Primera Nacional 2026: Colón’s rivals revealed at midday, how to watch | OneFootball

This Monday, the Argentine Football Association will announce the calendar for the Second Division for the 2026 season. Find out all the details.

On Monday, December 22, the draw for the 2026 Primera Nacional will take place, where the 36 participating teams will seek promotion to the Professional League. The tournament format will be the same as the season that ended with the promotions of Gimnasia de Mendoza and Estudiantes de Río Cuarto. Discover all the details of the draw, how the tournament will be played, and the clubs that will participate.

The 2026 Primera Nacional draw: this will be the tournament format

The Second Division season of Argentine football will be played in the same way as this year: the 36 teams will be divided into two groups of 18, and all clubs will play 34 matches. Each team will face the other 17 in their group both home and away, in the same order for both halves of the season.

The two promotions will be determined the same way as in recent seasons, where the top two teams from each group will play the first final for promotion at a neutral stadium. The loser of that match will have another chance to be promoted by competing in the Playoff.

Teams finishing 2nd to 8th in each group will participate in the Playoff, facing off in a single match at the higher-seeded team's stadium to advance to the quarterfinals, where the loser of the first final will join the seven remaining clubs still in contention.

On the other hand, relegations will also be the same as in 2025. There will be four in total, and the two teams that finish last in each group will be relegated to Primera B Metropolitana or Federal A, depending on their affiliation.

The Primera Nacional tournament will begin on the first weekend of February and will have matchdays during the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. There will only be a two-week break at the end of the first round so that the squads can rest for several days.

The 36 teams that will play in the 2026 Primera Nacional

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