Argentina - Asociació del Fútbol Argentino

The Argentine Football Association (AFA) (Spanish: Asociación del Fútbol Argentino) is the governing body of football in Argentina. It organises the Argentine football league and the Argentina national football team. It is based in Buenos Aires.

Secondary, it also organises the amateur leagues for women, children, young, Futsal, and other local leagues.

A bit of history

The Argentine Association Football League (in english) was founded on February 21, 1893, to be later renamed Argentine Football Association in 1903, and translated into Asociación Argentina de Football (Argentine Football Association) in 1912.

The parallel Federación Argentina de Football (Argentine Football Federation), funded in 1912, joined the Asociación Argentina de Football, as well as did the 1919 funded Asociacion Amateurs de Football (Amateur Football Association) in 1926.

In 1926 it was again renamed to Asociación Amateur de Argentina de Football (Argentine Amateur Football Association), but with the professionalization of the sport in 1931 it was named Asociación de Football Amateur y Profesionales (Amateur and Professional Football Association).

The Liga Argentina de Football (Argentine Football League), funded in 1931 merged with the Asociación de Football Amateur y Profesionales on November 3, 1934, into what is still today the Asociación de Fútbol Argentino (Argentine Football Association).

The Argentina national football team is the national team of Argentina and is controlled by the Argentine Football Association.

Argentina is one of the most successful national football teams, having won two World Cups and one Olympic Title. Argentina and Uruguay hold the record for the most international matches played against two countries, there have been 161 matches played against each other since 1901. The first match against Uruguay was the first official international match to be played outside Britain. (Although Canada and the United States played two internationals in 1885 and 1886, neither match is considered official; Canada did not play an official international until 1904 and the USA did not play one until 1916.)

Argentina has appeared in four World Cup finals, including the first final in 1930, which they lost 4-2 to Uruguay. They won the final at their next attempt in 1978, beating the Netherlands 3-1 and also won in 1986 (led by Diego Maradona), a 3-2 victory over West Germany. Their last final was in 1990, which they lost 1-0 to West Germany.

Argentina have been very successful in Copa América, winning it eleven times and also winning the 'extra' South American Championships in 1941, 1945 and 1946.

Besides the 2004 Gold Medal at the Olympic Games, Argentina won the Silver Medal in 1928 and 1996.

It also won the Confederations Cup and the Kirin Cup, both in 1992.

Since the competition's creation in 1977, Argentina have won five titles in the World Youth Championship :

- Japan, 1979 with Diego Maradona and Ramon Diaz
- Qatar, 1995 with Juan Pablo Sorin
- Malaysia, 1997 with Juan Roman Riquelme, Esteban Cambiasso, and Pablo Aimar
- Argentina, 2001 with Javier Saviola
- Netherlands, 2005 with Lionel Messi

Three of these titles were won by the current national coach Jose Pekerman (1995,1997 and 2001)

A pre-tournament favourite again at Korea/Japan 2002 World Cup, they were surprisely gone on their way home earlier than expected, losing in a memorable game against England in the most hotly anticipated match of the entire opening stage

On June 8, 2005, they qualified for their 14th World Cup Finals appearance by beating arch rivals Brazil 3-1 in Buenos Aires.

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