The Argentine Football Association (Spanish: Asociación del Fútbol Argentino, locally [asosjaˈsjon del ˈfuðβol aɾxenˈtino]; AFA) is the governing body of football in Argentina based in Buenos Aires. It organises the main divisions of Argentine league system (from Primera División to Torneo Regional Federal and Torneo Promocional Amateur), including domestic cups: Copa Argentina, Supercopa Argentina, Trofeo de Campeones de la Liga Profesional, and the Supercopa Internacional. The body also manages all of Argentina's national teams, including the Senior, U-20, U-17, U-15, Olympic, and women's squads. It also organizes the women's, children, youth, futsal, and other local leagues.
The AFA also organised all the Primera División championships from 1893 to 2016–17. From the 2017–18 season, the "Superliga Argentina", an entity which was administered independently and had its own statute, took over the Primera División championships. Nevertheless, the Superliga was contractually linked with the main football body. The last championship organised by the Superliga was 2019–20; shortly after the season ended the body was dissolved.
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History
The Argentine Association Football League (in English) was founded on 21 February 1893 by Alexander Watson Hutton, considered "the father" of Argentine football. The Argentine Association is the oldest in South America and one of the oldest outside Europe. In 1906, Florencio Martínez de Hoz became the first Argentine-born president of the association.
In 1912, the president of Gimnasia y Esgrima (BA), 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 (LP), Independiente, Estudiantes (LP) 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 "Asociación Amateurs de Football", organizing its own championships (as FAF had done) until 1926 when it merged to the 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.
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.
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.
Names
The body has been renamed several times since its establishment in 1893, in most of the cases translating the original English names to Spanish. The list of names is the following:
Argentine Association Football League (1893–1903)
Argentine Football Association (1903–1912)
Asociación Argentina de Football (1912–1927)
Asociación Amateur Argentina de Football (1927–1931)
Asociación de Football Amateurs y Profesionales (1931–1934)
Asociación del Fútbol Argentino (1934–present)
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Current board
As of 22 May 2024:
Competitions
Official Competitions
The men’s Argentina Football Association (AFA) has won three FIFA World Cups: 1978 (Daniel Passarella was the captain and Cesar Luis Menotti was the manager), 1986 (Diego Maradona for captain and Carlos Bilardo for manager), and 2022 (Lionel Messi was the captain and Lionel Scaloni was, and currently still is, the manager).
The list of official competitions organized by the Argentine Football Association since its creation in 1893 are:
Notes
Dissident Competitions
The following table include competitions organized by dissident associations.
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Presidents
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