2021 Primera Nacional

The 2021 Argentine Primera Nacional, also known as the Campeonato de Primera Nacional 2021,^[1] was the 37th season of the Primera Nacional, the second tier of Argentine football. The season began on 12 March 2021 and ended on 21 December 2021. Thirty-five teams competed in the league, thirty returning from the 2020 season, two teams promoted from Torneo Federal A and three from Primera B Metropolitana.

Primera Nacional

Season	2021
Dates	12 March – 21 December 2021
Champions	Tigre (1st title)
Promoted	Tigre Barracas Central
Relegated	None
Matches played	590
Goals scored	1,219 (2.07 per match)
Top goalscorer	Pablo Magnín (22 goals)
Biggest home win	Ferro Carril Oeste 6–0 Indep. Rivadavia (10 September) Ferro Carril Oeste 6–0 San Telmo (26 October)
Biggest away win	Def. de Belgrano 1–6 Tristán Suárez (10 July)
Highest scoring	Indep. Rivadavia 4–3 San Telmo (22 March) Quilmes 3–4 Alvarado (10 May) Def. de Belgrano 1–6 Tristán Suárez (10 July)
← 2020 2022 →

Tigre were the champions, winning their first Primera Nacional title by beating Barracas Central by a 1–0 score in the final played on 22 November 2021 and earned promotion to the Argentine Primera División.^[2]

Format

The 35 teams were split into two zones, one of 17 teams and another one of 18 teams, where they played against the other teams in their group twice: once at home and once away, with one team in Zone A having a bye in each round for a total of 34 rounds. Both zone winners played a final match on neutral ground to decide the first promoted team to the Liga Profesional for the 2022 season, while the teams placed from second to fourth place in each zone played a knockout tournament (Torneo Reducido) for the second promotion berth along with the loser of the final between the zone winners, which joined the Reducido in the semi-finals. No teams were relegated to either Primera B Metropolitana or Torneo Federal A this season. The draw to decide the groups and fixture was held on 25 February 2021.^[3]

Club information

Stadia and locations

GBA

Agropecuario Argentino

Alvarado

Atlético de Rafaela

Belgrano

Dep. Maipú

Estudiantes (RC)

Gimnasia y Esgrima (J)

Gimnasia y Esgrima (M)

Güemes

Guillermo Brown

Indep. Rivadavia

Instituto

Mitre (SdE)

San Martín (SJ)

San Martín (T)

Santamarina

Villa Dálmine

Locations of the 2021 Primera Nacional teams outside Greater Buenos Aires.

All Boys

Almagro

Almirante Brown

Atlanta

Barracas Central

Brown

Chacarita Juniors

Defensores de Belgrano

Deportivo Morón

Dep. Riestra

Estudiantes (BA)

Ferro Carril Oeste

Nueva Chicago

Quilmes

San Telmo

Temperley

Tigre

Tristán Suárez

Locations of the 2021 Primera Nacional teams within Greater Buenos Aires.

Club	City	Stadium
Agropecuario Argentino	Carlos Casares	Ofelia Rosenzuaig
All Boys	Buenos Aires	Islas Malvinas
Almagro	José Ingenieros	Tres de Febrero
Almirante Brown	Isidro Casanova	Fragata Presidente Sarmiento
Alvarado	Mar del Plata	José María Minella
Atlanta	Buenos Aires	Don León Kolbowsky
Atlético de Rafaela	Rafaela	Nuevo Monumental
Belgrano	Córdoba	Julio César Villagra
Barracas Central	Buenos Aires	Claudio Chiqui Tapia
Brown (A)	Adrogué	Lorenzo Arandilla
Chacarita Juniors	Villa Maipú	Chacarita Juniors
Defensores de Belgrano	Buenos Aires	Juan Pasquale
Deportivo Maipú	Maipú	Omar Higinio Sperdutti
Deportivo Morón	Morón	Nuevo Francisco Urbano
Deportivo Riestra	Buenos Aires	Guillermo Laza
Estudiantes (BA)	Caseros	Ciudad de Caseros
Estudiantes (RC)	Río Cuarto	Antonio Candini
Ferro Carril Oeste	Buenos Aires	Arquitecto Ricardo Etcheverry
Gimnasia y Esgrima (J)	Jujuy	23 de Agosto
Gimnasia y Esgrima (M)	Mendoza	Víctor Legrotaglie
Güemes	Santiago del Estero	Arturo Miranda
Guillermo Brown	Puerto Madryn	Raúl Conti
Independiente Rivadavia	Mendoza	Bautista Gargantini
Instituto	Córdoba	Presidente Perón
Mitre (SdE)	Santiago del Estero	Doctores José y Antonio Castiglione
Nueva Chicago	Buenos Aires	Nueva Chicago
Quilmes	Quilmes	Centenario
San Martín (SJ)	San Juan	Ingeniero Hilario Sánchez
		Estadio del Bicentenario
San Martín (T)	Tucumán	La Ciudadela
San Telmo	Dock Sud	Osvaldo Baletto
Santamarina	Tandil	Municipal Gral. San Martín
Temperley	Temperley	Alfredo Beranger
Tigre	Victoria	José Dellagiovanna
Tristán Suárez	Tristán Suárez	20 de Octubre
Villa Dálmine	Campana	El Coliseo de Mitre y Puccini

Zone A

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tigre	32	17	9	6	50	25	+25	60	Advance to Final and qualification for Copa Argentina
2	Quilmes	32	17	8	7	45	31	+14	59	Advance to Torneo Reducido and qualification for Copa Argentina
3	Almirante Brown	32	17	8	7	40	32	+8	59
4	San Martín (T)	32	15	12	5	34	18	+16	57
5	Agropecuario Argentino	32	15	8	9	36	26	+10	53	Qualification for Copa Argentina
6	Belgrano	32	15	7	10	35	24	+11	52
7	Gimnasia y Esgrima (M)	32	11	11	10	34	35	−1	44
8	Alvarado	32	12	6	14	32	30	+2	42
9	Temperley	32	10	11	11	29	34	−5	41
10	Atlanta	32	9	12	11	27	34	−7	39
11	Estudiantes (BA)	32	8	14	10	29	28	+1	38
12	Mitre (SdE)	32	9	10	13	37	44	−7	37
13	Deportivo Maipú	32	10	6	16	27	38	−11	36
14	Estudiantes (RC)	32	5	19	8	23	26	−3	34
15	Deportivo Riestra	32	9	7	16	30	36	−6	34
16	Chacarita Juniors	32	6	9	17	29	50	−21	27
17	Nueva Chicago	32	4	9	19	23	49	−26	21

Source: AFA
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) play-off (only for deciding promotion or relegation); 3) goal difference; 4) goals scored; 5) head-to-head points; 6) head-to-head goal difference; 7) head-to-head goals scored.^[4]

Results

Home \ Away	AGA	CAB	ALV	ATL	BEL	CHA	DMA	DRI	EBA	ERC	GEM	MIT	NCH	QUI	SMT	TEM	TIG
Agropecuario Argentino	—	3–1	1–0	1–0	1–2	1–0	1–1	0–1	0–0	1–1	2–0	1–0	3–0	3–1	0–1	1–0	0–0
Almirante Brown	2–1	—	3–2	0–1	1–0	2–1	1–0	1–0	2–1	1–1	0–2	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–0	3–2	1–0
Alvarado	2–0	0–1	—	1–0	0–1	2–1	1–0	2–1	0–1	0–0	1–2	3–1	4–0	0–1	2–0	1–0	1–1
Atlanta	0–3	0–1	0–0	—	1–0	0–3	0–0	2–2	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	2–1	1–1	0–0
Belgrano	0–1	0–1	3–0	2–2	—	3–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	2–1	0–0	0–1	0–1	2–1	2–1
Chacarita Juniors	2–2	2–1	0–2	0–1	2–0	—	1–2	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–4	1–3	2–3	1–3	1–3	1–2	2–2
Deportivo Maipú	2–0	0–1	1–0	3–2	1–2	1–2	—	3–1	0–0	1–0	0–2	1–1	0–2	2–1	0–2	0–1	0–4
Deportivo Riestra	1–2	1–2	1–0	3–1	1–1	4–0	0–1	—	1–0	0–1	0–0	2–0	2–0	0–1	0–0	0–0	1–3
Estudiantes (BA)	1–1	1–2	1–3	2–1	0–0	1–0	2–1	2–1	—	0–0	0–0	5–0	1–1	0–0	1–1	0–0	2–1
Estudiantes (RC)	1–1	0–0	2–0	1–2	0–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	—	1–1	2–1	1–1	0–2	0–0	1–3	0–0
Gimnasia y Esgrima (M)	2–0	3–3	2–0	1–2	0–3	1–1	1–1	1–1	3–1	0–0	—	0–0	0–1	0–3	0–0	1–2	0–4
Mitre (SdE)	1–2	3–2	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–2	3–1	0–2	0–2	1–1	1–2	—	1–0	4–0	0–0	1–1	4–2
Nueva Chicago	1–2	0–3	1–1	1–0	0–2	1–1	1–2	2–3	0–0	1–2	1–2	1–2	—	1–1	0–1	0–0	2–4
Quilmes	0–0	3–1	3–4	2–1	2–3	3–1	1–0	2–1	2–1	0–0	0–1	2–1	3–1	—	0–0	2–0	2–1
San Martín (T)	1–0	2–2	0–0	3–0	0–0	0–1	2–0	2–0	0–0	2–1	3–1	1–1	3–1	1–2	—	2–1	0–2
Temperley	0–2	0–0	0–0	0–3	3–2	0–0	0–2	1–0	3–2	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–0	2–2	0–1	—	0–2
Tigre	2–0	3–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	3–0	2–1	1–0	2–0	3–3	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	—

Source: AFA
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Zone B

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Barracas Central	34	15	13	6	43	33	+10	58	Advance to Final and qualification for Copa Argentina
2	Ferro Carril Oeste	34	15	12	7	49	28	+21	57	Advance to Torneo Reducido and qualification for Copa Argentina
3	Independiente Rivadavia	34	14	14	6	47	39	+8	56
4	Deportivo Morón	34	16	5	13	36	34	+2	53
5	Güemes	34	13	13	8	38	31	+7	52	Qualification for Copa Argentina
6	Gimnasia y Esgrima (J)	34	13	13	8	34	30	+4	52
7	Brown (A)	34	12	11	11	41	40	+1	47
8	Tristán Suárez	34	11	12	11	43	42	+1	45
9	Almagro	34	11	10	13	41	40	+1	43
10	Defensores de Belgrano	34	9	15	10	27	32	−5	42
11	Instituto	34	8	16	10	33	39	−6	40
12	All Boys	34	9	12	13	32	32	0	39
13	San Martín (SJ)	34	9	11	14	37	39	−2	38
14	Villa Dálmine	34	7	17	10	25	30	−5	38
15	Atlético de Rafaela	34	9	10	15	34	37	−3	37
16	Guillermo Brown	34	7	16	11	25	32	−7	37
17	San Telmo	34	8	13	13	34	50	−16	37
18	Santamarina	34	6	15	13	23	34	−11	33

Source: AFA
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) play-off (only for deciding promotion or relegation); 3) goal difference; 4) goals scored; 5) head-to-head points; 6) head-to-head goal difference; 7) head-to-head goals scored.^[4]

Results

Home \ Away	ALL	ALM	ATR	BAC	BRO	DBE	DMO	FCO	GEJ	GÜE	GBR	IND	INS	SMA	STE	SAN	TRS	VDA
All Boys	—	1–1	0–1	0–0	1–1	2–0	1–3	3–0	1–0	1–2	3–0	1–1	1–2	0–1	3–0	0–0	2–0	0–0
Almagro	3–0	—	1–0	0–1	5–0	2–0	2–1	2–3	2–2	0–0	2–2	0–2	2–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	1–3	1–2
Atlético de Rafaela	2–0	4–1	—	0–2	2–0	0–0	3–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	0–1	2–1	0–1	0–2	2–2	0–1	2–2	0–0
Barracas Central	2–1	2–1	2–1	—	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	1–0	0–0	1–3	1–1	3–0	3–2	2–2	3–1	1–0
Brown (A)	1–1	2–0	2–1	1–2	—	0–3	0–1	1–3	1–1	1–3	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–2	2–0	2–1	2–0
Defensores de Belgrano	0–0	1–0	2–0	0–0	0–3	—	0–2	0–2	0–1	1–0	2–0	1–2	0–0	1–1	0–0	0–0	1–6	2–0
Deportivo Morón	3–0	1–0	0–0	2–0	0–2	3–0	—	1–0	2–0	0–2	0–0	2–2	2–2	1–0	2–0	2–1	1–0	0–2
Ferro Carril Oeste	0–0	1–2	1–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	—	0–0	1–1	0–0	6–0	3–1	3–2	6–0	2–0	2–0	0–0
Gimnasia y Esgrima (J)	1–0	1–2	1–0	2–1	0–0	1–3	2–0	0–0	—	1–1	3–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–1	1–0	2–0	1–0
Güemes	1–0	0–2	0–2	3–0	1–1	2–2	1–2	2–0	1–0	—	0–3	0–2	1–1	1–0	1–1	3–0	0–0	0–0
Guillermo Brown	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	0–3	1–1	0–1	3–1	0–0	1–2	—	0–2	1–1	0–0	1–2	0–0	0–0	1–1
Independiente Rivadavia	2–2	1–1	3–2	0–0	2–1	1–1	2–0	1–2	1–1	0–0	0–2	—	2–1	1–1	4–3	3–1	1–2	1–1
Instituto	1–2	1–1	2–1	1–0	2–2	0–2	2–1	2–2	1–2	0–0	1–1	0–0	—	1–1	1–0	0–0	1–2	1–1
San Martín (SJ)	0–2	1–1	4–2	2–3	1–2	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–2	1–2	0–0	0–1	1–0	—	5–0	0–2	4–0	1–0
San Telmo	1–1	2–1	0–0	1–1	2–1	0–0	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	1–2	1–0	0–1	2–1	—	2–2	0–1	1–0
Santamarina	2–0	1–1	0–0	1–1	0–0	0–2	2–0	0–2	2–1	1–2	1–1	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–2	—	0–0	2–0
Tristán Suárez	0–2	1–1	1–2	2–2	2–2	0–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	1–2	1–0	1–2	2–2	4–1	1–1	2–1	—	1–1
Villa Dálmine	0–0	0–1	1–0	1–3	1–0	0–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–1	0–0	1–2	1–1	3–3	1–0	1–1	—

Source: AFA
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Final

The top-ranked teams of each zone played a match on neutral ground to decide the champions and the first team promoted to Primera División. The losing team advanced to the semi-finals of the Torneo Reducido.

22 November 2021

21:10

Tigre	1–0	Barracas Central
Zabala 42'	Report

Estadio Florencio Sola, Banfield

Referee: Patricio Loustau

Team details

Tigre Barracas Central GK 1 Gonzalo Marinelli DF 4 Víctor Cabrera DF 2 Fernando Alarcón DF 6 Abel Luciatti MF 11 Cristian Zabala  75' MF 8 Lucas Blondel MF 5 Sebastián Prediger (c)  80' MF 10 Lucas Menossi  85' MF 3 Sebastián Prieto FW 7 Pablo Magnín  30' FW 9 Ijiel Protti  90' Substitutes: GK 12 Manuel Roffo DF 13 Francisco Oliver MF 14 Agustín Cardozo  75' DF 15 Diego Sosa  85' MF 16 Francisco Metilli FW 17 Gonzalo Flores FW 18 Milton Céliz  90' DF 19 Martín Galmarini FW 20 Tomás Fernández Manager: Diego Martínez GK 1 Maximiliano Gagliardo DF 4 Dylan Glaby  80' DF 2 Bruno Cabrera  83'  84' DF 6 Fernando González DF 3 Gonzalo Paz MF 8 Juan Manuel Vázquez  60' MF 5 Carlos Arce  23'  84' MF 10 Iván Tapia FW 11 Lucas Colitto FW 7 Fernando Valenzuela FW 9 Leonel Buter  45' Substitutes: GK 12 Mariano Monllor DF 13 Andrés Imperiale MF 14 Jonathan Rivero DF 15 Daniel Martínez FW 16 Facundo Stable  60' FW 17 Valentín Viola  84' FW 18 Mauro Albertengo  84' FW 19 Germán Estigarribia  45' MF 20 Luciano Romero Manager: Rodolfo de Paoli

Torneo Reducido

First round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Deportivo Morón	3–3 (4–5 p)	Quilmes	2–2	1–1
San Martín (T)	2–3	Ferro Carril Oeste	1–3	1–0
Independiente Rivadavia	1–2	Almirante Brown	1–1	0–1

First leg

Deportivo Morón v Quilmes

21 November 2021	Deportivo Morón	2–2	Quilmes	Morón
19:15	González 36' (pen.) Levato 55'	Report	Pons 17' (pen.) Silva 71'	Stadium: Nuevo Francisco Urbano Referee: Darío Herrera

Independiente Rivadavia v Almirante Brown

22 November 2021	Independiente Rivadavia	1–1	Almirante Brown	Mendoza
17:00	Mayorga 73'	Report	Batallini 79'	Stadium: Bautista Gargantini Referee: Yael Falcón Pérez

San Martín (T) v Ferro Carril Oeste

22 November 2021	San Martín (T)	1–3	Ferro Carril Oeste	Tucumán
19:05	Diarte 44'	Report	Molina 17' Fernández 42' Mosca 84'	Stadium: La Ciudadela Referee: Mauro Vigliano

Second leg

Quilmes v Deportivo Morón

27 November 2021	Quilmes	1–1 (3–3 agg.) (5–4 p)	Deportivo Morón	Quilmes
19:10	Moreno 17'	Report	Villalba 24'	Stadium: Centenario Ciudad de Quilmes Referee: Ariel Penel
	Penalties
	Anselmo Ortega García Basso Obregón R. Barrios		González Bontempo Schönfeld Guaycochea Abascia

Almirante Brown v Independiente Rivadavia

29 November 2021	Almirante Brown	1–0 (2–1 agg.)	Independiente Rivadavia	Isidro Casanova
17:00	García 44' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: Fragata Presidente Sarmiento Referee: Jorge Baliño
Note: Match originally scheduled for 28 November 2021, 20:00 local time but suspended and rescheduled for 29 November 2021, 17:00 local time due to a failure in the stadium's lighting system.[5]

Ferro Carril Oeste v San Martín (T)

29 November 2021	Ferro Carril Oeste	0–1 (3–2 agg.)	San Martín (T)	Buenos Aires
21:10		Report	Aleo 60' (o.g.)	Stadium: Arquitecto Ricardo Etcheverry Referee: Yael Falcón Pérez

Semi-finals

The semi-finals were contested by the three winners from the previous stage, as well as the Final losers Barracas Central. In this round, the four teams were seeded according to their performance in the first stage of the competition, with the best-ranked teams being paired against the worst ranked ones in double-legged ties. The two winners advanced to the final.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Almirante Brown	2–3	Barracas Central	0–0	2–3
Ferro Carril Oeste	1–2	Quilmes	1–1	0–1

First leg

Almirante Brown v Barracas Central

6 December 2021	Almirante Brown	0–0	Barracas Central	Isidro Casanova
17:00		Report		Stadium: Fragata Presidente Sarmiento Referee: Leandro Rey Hilfer

Ferro Carril Oeste v Quilmes

6 December 2021	Ferro Carril Oeste	1–1	Quilmes	Buenos Aires
21:10	Grana 46'	Report	Pavone 53'	Stadium: Arquitecto Ricardo Etcheverry Referee: Pablo Echavarría

Second leg

Barracas Central v Almirante Brown

13 December 2021	Barracas Central	3–2 (3–2 agg.)	Almirante Brown	Buenos Aires
17:10	Paz 26', 30' Colitto 42'	Report	Chimeli 78' Guzmán 82'	Stadium: Claudio Chiqui Tapia Referee: Andrés Merlos

Quilmes v Ferro Carril Oeste

13 December 2021	Quilmes	1–0 (2–1 agg.)	Ferro Carril Oeste	Quilmes
21:10	Anselmo 76' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: Centenario Ciudad de Quilmes Referee: Nicolás Lamolina

Final

The semi-final winners played a match on neutral ground to decide the second team promoted to Primera División.

2021 Torneo Reducido Final

21 December 2021

20:10

Barracas Central	0–0	Quilmes
	Report
Penalties
Tapia Colitto Estigarribia Paz Valenzuela	5–4	Anselmo Ortega García Basso Moreno R. Barrios

Estadio Presidente Juan Domingo Perón, Avellaneda

Referee: Darío Herrera

Team details

Quilmes Barracas Central GK 1 Rodrigo Saracho DF 4 Rafael Barrios DF 2 Pier Barrios DF 6 Agustín García Basso DF 3 Agustín Bindella MF 7 Julián Bonetto MF 5 Adrián Calello (c) MF 8 Facundo Silva MF 11 Camilo Machado FW 9 Mariano Pavone FW 10 Facundo Pons Substitutes: DF 14 Martín Ortega MF 15 Tomás Bottari MF 17 Emanuel Moreno FW 19 Federico Anselmo FW 20 Tomás Blanco Manager: Facundo Sava GK 1 Maximiliano Gagliardo DF 4 Axel Bordón DF 2 Bruno Cabrera DF 6 Fernando González DF 3 Gonzalo Paz MF 7 Lucas Colitto MF 8 Dylan Glaby MF 5 Carlos Arce MF 11 Juan Manuel Vázquez MF 10 Iván Tapia (c) FW 9 Mauro Albertengo Substitutes: FW 17 Carlos Valenzuela FW 18 Germán Estigarribia FW 19 Leonel Buter Manager: Rodolfo De Paoli

Copa Argentina qualification

Fifteen Primera Nacional teams qualified for the round of 32 of the 2021–22 Copa Argentina, which were the top seven teams of each zone at the end of the season and the best eighth-placed team, which was selected according to points earned per game, goal difference, and goals scored.^[6]

Ranking of eighth-placed teams

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	PPG	Qualification
1	B	Tristán Suárez	34	11	12	11	43	42	+1	45	1.32	Qualification for Copa Argentina
2	A	Alvarado	32	12	6	14	32	30	+2	42	1.31

Source: AFA
Rules for classification: 1) Points per game; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Drawing of lots.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[7]
1	Pablo Magnín	Tigre	22
2	Pablo Vegetti	Belgrano	17
3	Facundo Bruera	Brown	15
4	Brian Fernández	Ferro Carril Oeste	14
5	Nicolás Servetto	Almagro	13
	Claudio Bieler	Atlético de Rafaela
7	Facundo Suárez	Gimnasia y Esgrima (J)	12
8	Axel Rodríguez	All Boys	11
	Felipe Cadenazzi	Alvarado
10	Santiago Vera	Almirante Brown	10
	Ignacio Colombini	Atlanta
	Tomás Molina	Ferro Carril Oeste
	Diego Cardozo	Independiente Rivadavia
	Ezequiel Cérica	Mitre (SdE)

See also

• 2021 Argentine Primera División
• 2021 Torneo Federal A
• 2019–20 Copa Argentina