All change for Argentine Primera Division

Argentina’s club football is set for an overhaul, after plans to restructure the league system were approved .

The Argentine Football Association met on Monday to rubber-stamp the new arrangements, which would increase the number of clubs in the Primera Division from 20 to as many as 38 by the beginning of the 2012/13 season.

The new championship which would incorporate sides from the current Nacional B Division – Argentina’s second-tier league – and the 2011/12 champions from Torneo A Argentino and Primera B Metropolitana, both of the nation’s third-level leagues.

An AFA spokesman confirmed the new championships had been green-lit for kick-off in 2012.

It will be divided into two zones of 19 teams, allocating Argentina’s most illustrious outfits equally.

The likes of River Plate – despite their relegation at the end of the 2011 Clausura – as well as Boca Juniors, Newell’s Old Boys and Rosario Central would be given priority.

The top five teams in each area, together with the combined, nine highest-ranked teams, will form the Torneo Campeonato, a tournament in which the champion will be crowned as the country’s league winners.

The 19 remaining teams will play out the remainder of the season in the newly revised format.