Round-robin amateur tournaments (1891–1931) , then abandoned and re-issued from 2013 to 2015. In 1891 the
Association Argentine Football League was established, with Alex Lamont of
St. Andrew's Scots School as one of its board members. The AAFL was the first football league outside of the British Isles., to establish a football league. The first amateur Primera División matches were played on 12 April 1891: Buenos Aires FC vs.
St. Andrew's and
Old Caledonians vs. Belgrano FC. The most serious title challenge came from
Banfield in 1951, when they finished with the same number of points as Racing Club in the league table. However, they lost 1–0 in the two-legged first place playoffs and gave the title to Racing. Averaging continued until
1963, when the championship returned to its old format (with the worst placed teams being relegated). Nevertheless, there were no relegations until
1967 (with
Unión (SF) and
Deportivo Español being sent to
Primera B after playing a relegation tournament contested by teams of First and Second divisions to define the promotions and relegations).
Metropolitano and Nacional (1967–1985) In 1967, the single tournament format was abandoned and replaced by two championships in each year: the
Metropolitano and the
Nacional. The Metropolitano only allowed clubs competing in the old tournament to participate, while the Nacional was open to teams from regional tournaments. Despite the format change in 1970, teams still entered the Nacional championship, Petit tournament and Reclasificatorio tournament according to their rankings in the Metropolitano in that year. However, in 1971, the tournaments were separated. Teams did not enter the Nacional by finishing at the top ranks of Metropolitano. On the other hand, the Petit tournament and Reclasificatorio tournament were abandoned. The Metropolitano and Nacional became two truly individual tournaments. Although the old system was reused in 1972, the separation was instituted again in 1973 and was adopted throughout the remaining Metropolitano and Nacional era. The Metropolitano was always played first, until the order of the tournaments was reversed in 1982. After 20 years since the last time it had been used, the average system for relegations returned in the
1983 Metropolitano championship,
European-styled seasons (1985–1991) Following the advice of
Argentina national football team's then coach
Carlos Salvador Bilardo, the structure of play was modified in 1985. Traditionally, like other countries in Southern Hemisphere, football season began and ended according to the calendar year. However, upon the reform, European style season was adopted for the first time among all the South American countries. Moreover, instead of holding two championships every year, only one double
round-robin tournament was contested, like football leagues in Europe. The team topping the table at the end of season was crowned the champion. In 1985, after the Nacional was played, the Metropolitano was not held, while the new single tournament (1985/86) was played for the first time. In 1988–89 season, three points were given to match winners. If a draw occurred, A
penalty shootout took place and the winner of the shootout would get two points while the loser still had one. This format was scrapped in the following season.
Apertura and Clausura (1991–2012) Five years later, the single championship was split into two single-round tournaments, giving birth to the
Apertura and Clausura arrangement. In 1991 the two champions played winner-take-all matches. This practice was very controversial, especially since one of the biggest teams,
Boca Juniors, lost the finals against
Newell's Old Boys, costing them their first official championship since 1981 despite an unbeaten run in the
Clausura. In 1992 the game was held as well (this time between
Newell's Old Boys and
River Plate), but regardless of the result (which favored
River Plate) both teams were awarded the title of
Champion. After 1992, the practice was quickly abandoned, so that two champions (on equal footing) were crowned every season and no deciding game is played. Originally, two points were given to match winners except in the
1989–90 season. Starting in
1995–96, the rule was changed and three points were given for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss. The
1999–2000 season introduced the
promotion and relegation system for the first time, where the two clubs placed 1st and 2nd within the four teams with the lowest average, had to play a two-leg series with teams from
Primera B Nacional to keep their place in the division.
Inicial and Final (2012–2014) For the 2012–13 season, the Torneo Apertura and Clausura became "Torneo Inicial" and "Torneo Final," being disputed with the same format as before but proclaiming only one champion each season, unlike the last format that had two champions (Apertura and Clausura, respectively). Before those changes, a controversial project for the 2012–13 season had been proposed: it consisted in a new tournament that would contain both the Primera División and Primera B Nacional teams: the former was not going to have any relegated team in its 2011–12 season and include sixteen teams from the latter, Primera B Nacional. The tournament would also include a team from the Primera B Metropolitana and one from the Torneo Argentino A, creating a 38-team league. These changes were strongly opposed by the media and the people, and finally the tournament was called off. However, the project for the new format was successfully picked up starting from the 2015 season.
Superfinal (2013–2014) Once the initial and final tournaments had finished, both winners had to play a match for the
Copa Campeonato (familiarly known as
Superfinal). The
AFA had previously determined that the first edition (played in 2013) would be considered as a Primera División official title (2012–13 season), therefore
Vélez Sarsfield was awarded its 10th official championship after defeating
Newell's. Nevertheless, from the 2014 edition it was determined that the
Superfinal would not be considered as a Primera División title but an official cup. Due to this the 2015 and 2016 seasons were played as single tournaments with only one champion per season, the Copa Campeonato has not been held since then.
2014–20: One tournament again and Superliga Starting August 2014, the "Torneo de Transición" was held, with 20 teams participating (17 from the
2013–14 season and 3 promoted from the
2013–14 Primera B Nacional). No teams were relegated at the end of the championship. In 2015, the format switched to a tournament with 30 teams. The first five clubs of the Zonas A & B of
2014 Primera B Nacional season promoted to the Primera División. Those 10 teams, with the addition of the 20 clubs currently participating in the top division, qualified to contest the next season. That same year, the
AFA announced the format for the next five seasons of the Primera División: • In
the first half of 2016, the league was contested by 30 teams. One team was relegated to and one team was promoted from Primera B Nacional. • From
August 2016 to June 2017, the league was also contested by 30 teams. Four teams were relegated to and two teams were promoted from Primera B Nacional. • From
August 2017 to June 2018, the league was contested by 28 teams. Four teams will be relegated to and two teams will be promoted from Primera B Nacional. This season was also the first "Superliga Argentina", organised by the homonymous entity, that is administered independently and has its own statute. Therefore, the AFA focused exclusively in the
Argentina national teams. The
2017–18 season was the first championship organised by the body. • From
August 2018 to June 2019, the Superliga was contested by 26 teams. Four teams were relegated to and two teams were promoted from Primera B Nacional.
2020–present In February 2020, President of AFA
Claudio Tapia stated that the Superliga had been established to position Argentine football as a product, but it failed in that purpose. As a result, the AFA would take over the organisation of Primera División championships, according to Tapia's statement. One month after those announcements, the president of the Superliga, Mariano Elizondo, resigned. The Superliga was replaced by a similar body, named "Liga Profesional de Fútbol", directly linked to AFA and presided by
Marcelo Tinelli. It was expected that Superliga was dissolved once the
2020 edition of
Copa de la Superliga Argentina finished, == Division levels ==