1968 Argentine Primera División

The 1968 Primera División season was the 77th season of top-flight football in Argentina, continuing with the Metropolitano and Nacional championships format. Tigre^[1] and Los Andes (1st and 2nd of "Torneo Reclasificatorio")^[2] promoted from Primera B.^[3][4]

Primera División

Season	1968
Dates	1 March – 29 December
Champions	San Lorenzo (Metropolitano) Vélez Sársfield (Nacional)
1969 Copa Libertadores	Vélez Sarsfield River Plate
← 1967 1969 →

San Lorenzo (8th league title) and Vélez Sársfield (1st title) won the Metropolitano and Nacional respectively. On the other hand, Ferro Carril Oeste and Tigre were relegated after playing a "Reclasificatorio" tournament.^[5]

Campeonato Metropolitano

Metropolitano

San Lorenzo, Metropolitano champions
Season	1968
Dates	1 March – 7 December
Champions	San Lorenzo (8th title)
Promoted	Los Andes Tigre
Relegated	Ferro Carril Oeste Tigre
Top goalscorer	Alfredo Oberti (13)
← 1967 1969 →

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	San Lorenzo	22	14	8	0	44	10	+34	36	to Semifinals
2	Estudiantes (LP)	22	9	6	7	39	27	+12	24
2	Lanús	22	9	6	7	20	23	−3	24
4	Racing	22	5	13	4	28	29	−1	23
4	Boca Juniors	22	5	13	4	15	17	−2	23
6	Colón	22	7	7	8	26	25	+1	21
7	Newell's Old Boys	22	6	8	8	26	22	+4	20
7	Banfield	22	6	8	8	23	27	−4	20
9	Atlanta	22	5	8	9	20	25	−5	18	to Torneo Reclasificatorio
10	Ferro Carril Oeste	22	4	9	9	20	38	−18	17
11	Platense	22	2	11	9	15	27	−12	15

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Vélez Sársfield	22	12	8	2	40	20	+20	32	to Semifinals
2	River Plate	22	12	7	3	31	16	+15	31
3	Rosario Central	22	10	7	5	29	17	+12	27
4	Huracán	22	10	6	6	29	18	+11	26
5	Independiente	22	10	5	7	34	19	+15	25
6	Los Andes	22	8	7	7	30	28	+2	23
6	Chacarita Juniors	22	10	3	9	28	29	−1	23
8	Argentinos Juniors	22	6	7	9	23	29	−6	19
9	Quilmes	22	6	6	10	27	34	−7	18	to Torneo Reclasificatorio
10	Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP)	22	3	5	14	20	52	−32	11
11	Tigre	22	2	4	16	12	47	−35	8

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Semifinals

Played under a single-match format in neutral venue:

*   Winner of the series

Date	Team 1	Team 2	Res.	Venue	City
31 Jul	San Lorenzo	River Plate	3–1	Racing Stadium	Avellaneda
1 Aug	Estudiantes LP	Vélez Sársfield	1–0	Racing Stadium	Avellaneda

Final

Date	Team 1	Team 2	Res.	Venue	City
6 July	San Lorenzo	Estudiantes (LP)	2–1	River Plate Stadium	Buenos Aires

Match details

San Lorenzo	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Estudiantes (LP)
Veglio 67' Fischer 100'	Report	Verón 47'

1968 Campeonato Metropolitano Final

4 August 1968

River Plate Stadium, Buenos Aires

Attendance: 47,300

Referee: Miguel Comesaña

San Lorenzo

Estudiantes (LP)

GK 1 Carlos Buttice RB 2 Oscar Calics LB 3 Antonio Rosl RH 4 Sergio Villar CH 5 Victorio Cocco LH 6 Rafael Albrecht RW 7 Pedro A. González IF 8 Alberto Rendo CF 9 Rodolfo Fischer IF 10 Roberto Telch LW 11 Carlos Veglio Manager: Elba de Pádua Lima (Tim)

GK 1 Alberto Poletti LB 2 Néstor Togneri RB 3 José H. Medina RH 4 Oscar Malbernat CH 5 Raúl Horacio Madero LH 6 Carlos Pachamé RW 7 Juan Echecopar IF 8 Carlos Bilardo CF 9 Marcos Conigliaro IF 10 Eduardo Flores LW 11 Juan Ramón Verón Manager: Osvaldo Zubeldía

Reclasificatorio Tournament

Teams that finished 9th, 10th and 11th in both zones of Metropolitano qualified to "Torneo Reclasificación", also contested by four teams from Primera B. The ten clubs played in a double round-robin system. The first 6 teams would remain/promote to Primera División while the last four would remain/be relegated to Primera B.^[6]

The tournament ran from August 2 to December 7, and was won (not awarded as an official title) by Quilmes, with Ferro Carril Oeste and Tigre being relegated to the second division.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Quilmes	18	7	9	2	25	11	+14	23
2	Atlanta	18	7	8	3	18	12	+6	22
3	Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP)	18	8	5	5	23	16	+7	21
4	Platense	18	6	8	4	24	21	+3	20
4	Unión	18	5	10	3	19	21	−2	20
6	Deportivo Morón	18	5	9	4	18	14	+4	19
7	Ferro Carril Oeste	18	4	9	5	17	18	−1	17
8	Nueva Chicago	18	4	6	8	15	23	−8	14
9	Almagro	18	3	6	9	22	33	−11	12
9	Tigre	18	1	10	7	13	25	−12	12

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Promocional Tournament

Teams placed 7th and 8th in each zone of Campeonato Metropolitano, plus the four teams that had lost finals of Torneo Regional contested the "Torneo Promocional". It ran from 26 August to 30 November and was won by Banfield, with no official title awarded.^[7]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Banfield	14	10	3	1	33	10	+23	23
2	Newell's Old Boys	14	10	1	3	31	8	+23	21
3	San Martín (SJ)	14	8	3	3	24	20	+4	19
4	Chacarita Juniors	14	7	3	4	26	14	+12	17
5	Argentinos Juniors	14	4	6	4	14	18	−4	14
6	Central Córdoba (SdE)	14	3	3	8	13	26	−13	9
7	Huracán	14	1	3	10	8	30	−22	5
8	San Lorenzo (MdP)	14	1	2	11	10	33	−23	4

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Top scorers

Rank.	Player	Team	Goals
1	Alfredo Obberti	Los Andes	13
2	Rodolfo Fischer	San Lorenzo	12
3	Eduardo Flores	Estudiantes LP	11
	Jorge O. Pérez	Vélez Sarsfield
	Héctor Yazalde	Independiente

Campeonato Nacional

Standings

Nacional

Vélez Sársfield, Nacional champions
Season	1968
Dates	6 September – 29 December
Champions	Vélez Sársfield (1st title)
1969 Copa Libertadores	Vélez Sársfield River Plate
Top goalscorer	Omar Wehbe (13)
← 1967 1969 →

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Vélez Sársfield	15	10	2	3	39	14	+25	22	Playoffs to define a champion
1	River Plate	15	9	4	2	35	15	+20	22
1	Racing	15	8	6	1	29	15	+14	22
4	Rosario Central	15	9	3	3	28	11	+17	21
4	Boca Juniors	15	8	5	2	25	7	+18	21
6	Colón	15	8	3	4	26	19	+7	19
7	San Lorenzo	15	6	6	3	24	20	+4	18
8	Los Andes	15	6	5	4	22	15	+7	17
9	Huracán	15	5	3	7	23	22	+1	13
9	Belgrano	15	3	7	5	20	27	−7	13
11	Independiente	15	4	4	7	26	25	+1	12
12	Lanús	15	2	7	6	15	22	−7	11
13	Independiente Rivadavia	15	1	7	7	8	25	−17	9
14	Estudiantes (LP)	15	3	1	11	12	26	−14	7
14	San Martín (T)	15	2	3	10	11	34	−23	7
16	Huracán (IW)	15	2	2	11	11	57	−46	6

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

First place playoffs

As Vélez Sársfield, River Plate, and Racing finished equaled on points, they played a round-robin tournament to define a champion. All the matches were held in San Lorenzo Stadium. Teams finished 1st and 2nd qualified for the 1969 Copa Libertadores.

Results

• 1st. Match [Dec 19]: River Plate 2–0 Racing
• 2nd. Match [Dec 22]: River Plate 1–1 Vélez Sarsfield
• 3rd. Match [Dec 29]: Racing 2–4 Vélez Sarsfield

Final table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Vélez Sársfield	2	1	1	0	5	3	+2	3	Qualified to 1969 Copa Libertadores
2	River Plate	2	1	1	0	3	1	+2	3	Qualified to 1969 Copa Libertadores
3	Racing	2	0	0	2	2	6	−4	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Top scorers

Rank.	Player	Team	Goals
1	Omar Wehbe	Vélez Sarsfield	13
2	Araquem de Melo	Huracán	10
	Alfredo Obberti	Los Andes
3	Roberto Salomone	Racing	9

References

1. 1967 – PRIMERA B
2. Sufrimiento e incertidumbre con final feliz on Los Andes website by Pablo García
3. "Ascenso de 1967" on Los Andes blogsite, 23 Dec 2007
4. Argentina Second Level 1967 - Primera B by Pablo Ciullini on the RSSSF
5. Argentina 1968 on RSSSF.com
6. "Argentina: 1ra. División AFA 1968 Torneo Reclasificación" by José Carluccio, 23 October 2009
7. "Argentina: 1ra. División AFA 1968 Torneo Promocional" by José Carluccio, 22 Oct 2009