Argentine Football Association

Argentine Football Association
CONMEBOL
Founded 21 February 1893 (1893-02-21) [1]
Headquarters Buenos Aires, Argentina
FIFA affiliation 1912 (1912)
CONMEBOL affiliation 1916 (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]

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

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

External links

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

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