Argentine Football Association

Argentine Football Association

CONMEBOL
Founded	21 February 1893 [1]
Headquarters	Buenos Aires, Argentina
FIFA affiliation	1912
CONMEBOL affiliation	1916
President	Luis Segura (provisional)[2][3]
Website	www.afa.org.ar

The Argentine Football Association (Spanish: Asociación del Fútbol Argentino, locally: [asosjaˈsjon del ˈfutbol arxenˈtino]) 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.^[4] 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.^[5]

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][6]

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][7]

In 2015, during the presidential elections to elect a new president for the body, there were two candidates to occupate 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.^[8]

After some meetings to put an end to the conflict, both candidates agreed to have another election in June of 2016.^[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)
• 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 Football Argentino ⁵ (1934–present)

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 División	1891–present [lower-alpha 1]
Copa Argentina	1969-70, 2011–present [lower-alpha 2]
Supercopa Argentina [lower-alpha 3]	2012–present
Copa Campeonato (Superfinal) [lower-alpha 4]	2013–present
Defunct competitions
Copa de Honor Municipalidad de Buenos Aires	1905-36
Copa de Competencia Jockey Club	1913-33
Copa de Competencia La Nación	1913-14
Copa Dr. Carlos Ibarguren	1913-58
Copa Estímulo	1920-26
Copa Adrián C. Escobar	1939-49
Copa Gral. P. Ramírez [lower-alpha 5]	1943-45
Copa de Competencia Británica George VI	1944-48
Copa Suecia [lower-alpha 6]	1958
Copa Centenario de la AFA [lower-alpha 7]	1993

Dissident associations

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

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

Presidents

Official Association Asociación del Fútbol Argentino Period President/s 1893-96 Alexander Watson Hutton 1897-98 Alfredo P. Boyd 1899 Charles Wibberley 1900-05 Frank Chevallier Boutell 1906 Florencio Martínez de Hoz 1907-08 Emilio Hansen 1909-14 Hugo Wilson 1915-17 Adolfo Orma 1918-19 Ricardo Aldao 1919-21 Federico Luzio 1921-22 Benjamin Toulouse 1922-24 Aldo Cantoni 1924-26 Virgilio Tedin Uriburu 1926 Natalio Botana 1927-29 Adrián Beccar Varela 1929-32 Juan Pignier 1932 Carlos Anessi 1932-33 Silvio Serra 1933-34 José Claisse 1934 Alejandro Russo 1934 Tiburcio Padilla 1935 Ernesto F. Malbec 1936 Ángel Molinari 1937-38 Eduardo Sánchez Terrero 1939-40 Adrián Escobar 1941-43 Ramón Castillo 1944 Jacinto Armando 1945 Agustín Nicolás Matienzo 1946 Eduardo J. Avalos 1947 Pedro Canaveri 1948-49 Oscar Nicolini 1949 Cayetano Giardulli 1950-53 Valentín Suárez 1954-55 Domingo Peluffo 1955 Cecilio Conditi 1956 Arturo Bullrich ^1 1957-65 Raúl Colombo 1966 Francisco Perette 1967-68 Valentin Suárez ^1 1968 Armando Ramos Ruiz ^1 1969 Aldo JPorri 1 & O.L. Ferrari ^1 1969-71 Juan Oneto Gaona ^1 1971-73 Raúl D'Onofrio ^1 1973 Horacio Bruzzone ^1 1973-74 Baldomero Gigan ^1 1974 Fernando Mitjans ^1 ^2 1974-76 David Bracuto ^3 1976-79 Alfredo Cantilo 1979-2014 Julio Grondona 2014- Luis Segura

Dissident Associations Federación Argentina de Football Period President/s 1912-14 Ricardo Aldao Asociación Amateurs de Football Period President/s 1919 Juan Mignaburu 1920-26 Adrián Beccar Varela Liga Argentina de Football ^4 Period President/s 1931 Julio Planisi 1932-34 Eduardo Larrandart 1934 Tiburcio Padilla

Alexander Watson Hutton, the first president of the Argentine Football Association in 1893. Adrián Beccar Varela presided from 1927 to his death in 1929. Adrián C. Escobar (1939-41). Julio Grondona had the longest tenure at the AFA, with 35 years as President of the body.

Notes

• ¹ Interventor.
• ² Director.
• ³ Expelled by the Argentine military dictatorship.
• ⁴ 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.^[18]
• ⁵ Then translated into Spanish as "Asociación del Fútbol Argentino" in 1946.

Notes

1. The 1891 edition was organized by a precedent association, The Association Argentine Football, dissolved at the end of the season.^[13]
2. The Copa Argentina was re-launched in 2011.^[14]
3. Contested by the champions of the Argentine Primera División and Copa Argentina.
4. 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.^[15] Nevertheless, from the 2014 edition it was determined that the Superfinal would not be considered as a Primera División title but an official cup.^[16]
5. 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.
6. Held once to keep league teams in readiness while the 1958 FIFA World Cup was being played.
7. Held once to celebrate the 100th. anniversary of the Association.^[17]

References

1. "Orígenes de la Asociación" - AFA website
2. "Luis Segura, nuevo Presidente de la AFA luego del fallecimiento de Julio Grondona", Infobae, 30 Jul 2014
3. "Murió Julio Grondona y Luis Segura ocupará su cargo en AFA", La Voz, 30 Jul 2014
4. "La historia de una casa poderosa", Clarín, 21 Feb 2003
5. "Campeones del Bicentenario", La Nación, 2010-5-18
6. Diario Ole - "Bodas de Brillante"
7. Historia del Fútbol Amateur en la Argentina, by Jorge Iwanczuk. Published by Autores Editores (1992) - ISBN 9504343848
8. "Escándalo: la elección en la AFA salió empatada por un error y ahora Segura y Tinelli analizan unirse", La Nación, 3 Dec 2015
9. "Historia de un papelón: con 75 asambleístas hubo 76 votos", Clarín, 3 Dec 2015
10. Names of the Association on "Presidentes" - AFA website
11. Campeones de Copas Nacionales on AFA website
12. Argentine Cup History on RSSSF
13. Argentina 1891 at RSSSF
14. "En medio de las polémicas, Grondona lanzó la Copa Argentina" on Notio.com.ar 19 May 2011
15. "Vélez venció a Newell's y es el Supercampeón", Clarín, 29 Dec 2013
16. "La AFA homologó la final de River como una copa nacional", Cancha Llena, 28 May 2014
17. AFA Centenary Cup on RSSSF
18. 1934 Argentine Amateur Primera División at RSSSF

External links

• Official site
• Argentina at FIFA site

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