The celebration of the Boca squad in San Juan, after beating Banfield in the Diego Maradona Cup final (REUTERS / Andres Larrovere)
With the promotions of Sarmiento de Junín and Platense (who defeated Estudiantes de Río Cuarto on penalties), the 26 participants of the next First Division tournament. Boca, River, Racing, Independiente, San Lorenzo, Vélez, Argentinos, Defensa y Justicia, Newell’s, Talleres, Lanús, Rosario Central, Arsenal Estudiantes de La Plata, Atlético Tucumán, Unión, Banfield, Central Córdoba de Santiago del Estero join , Gimnasia La Plata, Patronato, Huracán, Aldosivi, Colón and Godoy Cruz.
Weekend from February 12 to 14, Argentine football will press the reset button in the midst of a complex news due to the coronavirus pandemic. And the Professional League, entity that governs the elite of the discipline in the country as an appendix to the AFA, will carry out today the draw for the new contest that will have a format of two groups of 13 teams each. It will take place from 7pm at the Hilton hotel.
The development of the competition will have interzonal matches (the classics) and will end in May, on the threshold of the start of the Copa América to be played in Argentina and Colombia. Although there will be no decreases, the points will be incorporated for the averages. And everything indicates that, unlike what happened with the championship that Boca won from Banfield, It will not count as a National Cup, but as a League.
For the interzonal crosses to embody “the date of the classics”, Boca will go to one group and River to the other. The same will happen with San Lorenzo and Huracán, Independiente and Racing, Newell’s and Rosario Central, Estudiantes and Gimnasia or Unión and Colón.
The first stage will be one round, everyone against everyone in each group, completing a total of 12 dates, plus the classics. The best four from each zone will advance to the knockout phase, composing in a quarter-final bracket. The clashes will be played as a single game (it remains to be decided whether they will take place in a neutral field or in the stadium of the best-placed team in the initial part of the competition). The final will be on a stage to be confirmed, as happened with the Maradona Cup at the San Juan Bicentennial Stadium. And in the “kill kill” crossings, in the event of a tie, the passage to the next phase will be resolved by penalties. And the champion will play the Libertadores 2022.
And the other local tournament of 2021? The League would return to the classic format, with the 26 participants facing each other in one round (25 days). And the winner would be the one with the most points in the table. The contest would take place from July to December.
The balls are already waiting for the moment to go out on the field: the draw for a new football year in Argentina is coming.
THIS IS HOW THE CLASSICS WERE DIVIDED
Boca – River
Racing – Independent
San Lorenzo – Hurricane
Newell’s – Rosario Central
Students of La Plata – Gymnastics
Lanús – Banfield
Columbus – Union
Velez – Argentines
Defense and Justice – Arsenal
Godoy Cruz – Workshops
Atlético Tucumán – Central Córdoba de Santiago del Estero
Aldosivi – Board of Trustees
Sarmiento de Junín – Platense
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