Mark Sochon
Newly promoted Club Olimpo are sitting pretty in the upper reaches of the table as the Torneo Clausura passes the halfway stage in Argentina. The side from the coastal city of Bahia Blanca are looking good for their highest ever league finish and although outsiders, are in the running for a first Primera Division title. However, the threat of relegation still looms large over the Estadio Roberto Natalio Carminatti.
To followers of European football it is almost incomprehensible how with eight games to go in the season a club could be involved in both a title race and a relegation scrap. The system in Argentina though is very different and although the Olimpo situation is an extreme case, a relegation table which is calculated over three seasons regularly throws up some strange scenarios.
The season runs on a similar schedule to leagues in Europe from August to June, but is split into two halves with an Apertura and Clausura, both of which see a side crowned league champions. Relegation is decided by a team’s average points tally over the past three seasons. The bottom two in this table at the end of the 2010/11 campaign are relegated and the next two lowest sides will face playoff games against sides from Primera B to determine who plays in the top flight the following season. If this isn’t confusing enough there are two more tables which clubs need to keep an eye on. Copa Sudamericana qualification is determined by the more traditional 38 game league table for the season, while qualification for the more prestigious Copa Libertadores comes down the total points amassed during each calendar year.
The system tends to work against newly promoted teams such as Club Olimpo, who are judged over the course of just one season as opposed to established Primera Division sides, who can often afford a poor campaign and be saved by their points from the two previous seasons. Olimpo were something of a yo-yo club between the top two divisions throughout the 2000s. Even this was considered as punching above their weight given Bahia Blanca is a small city more famous for basketball than football.
Their most recent Primera Division campaign was the 2007/08 season. Promoted as convincing Primera B national champions the Aurinegro (Golden-Blacks) picked up 42 points from 38 games, more than five other teams in the league. However, when it came down to the relegation table, they found themselves in the bottom two positions and subsequently dropped straight back down to the second tier.
The fears in Bahia Blanca are that a similar fate is awaiting the side this year despite their current lofty league position. A disappointing Apertura campaign meant the Aurinegro were always going to have a lot to do to extend their Primera Division stay for another season. While the side were solid enough at home, they struggled on the road, losing their first seven away fixtures, finishing the Apertura in 17th position. More significantly a points average of just under one per game left Club Olimpo bottom of the relegation standings and in big trouble.
The Clausura however brought about a huge reversal in Club Olimpo’s fortunes, aided largely by the return of experienced striker Ezequiel Maggiolo after a five-year absence. The 33-year-old Maggiolo has netted five times already in the Clausura and formed an effective partnership with Paraguayan frontman Nestor Bareiro. Olimpo are one of only two teams to notch 20 goals at the time of writing in the Clausura and have claimed some impressive scalps along the way, including a first ever win over Boca Juniors at the Bombonera, a result which briefly put the Aurinegro top of the Primera Division. A victory away to Colon and an entertaining 2-2 draw with Apertura champions Estudiantes has continued to keep the club right in the hunt.
But despite this success, Club Olimpo still lie fourth from bottom in the relegation table, a position which would mean a tense end of season playoff with a club from the Primera B.
Olimpo may need to amass as many as 50 points over the 38 game season to be absolutely sure of beating the drop. The challenge for newly promoted clubs is always a tough one and a glance at the past seven seasons reveals 12 of the 19 newly promoted clubs have gone straight back down. During 2006/07 all three promoted clubs achieved over 40 points, but it wasn’t enough to keep any of them in the Primera Division.
In 2003/04 Cordoba-based Club Atletico Talleres finished with a total of 59 points and finished third behind Boca Juniors and River Plate in the Clausura. However, two poor previous seasons meant they had to face Argentinos Juniors in a playoff clash which they lost, and just a few weeks after finishing third in the league, Talleres were relegated. Olimpo will certainly be fully aware that they are still in big trouble and will want to avoid the fate of Talleres, a side who never returned to the top flight and now play in front of large crowds in the third tier of Argentine football.
There are of course many critics of Argentina’s current system and it does not offer newcomers a sporting chance to adapt to the rigours of Primera Division action, but there is little indication that the authorities will reform the set-up soon. The averaging format was introduced in 1983, with claims that it came about to ensure the country’s big clubs never went down following San Lorenzo’s relegation two years earlier. Whether this was the case or not is open to debate, but there is little doubt that the larger clubs have benefited from the rule change given that none of the big five clubs have gone down since. River Plate would have been relegated the following season if the old rules had still applied and the recent downfall of the likes of Racing and Independiente would have seen at least one of the country’s giants drop out of the league by now under a more conventional system.
Defenders of the current system however do advance several points of note, the most influential being that now every single match matters and there is no such thing as a meaningless game in Argentina. What may seem like a clash with little at stake could end up being the difference between survival and relegation two years later. The aggregate nature of qualification for continental tournaments also helps to ensure end of season games are as fiercely contested as early season matches. There is some weight to the argument that the system also helps clubs plan better financially as even before a season has got under way they will have a decent idea of the division they are likely to be in the following year. In theory clubs should therefore be better prepared for the eventuality of relegation which can often have a financially crippling effect for those who are ill-prepared for relegation. Established Primera Division sides also have more freedom to experiment and give young players a chance seeing as one poor season alone will never be enough to relegate the club.
This season perhaps more than any in recent times demonstrates the pros and cons of the Argentine league structure. At least eight clubs are involved in a relegation scrap which is likely to go to the wire. Even giants River Plate, who sit second in the Clausura and finished fourth in the Apertura would slip back into troubled waters should they suffer a dip in form in the coming weeks. And it is looking increasingly likely that one of the big five clubs the system supposedly protects will be relegated in the very near future. Independiente, who finished bottom of the Apertura, have a points average of 1.273, just outside the relegation positions, while River Plate hardly fare better, with 1.280 points. Meanwhile, a struggling Boca Juniors could be in trouble next season given that they will lose their points from a strong 2008/09 campaign.
In the midst of a successful campaign therefore, Olimpo must not only try chase down Velez Sarsfield at the top of the Clausura, but also keep an eye on the results of the likes of Tigre, All Boys and Arsenal who sit just outside the relegation positions, but are struggling for results. The system may have its detractors but it does have a tendency to throw up dramatic conclusions and clubs will likely have calculators on standby come the final weeks of what has been an intriguing season.
