1951 Argentine Primera División finals

Event1951 Primera División

Date1 Dec 1951

VenueSan Lorenzo Stadium, Buenos Aires

RefereeErnest Wilbraham

1951 Primera División finals

Racing Club, champions

Event

1951 Primera División

Racing	Banfield

1	0

on goal difference aggregate

First leg

Racing	Banfield
0	0

Date

1 Dec 1951

Venue

San Lorenzo Stadium, Buenos Aires

Referee

Ernest Wilbraham

Second leg

Banfield	Racing
0	1

Date

5 Dec 1951

Venue

San Lorenzo Stadium, Buenos Aires

Man of the Match

Mario Boyé

Referee

Bentley Cross

The 1951 Argentine Primera División finals were the matches that determined the winner of 1951 season of Argentine Primera División. The series were contested by Racing and Banfield, in order to decide a champion after both teams had finished tied on points (44 points in 32 matches played) at the end of the tournament.^[1] Although Banfield finished the season with a better goal difference (+30) than Racing (+23) the Argentine Football Association committee decided that playoffs should be held in order to crown a champion.^[2]^[3]

It was the 3rd. league final contested by Racing (had won championships in 1913 and 1915, both vs San Isidro)^[4] and the 1st. played by Banfield.^[2]

The matches were played in neutral venue (San Lorenzo de Alamgro Stadium) under a two-legged tie format. Racing won 1–0 on aggregate becoming Primera División champions therefore earning their 12th. league title.^[5] Besides, it was first time Racing won three consecutive titles after football became professional in Argentina.^[3]^[6]

Team	Previous finals app.
Racing	1913, 1915
Banfield	(none)

Bold indicates winning years

Venue

Buenos Aires
San Lorenzo Stadium
Capacity: 47,000

Background

Racing, coached by Guillermo Stábile,^[7] had previously won the 1949 and 1950^[8] titles and aimed at winning their third consecutive championship. Racing and Banfield finished the season tied on points (44). Racing had also scored 60 goals and only received 37 within 32 matches played.^[3]^[2]

For the 1951 tournament, the two-time champions Racing Club acquired goalkeeper Héctor Grisetti from Banfield,^[9] Luis Cesáreo from Boca Juniors, and Juan Carlos Giménez from Huracán.^[10] Racing started the tournament with poor results but improved taking advantage of, among other opportunities, a championship hiatus due to the Argentine national team's tour of Europe,^[6] where the side played against England for the first time.^[11] That match became memorable so Vélez Sarsfield's goalkeeper, Miguel Ángel Rugilo, earned the nickname "the lion of Wembley" after an outstanding performance.^[12]^[13]

On the other side, Banfield had made a great campaign, with highlighted wins over arch-rival Lanús (2–1 and 3–1), and beating all the big five teams, San Lorenzo (3–0), Boca Juniors (2–1), River Plate (5–1 at Estadio Monumental) and Independiente (5–0).^[1]^[14]

Political influence

It was notable how the 1951 final was politised by peronism, referring to it as a struggle between "the poor (Banfield) against the rich (Racing)". That was because Racing Club was a powerful institution (in fact, part of the big five) in opposition to Banfield's more modest budget.^[16]

The pro-government press wanted to demonstrate that social justice had also reached sports. This journalistic campaign pitted Cereijo (Minister of Treasury and a Racing fan) against Perón's wife Eva Duarte, who was not much into football, but sought advice to determine which of the two clubs was the more modest because it was the team she wanted to win the championship... President of Argentina Juan Perón was associated with Racing because the Avellaneda club had indirectly been the most favored team during Peronism. "In reality, the one who favored him in reality wasn't Perón, but rather his Minister of Finance, Ramón Cereijo, a Racing fan. That government was the first to make sports a state policy,

— historian Víctor Raffo about the political influence on the final.^[16]

Moreover, Duarte had expressed her wish that Banfield was crowned champion after being questioned by sports journalist Enzo Ardigó, who let her know which of both teams was the most modest.^[17] Her wish carried a message about her political ideology that implied "in the 'peronist Argentina' the poor win".^[18]^[14] Moreover, Duarte sent Raúl Apold (president's secretariat of press) to meet the Banfield players, promising them a car would be gifted to each one in case of winning the final.^[14]

On the other hand, Racing was the reigning champion and was also seen as "the government's team" due to the great influence of Ministry of Treasury Ramón Cereijo,^[16] who was not only a Racing fan and honorary member of the club but one of the promoters of the construction of El Cilindro (inaugurated in September 1950 and named "Presidente Perón").^[15] Cereijo had got a very low rates loan to build the stadium. Other moved from Cereijo to favour Racing included an investment to hire striker Mario Boyé (then playing in Europe), and the entry of Racing players to the Ministry of Treasury personnel.^[14]

His influence was so strong that rival supporters referred to Racing as Sportivo Cereijo.^[16]^[18]^[14] Cereijo had promised Racing Club players to give a brand new car to every one of them if they won the championship.^[18]

Other source affirms that Perón himself let Cereijo know about the desirability of a Banfield victory over Racing. Duarte was battling with a terminal cancer^[19] and Perón's requirement was in order to fulfil his wife's wish.^[14]

I'm going to tell you the truth, the order is for Banfield to win, but you do what you want.

— Ramón Cereijo at Racing dressing room before the second leg.^[14]

v t e AFA Liga Profesional de Fútbol
2025 clubs	Aldosivi Argentinos Juniors Atlético Tucumán Banfield Barracas Central Belgrano Boca Juniors Central Córdoba (SdE) Defensa y Justicia Deportivo Riestra Estudiantes (LP) Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP) Godoy Cruz Huracán Independiente Independiente Rivadavia Instituto Lanús Newell's Old Boys Platense Racing River Plate Rosario Central San Lorenzo San Martín (SJ) Sarmiento (J) Talleres (C) Tigre Unión Vélez Sarsfield
Seasons	1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014 2015 2016 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Finals	1891 1897 1898 1906 1911 1912 (FAF) 1913 1915 1923 1925 1929 1931 1932 1936 1951 1967 Met 1968 Met 1969 Met 1970 Nac 1971 Nac 1972 Nac 1976 Nac 1977 Nac 1978 Nac 1979 Met 1979 Nac 1980 Nac 1981 Nac 1982 Nac 1983 Nac 1984 Nac 1985 1990–91 2006 Ap 2008 Ap¹ 2012–13 2016 2025 Ap
Other matches	2011 relegation playoffs
Formats	Metropolitano Nacional Apertura and Clausura
Organizing bodies	Argentine Football Association AAFL (1891) Superliga Argentina
Related topics	All-time table Champions (list) Goalkeeper award Qualifying for Copa Libertadores Records Top scorers
Categories	Managers Players Seasons Transfers
¹Playoffs Category Commons

1951 Argentine Primera División finals

Venue

Background

Political influence

Details

First leg

Second leg

References

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