Banfield Crowned Apertura Champions

Banfield have won the Argentinian Apertura tournament despite losing their final game 2-0 to Boca Juniors. Two first half goals by Martin Palermo, the first a penalty, gave Boca their victory.

This would have cost Banfield the title if Newells Old Boys had been able to capitalise but they surprisingly lost 0-2 at home to to San Lorenzo in Rosario, Fabián Bordagaray scoring in either half.

Estudiantes, who are in Abu Dhabi to play Pohang Steelers in the World Club Championship on Tuesday, finished eighth.

What is the Apertura?

Apertura and Clausura are the Spanish words for “opening” and “closing.” They reflect the Latin American tendency to divide the football season into two separate seasons, divided into what part of the calendar they occupy. In Argentina, the ‘Apertura’ takes place in the second half of the calendar year. Countries using a similar system to Argentina are Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Venezuela. The Clausura is played from February to June.

Rank	Team	P	W	D	L	Gf-Ga	+/-	P
1	Banfield	19	12	5	2	25-11	+14	41
2	Newells Old Boys	19	12	3	4	26-15	+11	39
3	Colon	19	10	4	5	27-16	+11	34
4	Independiente	19	10	4	5	30-20	+10	34
5	Velez Sarsfield	19	10	4	5	29-21	+8	34
6	Argentinos Juniors	19	8	8	3	29-20	+9	32
7	San Lorenzo	19	9	5	5	28-20	+8	32
8	Estudiantes	19	9	4	6	28-19	+9	31
9	Lanus	19	8	7	4	26-17	+9	31
10	Rosario Central	19	8	7	4	21-14	+7	31
11	Boca Juniors	19	7	6	6	28-24	+4	27
12	Arsenal Sarandi	18	7	5	6	20-24	-4	26
13	River Plate	19	5	6	8	23-26	-3	21
14	Chacarita Juniors	19	5	4	10	18-25	-7	19
15	Atletico Tucuman	18	5	4	9	23-32	-9	19
16	Racing Club	19	4	5	10	17-26	-9	17
17	Godoy Cruz Mza.	18	3	6	9	18-28	-10	15
18	Gimnasia LP	18	3	4	11	16-28	-12	13
19	Huracan	19	2	5	12	12-34	-22	11
20	Tigre	19	2	2	15	18-42	-24	8

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