These past days I have been studying the, somehow, controversial relegation system created in Argentina.
For those of you who are not familiar with it:
In the Argentinian League there are 2 teams directly relegated to National B, and two other teams that will enter a play out game against two teams from the National B division. However, which team is relegated is not decided entirely by the standings of the season.
They use an "average system" which is calculated by dividing the number of points that the team got in the past three seasons and divide it by the number of games that team played in those 3 seasons. The two teams with the worst average at the end of the season are directly relegated to the National B and the champions and the runner up of National B take their place for the next season.
The 3rd and 4th teams with worst average would enter then the play out games against the 3rd and 4th seeded in the National B division. It is a home and away system. Winners will win their right to play in the First Division next year.
Now, this has been very controversial since it's inception in the 80's. People say that the system was invented to clearly help big teams to not get relegated ever. But if we look at the statistics, all major Argentinian teams have been relegated with this system. The biggest example is River Plate in 2011, and the latest is Independiente in 2013.
Here is a link on how each team sits right now in the Argentinian Relegation system:
http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/futbol/descenso?league=arg.1
Main detractors of this idea say that it is not fair that your team can end in the 12th position, but yet, be relegated because they have one of the worst average points per game.
In my opinion, it is a very fair system. Think of those boring games at the end of the season between teams in the middle of the table, with no option of qualifying for any international tournament, and not threatened by the ghost of relegation. Those games are really boring to watch, and to play.
However, with this system, the more points you get each season, the more peace of mind you will have towards a future relegation. River Plate made a brilliant campaign in 2008. However, their season in 2009 and 2010 were not that brilliant.
They found themselves with one of the worst averages for the 2011 season, and their performance in that season was nothing worth remembering either. They ended up with the 4th worst average and they had to face a promotion against Belgrano. Eventually, they ended up losing in Cordoba (2-0) and getting a futile tie back in Buenos Aires (1-1) that sealed their faith sending one of the most famous teams in the World to the National B.
Now I don't know if a system like this would have any success in Europe. I believe that in those leagues where the money prizes are not equally divided (Spain is the best example), this system would bring some extra salsa to the last games of the season, when teams are in the middle of the standings. Right now, in Spain, it doesn't really matter that you end up in the 8th position or in the 17th, you basically get the same amount of money, which is stupid.
That is why teams don't really care about the results at the end of the season when it is clear for them that they will not be relegated nor play in Europe next season. That is avoided in England, because the higher you end in the Standings, the more money you make, so it is quite important to finish as high as possible in the standings.
But other leagues like Italy or Spain, could adopt this system and make the competition a bit more interesting!. I doubt Real Madrid or Barcelona could EVER get relegated, but look at Milan or Inter this past season. Mediocre, for teams that big. They could be in trouble in a couple of years from now if they keep ending 10th or 11th.
Anyways, all in all, not a bad system, even though we will not see it being used other than in South America, I am afraid.
