1972 Argentine Primera División

1973 Copa LibertadoresSan Lorenzo
River Plate

The 1972 Primera División season was the 81st season of top-flight football in Argentina. Banfield was penalised with a 4-month suspension and the subsequent points deduction after a proved bribe.^[1] The case ... back to the 1971 Metropolitano when Banfield was about to be relegated along with Los Andes. A Banfield executive offered Ferro Carril Oeste players (their rivals in the last fixture of the tournament) a high amount of money to fix the match. Nevertheless, the meeting was reported to the police who arrested the executive. Banfield would be then penalised by the AFA.^[2]

With Lanús (1970 Primera B Metropolitana champions) as the only team promoted from the lower division, San Lorenzo won both tournaments, Metropolitano and Nacional (9th and 10th league titles). San Lorenzo and River Plate (Torneo Nacional champion and runner-up) qualified for the 1973 Copa Libertadores. On the other hand, Banfield and Lanús were relegated via Torneo Reclasificatorio.^[3]

Metropolitano Championship

Metropolitano

San Lorenzo, Metropolitano champions
Season	1972
Dates	25 February – 1 October
Champions	San Lorenzo (9th title)
Promoted	Lanús
Relegated	Banfield Lanús
Top goalscorer	Miguel Brindisi (21)
Biggest home win	R. Central 6–0 Independiente (16 Apr)
Biggest away win	Estudiantes LP 1–7 Boca Jrs (17 Mar)
← 1971 1973 →

Final standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	San Lorenzo	34	18	13	3	59	33	+26	49	Champion
2	Racing	34	14	15	5	56	44	+12	43
3	Huracán	34	14	12	8	66	49	+17	40
3	River Plate	34	15	10	9	64	52	+12	40
5	Vélez Sársfield	34	14	11	9	59	50	+9	39
6	Rosario Central	34	14	10	10	51	39	+12	38
7	Newell's Old Boys	34	13	12	9	49	49	0	38
8	Chacarita Juniors	34	13	11	10	46	41	+5	37
9	Boca Juniors	34	12	12	10	56	44	+12	36
10	Colón	34	14	8	12	51	52	−1	36
11	Independiente	34	12	11	11	47	48	−1	35
12	Argentinos Juniors	34	10	14	10	52	37	+15	34
13	Estudiantes (LP)	34	14	5	15	40	52	−12	33	to Reclasificatorio
14	Atlanta	34	12	7	15	43	54	−11	31
15	Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP)	34	8	10	16	40	55	−15	26
16	Ferro Carril Oeste	34	6	12	16	39	55	−16	24
17	Lanús	34	3	6	25	35	71	−36	12
18	Banfield	34	7	7	20	25	53	−28	0[a]

Reclasificatorio Tournament

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Ferro Carril Oeste	5	3	2	0	16	10	+6	8
2	Atlanta	5	2	1	2	14	12	+2	5
3	Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP)	5	1	2	2	9	12	−3	4
4	Estudiantes (LP)	5	1	2	2	4	11	−7	4
5	Lanús	5	0	2	3	4	8	−4	2
6	Banfield	5	2	3	0	15	9	+6	0[a]

Relegation table

To determine relegations of teams playing the Reclasificatorio, points earned in Metropolitano and Reclasificatorio were taken into account. The two clubs with the lowest points earned were relegated.

Rank.	Team	Points Metrop.	Points Reclas.	Total points
1	Estudiantes (LP)	33	4	37
2	Atlanta	31	5	36
3	Ferro Carril Oeste	24	8	32
4	Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP)	26	4	30
5	Lanús	12	2	14
6	Banfield	0	7	7

Top scorers

Rank.	Player	Team	Goals
1	Miguel Brindisi	Huracán	21
2	Roque Avallay	Huracán	17
3	Carlos Bianchi	Vélez Sarsfield	16
	Hugo Curioni	Boca Juniors
4	Rubén Ayala	San Lorenzo	15

Nacional Championship

Nacional

San Lorenzo, Nacional champions
Season	1972
Dates	13 October – 17 December
Champions	San Lorenzo (10th title)
1973 Copa Libertadores	San Lorenzo River Plate
Top goalscorer	Carlos Morete (14)
Biggest home win	Argentinos 7–0 Sp. Desamparados (6 Dec)
Biggest away win	B. Mitre 1–7 River Plate (23 Oct)
Highest scoring	Newell's 7–2 Banfield (25 Nov) River Plate 7–2 Independiente (1 Dec)
← 1971 1973 →

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	San Lorenzo	13	10	3	0	29	6	+23	23	Final
2	River Plate	13	10	2	1	50	23	+27	22	Semifinal
3	Vélez Sársfield	13	8	2	3	31	19	+12	18
4	San Martín (M)	13	7	3	3	27	21	+6	17
5	Atlanta	13	6	4	3	31	15	+16	16
6	Rosario Central	13	5	4	4	28	18	+10	14
7	Independiente	13	4	5	4	24	20	+4	13
8	San Lorenzo (MdP)	13	5	2	6	24	28	−4	12
9	Lanús	13	3	5	5	17	23	−6	11
10	Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP)	13	3	3	7	13	24	−11	9
11	San Martín (T)	13	2	2	9	10	25	−15	6
12	Bartolomé Mitre	13	1	2	10	11	36	−25	4
13	Independiente (T)	13	0	3	10	10	46	−36	3

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Boca Juniors	13	10	2	1	31	15	+16	22	Semifinal
2	Colón	13	8	2	3	21	16	+5	18
3	Argentinos Juniors	13	7	3	3	26	16	+10	17
4	Huracán	13	6	4	3	26	20	+6	16
5	Racing	13	6	1	6	20	18	+2	13
6	Belgrano	13	4	5	4	19	18	+1	13
7	Banfield	13	5	3	5	23	27	−4	13
8	Ferro Carril Oeste	13	4	4	5	20	20	0	12
9	Desamparados	13	4	4	5	15	25	−10	12
10	Chacarita Juniors	13	3	5	5	19	18	+1	11
11	Gimnasia y Esgrima (M)	13	2	6	5	18	23	−5	10
12	Estudiantes (LP)	13	2	4	7	12	25	−13	8
13	Newell's Old Boys	13	2	1	10	18	28	−10	5

Semifinal

Team 1	Res.	Team 2	Venue	City
River Plate	3–2	Boca Juniors	Vélez Sarsfield	Buenos Aires

Final

Team 1	Res.	Team 2	Venue	City
San Lorenzo	1–0 (a.e.t.)	River Plate	Vélez Sarsfield	Buenos Aires

Match details

San Lorenzo

River Plate

Top scorers

Rank.	Player	Team	Goals
1	Carlos Morete	River Plate	14
2	Oscar Más	River Plate	13
3	Hugo Curioni	Boca Juniors	12
	Carlos Guerini	Belgrano (C)
4	Juan Barroso	San Martín (M)	11
	Carlos Bianchi	Vélez Sarsfield
	Juan Taverna	Banfield

References