The Argentine Football Association (Spanish: Asociación del Fútbol Argentino, locally [asosja

ˈsjon 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 Primera D), including domestic cups: Copa
Argentina, Supercopa Argentina, Copa de la Liga Profesional, Trofeo de Campeones de la Liga
Profesional and the Supercopa Internacional. The body also manages all the Argentina national
teams, including the Senior, U-20, U-17, U-15, Olympic and women's squads. Secondly, 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.[3] Nevertheless, the
Superliga was contractually linked with the main football body.[4] The last championship organised
by the Superliga was 2019–20, shortly after the season ended the body was dissolved.[5]

History[edit]
The Argentine Association Football League (in English) was founded on 21 February 1893
by Alexander Watson Hutton, considered "the father" of Argentine football.[6] 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.[7]
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.[1][8]
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][9]
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, on election day 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.[10]
After some meetings to put an end to the conflict, both candidates agreed to have another
election in June 2016.[11]
In June 2016, AFA president Luis Segura was charged with "aggravated administrative fraud".
[12]
Segura has been replaced on an interim basis by the AFA's executive secretary, Damián
Dupiellet.[13]
In 2017, the association approved the creation of a new entity, named "Superliga Argentina de
Fútbol", which would take over the organization of the Primera División championship.[14] The
main European football leagues such as the English Premier League or the Spanish La Liga, that
are organized by associations dedicated exclusively to those championships and run as separate
entities from their respective National Associations, served as inspiration for the creation of the
Superliga.[15]
The 2016–17 Primera División championship was the last tournament organized by the AFA.
Starting with the 2017–18 season to 2019–20 season, the "Superliga Argentina", an entity
administered by itself with its own statute, organised Primera División championships.[3] In March
2020, AFA dissolved the Superliga and took over the Primera División again.[5]

Names[edit]
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:[16]

 Argentine Association Football League (1893–1903) [n1 1]

 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) [n1 2]