The Argentine Association Football League was the first football association of Argentina and predecessor of current Argentine Football Association. The association has a historic importance in football for having organised the first official championship outside the United Kingdom (which has the oldest football competition, the FA Cup established in 1871).FA Cup: World soccer's oldest cup competition not aging well, USA Today, 22 Feb 2016
History By the 1890s, more than 20,000 inhabitants of Argentina were British, most of them employees of railway companies. They had introduced several sports to the country, with football among them."Hace 120 años, el fútbol tenía su primer torneo local" by Oscar Barnade, Clarín, 12 Apr 2011
On 7 March 1891, the act of foundation of the "Argentine Association Football League" was signed.Historia de fútbol de AFA: orígenes 1891/1899, by Carlos Yametti – Edición del Autor (2011) – Board members were F.L. Wooley (president),Historia de la AFA on AFA website Rovenscraf, Arcels, Mc Ewen, Hughes, Mc Intoch and Alec Lamont.Argentina 1891 by Osvaldo Gorgazzi on RSSSFHistoria del Fútbol Amateur en la Argentina, by Jorge Iwanczuk – Autores Editores (1992) –
The recently formed Association set three objectives: The organisation of a championship played regularly The establishment of an institution to rule the championship created A code of regulations
The first Argentine football championship began on 12 April 1891, with five teams contesting the competition, they were, Old Caledonians, Buenos Aires and Rosario Railway, Buenos Aires Football Club, Belgrano Football Club, and St. Andrews.
After organising the first championship (won by Old Caledonian and St. Andrew's), the Association was dissolved. Therefore no championship would be held in 1892 until a new association with the same name (currently Argentine Football Association) was established in 1893.
See also Argentine Football Association 1891 Argentine Primera División Football in Argentina
Notes
References