2026 annual table after Matchday 8: Libertadores and Sudamericana places take shape

The annual table is already shaping Argentina’s route to the 2027 Libertadores and Sudamericana, while also determining one of the two clubs that will drop to the Primera Nacional.

Belgrano de Córdoba is the only club certain to play international football next year. Its Apertura 2026 title guarantees a place in the Libertadores. The winners of the Clausura and the Copa Argentina, both still in progress, will also qualify directly.

The remaining three Libertadores places will go to the best three teams in the combined Apertura and Clausura standings. After the eighth round of the Clausura, Argentinos Juniors led with 46 points, followed by Independiente Rivadavia of Mendoza on 45 and Vélez Sarsfield on 44.

The next six clubs in the table currently occupy the Sudamericana places: Boca Juniors and Gimnasia de La Plata with 41 points, Rosario Central with 40, River Plate with 39, Estudiantes de La Plata with 38 and Independiente with 37.

The allocation could change if a club qualifies through a tournament title and also finishes in a continental qualification position. In that case, its annual-table place is released. Belgrano provides the current example: it is ninth with 38 points and occupies a Sudamericana place through the table, so that berth would pass to tenth-placed Independiente. A similar situation could arise if Estudiantes or Platense win the 2026 Libertadores and finish among Argentina’s top nine, or if Boca win the 2026 Sudamericana and finish first, second or third domestically, earning a place in the next Libertadores.