [note 9]2013–14

Dissident associations

The following table include competitions organized by dissident associations.[12]

Other competitions
Name Time Association
Copa de Competencia (AAm)1920–26Asociación Amateurs de Football
Copa de Competencia (LAF)1932–33Liga Argentina de Football
Copa Adrián Beccar Varela1932–33Liga Argentina de Football

Presidents

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The organisation was founded with the same name as its predecessor, the AAFL of 1891
  2. ↑ Translated into Spanish as "Asociación del Fútbol Argentino" in 1946
  3. ↑ The 1891 edition was organized by a precedent association, "Argentine Association Football League", dissolved at the end of the season.[13]
  4. ↑ The Copa Argentina was re-launched in 2011.[14]
  5. ↑ Contested by the champions of the Argentine Primera División and Copa Argentina
  6. ↑ Also known as "Campeonato de la República", it received the name "Copa General de División Pedro Pablo Ramírez", due to the trophy had been donated by de facto President of Argentina, Pedro P. Ramírez
  7. ↑ Held once to keep league teams in readiness while the 1958 FIFA World Cup was being played
  8. ↑ Held once to celebrate the 100th. anniversary of the Association [15]
  9. ↑ Once Inicial and Final tournaments have finished, both winners have to play a match named Superfinal. The association had determined that the first edition (played in 2013) would be considered as a Primera División official title (2012-13 season), therefore Vélez Sársfield awarded its 10th. official championship after defeating Newell's.[16] Nevertheless, from the 2014 edition it was determined that the Superfinal would not be considered as a Primera División title but an official cup.[17]
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Interventor
  11. ↑ Director
  12. ↑ Expelled by the Argentine military dictatorship
  13. ↑ When football became professional in Argentina, the teams that wanted to remain amateur formed this league that organized its own tournaments from 1931 to 1934, when it merged with the professional body, being all of its teams relegated to second division.[19]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "SITIO OFICIAL DE LA ASOCIACIÓN DEL FÚTBOL ARGENTINO". Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  2. ↑ "La historia de una casa poderosa", Clarín, 21 Feb 2003
  3. ↑ "Campeones del Bicentenario", La Nación, 2010-5-18
  4. ↑ Diario Ole - "Bodas de Brillante"
  5. ↑ Historia del Fútbol Amateur en la Argentina, by Jorge Iwanczuk. Published by Autores Editores (1992) - ISBN 9504343848
  6. ↑ "Escándalo: la elección en la AFA salió empatada por un error y ahora Segura y Tinelli analizan unirse", La Nación, 3 Dec 2015
  7. ↑ "Historia de un papelón: con 75 asambleístas hubo 76 votos", Clarín, 3 Dec 2015
  8. ↑ "FIFA to oversee Argentinean FA after FIFA Council member charged - Sports Integrity Initiative". 27 June 2016. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  9. ↑ "Ousted Argentine Football Association President attacks FIFA for taking over crisis-hit organisation". Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  10. ↑ "SITIO OFICIAL DE LA ASOCIACIÓN DEL FÚTBOL ARGENTINO". Archived from the original on 4 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  11. ↑ "SITIO OFICIAL DE LA ASOCIACIÓN DEL FÚTBOL ARGENTINO". Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  12. 1 2 "Argentina - Domestic Cup History". Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  13. ↑ "Argentina 1891". Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  14. ↑ "En medio de las polémicas, Grondona lanzó la Copa Argentina" on Notio.com.ar 19 May 2011
  15. ↑ AFA Centenary Cup on RSSSF
  16. ↑ "Vélez venció a Newell's y es el Supercampeón", Clarín, 29 Dec 2013
  17. ↑ "La AFA homologó la final de River como una copa nacional", Cancha Llena, 28 May 2014
  18. ↑ Claudio Chiqui Tapia fue electo presidente casi sin oposición y comienza una nueva era, Clarín, 29 Mar 2017
  19. ↑ "Argentina 1934 (amateur)". Retrieved 4 March 2017.

Coordinates: 34°36′02″S 58°23′09″W / 34.60056°S 58.38583°W / -34.60056; -58.38583

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