Argentine - Primera Division 2014

The Primera División  (English: First Division) is a professional football league in Argentina. It is the country's premier football division and is at the top of the Argentine football league system. Contested by twenty clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Primera B Nacional. The season runs from August to May of the following year. Each season is divided into two tournaments, the Inicial and Final.

In 1891 the Association Argentine Football League was established by Alex Lamont of St. Andrew's Scots School, being the first football league outside of the British Isles. The first Primera División matches were played on 12 April 1891: Buenos Aires FC vs. St. Andrew's and Old Caledonians vs. Belgrano FC.The Primera División turned professional in 1931 when 18 clubs broke away from the amateur leagues to form a professional one. Since then, the season has been contested annually in four different formats and calendars. The league has been under its current format since the 1991–92 season.

Since the first championship held in 1891, 27 different clubs have been won the Primera División title at least once. The most successful club is River Plate, with 36 titles., which is also the current champion (2014).

The 20 teams play two single round-robin tournaments each year: the Torneo Inicial from August to December and the Torneo Final from February to June which determines the champion of the season unlike the Apertura and Clausura seasons that proclaimed a champion each.
Since August 2014, a new tournament (named "Torneo de Transición") is being held, with 20 teams participating (17 from the 2013–14 season and 3 promoted from the 2013–14 Primera B Nacional). No teams will be relegated at the end of the championship.

From 2014, the format will switch to a tournament with 30 teams. The first five clubs of the Zonas A y B of 2014–15 Primera B Nacional season will be promoted to the Primera División. Those 10 teams, with the addition of the 20 clubs currently participating in the top division, will contest the next season.

Once Inicial and Final tournaments have finished, both winners have to play a match for the Copa Campeonato (familiarly known as Superfinal). The AFA had determined that the first edition (played in 2013) would be considered as a Primera División official title (2012-13 season), therefore Vélez Sársfield 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.

Relegation is based on an averaging system. At the end of each season, the two teams with the worst three-year averages and the worst positioned team in the season table are relegated, and the best team in the Primera B Nacional is promoted while the promotion of the other two is yet to be decided. There will be three promoted teams per season. Newly promoted teams only average the seasons since their last promotion.

Averaging was instituted in 1983, two years after San Lorenzo de Almagro were relegated in 1981. That year, River Plate finished 18th out of 19 teams and would have been relegated under the old system. Racing and Nueva Chicago were the first teams to be relegated on average. Boca Juniors was also struggling at that time and had a dismal 1984 season. These facts have led some to speculate that the averaging system was instituted to minimize the chance of big teams being relegated.

The 2014 Torneo de Transición or Torneo Doctor Ramón Carrillo is the 86th season of top-flight professional football in Argentina.The season was scheduled to start on August 1, 2014 but was postponed after the death of Julio Grondona, president of the AFA on July 30. Finally, it began on August 8, 2014 and will end on December 14, 2014. Originally the last match of the tournament was scheduled on December 7 but as River Plate will play the finals of the 2014 Copa Sudamericana the matches Racing-Godoy Cruz and River Plate-Quilmes will be played on December 14. Twenty teams compete in the league, seventeen returning from the 2013–14 season and three promoted from the 2013–14 Primera B Nacional (Championship winners Banfield, runners-up Defensa y Justicia, and 3rd place Independiente).

Colón, Argentinos Juniors and All Boys were relegated to the Primera B Nacional Championship in the previous season.

The team with most points will be the champion and qualify for the 2015 Copa Libertadores group stage.
No teams will be relegated this season as the league will get expanded to 30 teams in the new 2015 Primera División.

Source: http://www.afa.org.ar
             http://www.defutbol.com.ar/pd.html