The Copa de la Liga Profesional (English: Professional League Cup; officially named "Copa Diego Armando Maradona" in its first edition) was an official Argentine football cup competition. The cup was planned and organised by the "Liga Profesional de Fútbol", a body linked to the Argentine Football Association (AFA) that replaced the defunct Superliga Argentina. This cup was conceived as a contingency competition after the schedule for a regular league season had been repeatedly delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After the death of Diego Maradona in November 2020, the competition was named after him. Nevertheless, the LPF executives decided to suppress the "Diego Maradona" name to keep distance from the conflict between Maradona's heirs and lawyer Matías Morla, owner of the brand and former representative of Maradona.El nombre "Diego Maradona" no va más on TyCLa AFA, forzada a cambiar el nombre del torneo por el litigio de la herencia on La Nación, 1 Feb 2021
Boca Juniors was the first champion of the competition, after beating Banfield in the final.
Format The first edition was contested by the 24 teams that had taken part in the 2019–20 Primera División championship, drawn into six groups of four teams each, playing on a double round-robin basis. In each zone, the top two teams advanced to the "Fase Campeón" while the bottom two teams advanced to the "Fase Complementación".
In the Fase Campeón, the 12 qualified teams were split into two groups of six teams each, where they played a single round-robin tournament. The winners of each group played the final match at a neutral venue. The winner of the Fase Campeón final were crowned champion of the cup also qualifying for Copa Libertadores.
On the other hand, teams in Fase Complementación played under the same format as in the Fase Campeón. The winners of the Fase Complementación final played a match against the Fase Campeón runners-up with the winners qualifying for the Copa Sudamericana.
The second edition had a similar format with a total of 26 teams including two promoted from Primera Nacional. Teams were drawn into two groups of 13 teams each, playing on a single round-robin a total of 13 rounds.El fixture completo de la Copa on Olé, 3 Feb 2021
List of champions
Ed.YearChampionScoreRunner-upVenueProvince 2020 Boca Juniors Banfield del Bicentenario San Juan 2021 Colón Racing del Bicentenario San Juan 2022 Boca Juniors Tigre Mario Kempes Córdoba 2023 Rosario Central Platense Madre de Ciudades Santiago del Estero 2024 Estudiantes (LP) Vélez Sarsfield Madre de Ciudades Santiago del Estero
Titles by club RankClubTitlesSeasons won Boca Juniors — 2020, 2022 — Colón 1 — 2021 — Rosario Central 1 — 2023 — Estudiantes (LP) 1 — 2024 — Banfield 0 1 — 2020 Racing 0 1 — 2021 Tigre 0 1 — 2022 Platense 0 1 — 2023 Vélez Sarsfield 0 1 — 2024
Top scorers
Top 5 goalscorers, all-time (only group stage games)
Updated as of 8 January 2024
RankNat. Player Years Goals Apps Ratio1 Miguel Merentiel2020–21410.512Luis Rodríguez2020–21440.483Cristian Tarragona2020-18540.334Gabriel Ávalos2020-16420.385Mauro Boselli2022–202314200.7
Historical table
Pos.ClubPart.TitlesPldWDLGFGAGDPts 1 River Plate 5 0 71 37 18 16 131 68 +63129 2 Vélez Sarsfield 5 0 71 35 21 15 89 66 +23126 3 Boca Juniors 5 2 74 33 26 15 106 66 +40125 4 Racing 5 0 72 31 24 17 107 72 +35117 5 Estudiantes (LP) 5 1 71 28 23 20 90 67 +23107 6 Argentinos Juniors 5 0 70 27 25 18 93 76 +17106 7 Banfield 5 0 68 27 23 18 79 61 +18104 8 Independiente 5 0 68 26 23 19 77 62 +15101 9 Talleres (C) 5 0 67 23 24 20 84 79 +593 10 Rosario Central 5 1 70 25 17 28 80 88 -892 11 Newell's Old Boys 5 0 66 25 14 17 75 77 -289 12 Godoy Cruz 5 0 69 22 23 24 78 87 -989 13 Huracán 5 0 67 23 19 25 79 80 -188 14 Defensa y Justicia 5 0 68 22 22 24 85 93 -888 15 San Lorenzo 5 0 66 19 29 18 67 70 -386 16 Unión 5 0 66 21 23 22 67 73 -686 17 Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP) 5 0 66 23 17 26 85 95 -1086 18 Colón 4 1 55 23 16 16 83 58 +2585 19 Lanús 5 0 66 22 18 26 78 80 -284 20 Atlético Tucumán 5 0 66 19 21 26 76 94 -1878 21 Central Córdoba (SdE) 5 0 66 16 24 26 63 92 -2972 22 Platense 4 0 58 15 19 24 49 75 -2664 23 Barracas Central 3 0 43 16 11 16 47 63 -1659 24 Sarmiento (J) 4 0 55 13 19 23 44 70 -2658 25 Arsenal 4 0 52 13 17 22 56 72 -1656 26 Aldosivi 3 0 39 12 7 20 43 69 -1743 27 Tigre 3 0 45 10 12 23 34 55 -2142 28 Instituto 2 0 28 9 10 9 29 24 +537 29 Belgrano 2 0 29 8 11 10 40 41 -135 30 Patronato 3 0 38 8 4 26 27 58 -3128 31 Deportivo Riestra 1 0 14 3 4 7 8 16 -813 32 Independiente Rivadavia 1 0 14 2 2 10 13 25 -128
References
External links LPF official website