12/27/2020 3:43 PM
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 12/27/2020 3:43 PM
It is still a draft that emerged from the offices of the Professional Football League headed by Marcelo Tinelli.
Club approval is lacking, but calendar constraints and a shortage of alternatives make
the proposal seem unchangeable
.
After this Maradona Cup of post-quarantine transition in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic,
a year will come that will have two tournaments with two completely different formats
: playoffs and penalties in the first semester and short-long championship in the second.
The declines will not return, but will continue to add up for the averages.
And there will be a general table to give places to the international cups.
Below
the detail
about how Argentine soccer will be played in the highest category in the year that is about to begin.
And,
as always, it will take an instruction manual to understand it.
The first tournament, with the participation of 26 teams -the 24 now and the two that are promoted from the First National-, will be played from February 14 and will have the peculiarity of being played with playoffs, NBA style or, to take it to the soccer, like the Mexican league or MLS.
In principle, there will be a regular phase in which the teams will be divided into two zones of 13. They will play in a single round, all against all, with the addition of interzonal classics (one per date).
After the 13 regular phase dates, the heads-up matches will begin.
The top four from each group will advance to the "postseason" which will begin in the quarterfinals.
They will be defined, like the semifinals and the final, a single match in the stadium of the best located team in the regular phase.
If there is a tie after 90 minutes there will be a penalty shootout.
The winner of the final, which will be played on May 30, will be consecrated champion of the 2021 First Division Cup and will be awarded a place for the 2022 Copa Libertadores.
The pass book will be open until February 11 and the five changes per game will remain in effect, as established by the International Board in times of coronavirus.
The second semester will start on July 18, one week after the end, if played, the Copa América 2021 that will be played in Argentina and Colombia.
Players can be incorporated up to three days before.
There will be 26 participating teams again, but it will not be a cup, but it will be a league in which they will play all against all, in one round, over 25 dates.
Yes, a short and long tournament at the same time due to the number of participants.
Yes, once again close to 30 and against the most competitive leagues on the planet that have between 18 and 20 participants.
The monstrosity that Julio Grondona bequeathed, far from being deactivated, does not lose its validity.
With no declines in play, although it will be added for the averages - the same as will happen with the regular phase of the cup of the first semester -, the tournament will end on December 12 - on the date of the legislative elections it will be played between Wednesday and Fridays before the elections.
If there is equality in the first place, as has happened lately, there will be a tiebreaker.
The champion will also go to Libertadores 2022, as well as the champion of the Argentine Cup and those located in positions 4, 5 and 6 of the summation of the tables for the entire season -the two semesters- will also go to Libertadores.
The qualifiers for the South American 2022 will come from the same table.
Argentine football, in which everything happens and nothing happens at the same time, returns to improvise formats.
It only needs the approval of the clubs.
And the instruction manual to understand how it will be played.
MFV