Argentine Football Association

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]

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]

Notes

As of October 2021:[17]

Official Association Asociación del Fútbol Argentino Period President/s 1893–1896 Alexander Watson Hutton 1897–1898 Alfredo P. Boyd 1899 Charles Wibberley 1900–1905 Frank Chevallier Boutell 1906 Florencio Martínez de Hoz 1907–1908 Emilio Hansen 1909–1914 Hugo Wilson 1915–1917 Adolfo Orma 1918–1919 Ricardo Aldao 1919–1921 Federico Luzio 1921–1922 Benjamin Toulouse 1922–1924 Aldo Cantoni 1924–1926 Virgilio Tedin Uriburu 1926 Natalio Botana 1927–1929 Adrián Beccar Varela 1929–1932 Juan Pignier 1932 Carlos Anessi 1932–1933 Silvio Serra 1933–1934 José Claisse 1934 Alejandro Russo 1934 Tiburcio Padilla 1935 Ernesto F. Malbec 1936 Ángel Molinari 1937–1938 Eduardo Sánchez Terrero 1939–1940 Adrián Escobar 1941–1943 Ramón Castillo 1944 Jacinto Armando 1945 Agustín Nicolás Matienzo 1946 Eduardo J. Avalos 1947 Pedro Canaveri 1948–1949 Oscar Nicolini 1949 Cayetano Giardulli 1950–1953 Valentín Suárez 1954–1955 Domingo Peluffo 1955 Cecilio Conditi 1956 Arturo Bullrich [n4 1] 1957–1965 Raúl Colombo 1966 Francisco Perette 1967–1968 Valentin Suárez [n4 1] 1968 Armando Ramos Ruiz [n4 1] 1969 Aldo J. Porri [n4 1] 1969 Oscar L. Ferrari [n4 1] 1969–1971 Juan Oneto Gaona [n4 1] 1971–1973 Raúl D'Onofrio [n4 1] 1973 Horacio Bruzzone [n4 1] 1973–1974 Baldomero Gigan [n4 1] 1974 Fernando Mitjans [n4 1][n4 2] 1974–1976 David Bracuto [n4 3] 1976–1979 Alfredo Cantilo 1979–2014 Julio Grondona 2014–2016 Luis Segura 2016–2017 Armando Pérez [n4 1] 2017–present Claudio Tapia[27]

Dissident Associations Federación Argentina de Football Period President/s 1912–1914 Ricardo Aldao Asociación Amateurs de Football Period President/s 1919 Juan Mignaburu 1920–1926 Adrián Beccar Varela Liga Argentina de Football [n4 4] Period President/s 1931 Julio Planisi 1932–1934 Eduardo Larrandart 1934 Tiburcio Padilla

Alexander Watson Hutton, the first president of the Argentine Football Association in 1893 Ricardo Aldao (1918–19), had also presided dissident Federación Argentina de Football 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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Asociación del Fútbol Argentino.

• Official website
• Argentina at FIFA site (archived 3 June 2007)
• FuteMAX
• Futemaxgratis

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