Argentina's Pro League Spells Out How Argentine Berths for the 2027 Libertadores and Sudamericana Will Be Assigned

It looks like a riddle, but there is logic to it. Argentina's Liga Profesional has already put in writing how the Argentine berths for the 2027 Copa Libertadores and the 2027 Copa Sudamericana will be handed out, and the rulebook blends the Torneo Apertura, the Torneo Clausura, the Copa Argentina and the 2026 Overall Standings Table. If you lose track every time someone tries to explain it, here's the tidy version.

Let's start with the obvious part. The champion of the 2026 Torneo Apertura takes the Argentina 1 spot. The champion of the 2026 Torneo Clausura takes Argentina 2. And whoever lifts the 2026 Copa Argentina gets Argentina 3, a berth the rulebook calls "unalterable" in its direct assignment. After that come the spots decided by the Overall Standings Table: the best placed team, not counting the three champions already mentioned, takes Argentina 4, the next takes Argentina 5, and the following one takes Argentina 6.

That's where the puzzle of reshuffles kicks in. If the Apertura champion also wins the Clausura, there can't be two berths for the same team: Argentina 2 then goes to the next best placed side in the Overall Standings Table, and everything shifts down one spot. Something similar happens if the Copa Argentina champion turns out to be the same team that already won the Apertura or the Clausura. In that case, Argentina 3 goes to the best placed First Division club in that federal tournament, and if two teams eliminated at the same stage are tied, it's settled by the Overall Standings Table.

International titles also shake things up. If an Argentine club wins the 2026 Libertadores, it earns an extra berth for 2027, and the spot it would have taken through the Overall Standings Table passes to the next best placed team. The same goes for the 2026 Sudamericana champion: winning the title secures a direct spot in the 2027 Libertadores, freeing up its original position for the next team in line. In both cases, if the international champion is also the Copa Argentina winner, the shift applies within that federal tournament.

What about the Sudamericana?

For the 2027 Copa Sudamericana, the criteria are more straightforward: the six best placed teams in the 2026 Overall Standings Table that haven't already secured a Libertadores spot will qualify, filling the Argentina 1 through 6 berths in order.

One condition runs through the entire system: any club, to play in the 2027 Libertadores or Sudamericana, must be in the First Division at the time that competition is played. That's why the rulebook spells out what happens if a champion, whether of the Apertura, Clausura, Copa Argentina or even an international tournament, ends up getting relegated: it simply hands its spot to the next best placed team as applicable, and the chain of reshuffles continues from there.

To arrive at that 2026 Overall Standings Table, which ends up being the backbone of the whole system, points from the first-phase group stages of both the Apertura and the Clausura are added together. Whoever tops that combined table is crowned 2026 Campeón de Liga, a title the rulebook recognizes as national in scope. In case of ties, goal difference is checked first, then goals scored, then Fair Play, and if all of that fails, it's decided by a draw, except when the tie involves relegation, in which case AFA's General Regulations require playoff matches.