LPF: Unión await the fixture and final group decision | OneFootball

Argentine football is entering decisive days, and Unión will be one of the clubs under close scrutiny with every move. Between tomorrow and January 22, the AFA will carry out a series of draws that will completely shape the competitive landscape for 2025 and, especially, for the 2026 season, where Tatengue hopes to take a leap in prominence after a year of contrasts.

The first step will come this Wednesday, December 10, when, after the Professional League meeting scheduled for 11:30 a.m., the draw for the groups of the new tournament will take place. There, the outlook for Unión will begin to become clearer: the composition of the groups, the interzonal matchups, and the creation of the fixture that will set the pace for the 2026 Apertura and Clausura.

This will ultimately be the starting point for the coaching staff and directors to finalize their sports planning, transfer market strategy, and preparation for a year with a compressed calendar due to the June World Cup.

What will be at stake for Unión in the draw

This Tuesday's event will not be just another one. For Tatengue, it will determine:

-The order of their matches in the Apertura and Clausura.

-The date of the interzonal clásico against Sarmiento and the remaining interzonal opponent.

-The key matchups that could mark the start or end of each tournament.

-The important dates, such as the start of the competition and the definition of the knockout phases.

With a format that will once again split the competition into two short tournaments, every detail of the fixture will be crucial for setting objectives and managing energy.

This is what the structure of the 2026 Professional League will look like

The championship will maintain the format established in this stage:

-Two tournaments per year: Apertura (first half) and Clausura (second half).

-30 teams divided into two zones of 15 each.

-14 matches within the zone, all against all in a single round.

-Two interzonal matches per tournament: the clásico and a rival assigned by draw.

-16 total matchdays in the regular phase.

The top eight from each zone will advance to the playoffs, which will be single-elimination matches: round of 16, quarterfinals, and semifinals played at the home of the higher seed from the regular phase. The final, however, will be at a neutral venue.

A year with multiple prizes and parallel competitions

In addition to the Apertura and Clausura champions, the League will recognize:

-Annual Champion, for the club that earns the most points throughout the season.

-Champions Trophy, which will pit the winners of both tournaments against each other.

-International Supercup (Annual Champion vs. winner of the Champions Trophy).

-Argentine Supercup (Champions Trophy winner vs. Copa Argentina champion).

And, of course, the continuation of the Copa Argentina, where Unión will also be a protagonist.

With a start scheduled for the weekend of January 26, 2026 will be an intense year, strategically complex, with the World Cup in June shortening timelines and margins for error.

Unión is just hours away from discovering the path it must take in its new challenge in the First Division. The fixture is about to be announced and, with it, the roadmap that will begin to define the 2026 season for the red and white.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.