The 2005-06 Argentine First Division Apertura was a nail biter. After a head-to-head finish in the last weeks Boca Juniors took the trophy home. Gimnasia de La Plata will have to wait for their first-ever championship.

The 2005-06 Argentine First Division Clausura saw Boca Juniors become the first team since River Plate in 1999/2000 to win the Apertura and the Clausura in the same season. This capped an amazing year for Boca, as they won every tournament they were eligible (they weren't eligible for the Copa Libertadores after a dismal Clausura last season). Lanús were the big surprise of the Clausura, as they finished 2nd in the league. Boca also achieved 80 points in a season for the first time since 1998/99 when they scored 89 points.

Argentina drew one of the most difficult groups in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, advanced to the second round but lost against hosts Germany in the Quarter-Finals.

After an abysmal season, Instituto and Tiro Federal were relegated to the Nacional B Division a few weeks before the end of the tournament. The next two worst teams in the relegation standings, Argentinos Juniors and Olimpo de Bahía Blanca, played a Promoción playoff (home and away) series against Huracán and Belgrano de Córdoba, respectively, for two spots in next year's Argentine First Division. Argentinos Juniors remains in the top category after drawing with Huracán twice. Olimpo, however, were relegated to Nacional B after losing twice to Belgrano.

Contents 1 Torneo Apertura ("Opening" Tournament) 1.1 Top Scorers 1.2 Relegation 2 Torneo Clausura ("Closing" Tournament) 2.1 Top Scorers 2.2 Relegation 2.2.1 "Promoción" playoff 3 Argentine teams in International competitions 4 Lower leagues 5 Argentina national team

[edit] Torneo Apertura ("Opening" Tournament)

Position	Team	Points	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Difference
1	Boca Juniors	40	19	12	4	3	36	17	19
2	Gimnasia de La Plata	37	19	11	4	4	28	19	9
3	Vélez Sársfield	33	19	10	3	6	26	16	10
4	Independiente	32	19	8	8	3	34	22	12
5	Banfield	28	19	5	13	1	25	15	10
6	River Plate	28	19	8	4	7	31	22	9
7	Estudiantes La Plata	28	19	8	4	7	23	22	1
8	Argentinos Juniors	28	19	8	4	7	19	20	-1
9	San Lorenzo	28	19	8	4	7	33	39	-6
10	Colón de Santa Fe	26	19	7	5	7	28	27	1
11	Racing Club	25	19	7	4	8	28	27	1
12	Olimpo de Bahía Blanca	23	19	5	8	6	19	23	-4
13	Lanús	23	19	5	8	6	21	31	-10
14	Arsenal de Sarandí	22	19	5	7	7	23	24	-1
15	Rosario Central	22	19	5	7	7	20	29	-9
16	Newell's Old Boys	20	19	5	5	9	25	27	-2
17	Quilmes	19	19	4	7	8	20	27	-7
18	Gimnasia de Jujuy	18	19	3	9	7	23	30	-7
19	Tiro Federal	15	19	4	3	12	22	31	-9
20	Instituto	15	19	2	9	8	11	27	-16

[edit] Top Scorers

Position	Player	Team	Goals
1	Javier Cámpora	Tiro Federal	13
2	Leonardo Pisculichi	Argentinos Juniors	10
2	Rodrigo Palacio	Boca Juniors	10
2	Gonzalo Vargas	Gimnasia de La Plata	10
2	José Luis Calderón	Estudiantes de La Plata	10
3	Nicolás Frutos	Independiente	9
3	Sergio Agüero	Independiente	9
3	Iván Moreno y Fabianesi	Colón de Santa Fe	9
4	Ezequiel Lavezzi	San Lorenzo	8

[edit] Relegation

There is no relegation after the Apertura. For the relegation results of this tournament see below.

[edit] Torneo Clausura ("Closing" Tournament)

Position	Team	Points	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Difference
1	Boca Juniors	43	19	13	4	2	37	14	23
2	Lanús	35	19	10	5	4	26	15	11
3	River Plate	34	19	9	7	3	39	24	15
4	Gimnasia de Jujuy	33	19	10	3	6	26	16	10
5	Gimnasia de La Plata	32	19	9	5	5	31	22	9
6	Newell's Old Boys	31	19	8	7	4	27	18	9
7	Banfield	31	19	10	1	8	28	22	6
8	San Lorenzo	28	19	7	7	5	15	14	1
9	Olimpo	26	19	7	5	7	22	22	0
10	Vélez Sársfield	25	19	5	10	4	21	18	3
11	Estudiantes La Plata	24	19	6	6	7	25	31	-6
12	Independiente	23	19	6	5	8	18	18	0
13	Rosario Central	23	19	5	8	6	15	17	-2
14	Argentinos Juniors	22	19	5	7	7	26	28	-2
15	Arsenal de Sarandí	22	19	5	7	7	17	20	-3
16	Colón de Santa Fe	20	19	5	5	9	19	26	-7
17	Quilmes	20	19	5	5	9	11	28	-17
18	Racing Club	19	19	5	4	10	14	24	-10
19	Instituto	13	19	3	4	12	16	37	-21
20	Tiro Federal	12	19	3	3	13	15	39	-24

[edit] Top Scorers

Position	Player	Team	Goals
1	Gonzalo Vargas	Gimnasia de La Plata	12
2	Ernesto Farías	River Plate	11
2	Martín Palermo	Boca Juniors	11
3	Ignacio Scocco	Newell's Old Boys	9
3	Sergio Agüero	Independiente	9
4	Silvio Carrario	Quilmes	7
4	Ezequiel Maggiolo	Olimpo de Bahia Blanca	7
4	Rodrigo Palacio	Boca Juniors	7

[edit] Relegation

Team	Average	Points	Played	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Boca Juniors	1.807	206	114	75/38	48/38	83/37
River Plate	1.649	188	114	66/38	60/38	62/37
Vélez Sársfield	1.614	184	114	53/38	73/38	58/38
Banfield	1.596	182	114	64/38	59/38	59/38
San Lorenzo	1.491	170	114	62/38	52/38	56/38
Newell's Old Boys	1.421	162	114	51/38	60/38	51/38
Gimnasia de La Plata	1.412	161	114	38/38	54/38	69/38
Estudiantes de La Plata	1.377	157	114	44/38	61/38	52/38
Lanús	1.351	154	114	42/38	54/38	58/38
Arsenal de Sarandí	1.342	153	114	55/38	54/38	43/38
Gimnasia de Jujuy	1.342	51	38	N/A	N/A	51/38
Racing Club	1.333	152	114	50/38	58/38	44/38
Rosario Central	1.316	150	114	44/38	61/38	45/38
Independiente	1.298	148	114	44/38	49/38	55/38
Colón de Santa Fe	1.298	148	114	49/38	53/38	46/38
Quilmes	1.265	143	114	60/38	44/38	39/38
Argentinos Juniors	1.224	93	76	N/A	43/38	50/38
Olimpo de Bahía Blanca	1.149	131	114	39/38	43/38	49/38
Instituto	0.921	70	76	N/A	42/38	28/38
Tiro Federal	0.711	27	38	N/A	N/A	27/38

[edit] "Promoción" playoff

Date	Home	Away	Result
May 31, 2006	Huracán	Argentinos Juniors	1 - 1
June 4, 2006	Argentinos Juniors	Huracán	2 - 2

Argentinos Juniors remains in the Argentine First Division after a 3 - 3 aggegate tie by virtue of a "sports advantage". In case of a tie in goals, the team from the First Division gets to stay in it.

Date	Home	Away	Result
May 31, 2006	Belgrano de Córdoba	Olimpo de Bahia Blanca	2 - 1
June 4, 2006	Olimpo de Bahia Blanca	Belgrano de Córdoba	1 - 2

Belgrano de Córdoba wins 4-2 and is promoted to Argentine First Division. Olimpo de Bahia Blanca is relegated to the Argentine Nacional B.

[edit] Argentine teams in International competitions

Team	Recopa	Copa Sudamericana 2005	Copa Libertadores 2006
Boca Juniors	Champions	Champions	did not qualify
Vélez Sársfield	N/A	SF	QF
Estudiantes de La Plata	N/A	1st round	QF
River Plate	N/A	1st round	QF
Newell's Old Boys	N/A	Preliminary round	2nd round
Rosario Central	N/A	Preliminary round	Group stage

[edit] Lower leagues

Level	Tournament	Champion
2nd	Primera B Nacional Apertura Primera B Nacional Clausura	Godoy Cruz Nueva Chicago
3rd	Primera B Metropolitana	Platense
3rd (Interior)	Torneo Argentino A	Villa Mitre
4th	Primera C Metropolitana	Deportivo Merlo
5th	Primera D Metropolitana	Ituzangó

[edit] Argentina national team

This section will cover Argentina's games from July 1, 2005 until the end of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score	Comp	Argentina scorers	Match Report(s)
August 17, 2005	Ferenc Puskas Stadium Budapest, Hungary	Hungary	1 - 2	F	M. Rodríguez (18'), Heinze (61')	N/A
September 3, 2005	Estadio Defensores del Chaco Asunción, Paraguay	Paraguay	1 - 0	WCQ06	-	Official Site
October 9, 2005	Estadio Monumental Buenos Aires, Argentina	Peru	2 - 0	WCQ06	Riquelme (81'P), Guadalupe (92'OG)	Official Site
October 12, 2005	Estadio Centenario Montevideo, Uruguay	Uruguay	1 - 0	WCQ06	-	Official Site
November 12, 2005	Stade de Genève Geneva, Switzerland	England	2 - 3	F	Crespo (34'), Ayala (53')	N/A
November 16, 2005	Khalifa International Stadium Doha, Qatar	Qatar	0 - 3	F	Riquelme (60'), Cruz (61'), Ayala (63')	N/A
March 1, 2006	St. Jakob-Park Basel, Switzerland	Croatia	2 - 3	F	Tévez (3'), Messi (6')	N/A
May 30, 2006	Stadio Arechi Salerno, Italy	Angola	2 - 0	F	M. Rodríguez (28'), Sorín (36')	Official Site
June 10, 2006	WM-Stadion Hamburg Hamburg, Germany	Côte d'Ivoire	2 - 1	WC06	Crespo (24'), Saviola (38')	Official Site
June 16, 2006	WM-Stadion Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen, Germany	Serbia and Montenegro	6 -0	WC06	Rodriguez (6'), Cambiasso (31'), Rodriguez (41'), Crespo (78'), Tévez (84'), Messi (88')	Official Site
June 21, 2006	Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion Frankfurt, Germany	Netherlands	0 - 0	WC06	-	Official Site
June 24, 2006	Zentralstadion Leipzig, Germany	Mexico	2 - 1 (a.e.t)	WC06	Crespo (10'), Rodriguez (98')	Official Site
June 30, 2006	Olympiastadion Berlin, Germany	Germany	1 - 1 (aet) 2 - 4 (pso)	WC06	Ayala ('49)	Official Site

KEY: WCQ06 = World Cup 2006 Qualification match - South America; WC06 = World Cup 2006 match; F = Friendly match

Seasons in Argentine football v • d • e

Amateur Era 1891–1900 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901–1910 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911–1920 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921–1930 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 Professional Era Year-long seasons 1931–1940 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941–1950 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951–1960 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961–1966 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 Metropolitano and Nacional 1967–1970 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971–1980 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981–1985 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 European-style seasons 1985–1990 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 Apertura and Clausura 1990s 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000s 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10