| Competition: | Primera División |
| Season: | 2011–12 |
| Winners: | Apertura: Boca Juniors (30th title) Clausura: Arsenal (1st title) |
| Relegated: | Banfield Olimpo |
| Continentalcup1: | 2012 Copa Libertadores |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Boca Juniors Lanús Godoy Cruz |
| Continentalcup2: | 2012 Copa Sudamericana |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | Independiente Racing Tigre Argentinos Juniors Colón |
| Continentalcup3: | 2013 Copa Libertadores |
| Continentalcup3 Qualifiers: | Arsenal |
| League Topscorer: | Apertura: Rubén Ramírez (12 goals) Clausura: Carlos Luna (12 goals) |
| Biggest Home Win: | (September 10, 2011) |
| Biggest Away Win: | (September 12, 2011) (February 17, 2012) |
| Highest Scoring: | (March 11, 2012) |
| Matches: | 380 |
| Total Goals: | 813 |
| Longest Wins: | Boca Juniors – 4 matches (September 4–September 22) |
| Longest Unbeaten: | Boca Juniors – 23 matches (August 5, 2011–March 4, 2012) |
| Longest Losses: | Banfield – 6 matches (August 5–September 10) |
| Prevseason: | 2010–11 |
| Nextseason: | 2012–13 |
The 2011–12 Primera División season is the 121st season of top-flight professional football in Argentina. A total of 20 teams will compete in the league. It started on August 5, 2011 and ended on July 1, 2012.
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-season changes | ||||||
| Racing | Miguel Ángel Russo | End of contract | June 19, 2011 | Diego Simeone | June 21, 2011[1] | N/A |
| Estudiantes (LP) | Luis Suárez & Guillermo Trama[2] | Replaced | June 21, 2011 | Miguel Ángel Russo | June 21, 2011[3] | N/A |
| Apertura changes | ||||||
| Banfield | Sebastián Méndez | Resigned | August 27, 2011 | Ricardo La Volpe | August 28, 2011[4] | 20th |
| Independiente | Antonio Mohamed | Resigned | September 5, 2011[5] | Ramón Díaz | September 12, 2011[6] | 17th |
| Argentinos Juniors | Pedro Troglio | Resigned | September 18, 2011[7] | Néstor Gorosito | September 20, 2011[8] | 19th |
| Newell's Old Boys | Javier Torrente | Resigned | September 27, 2011[9] | Diego Cagna | September 29, 2011[10] | 16th |
| Estudiantes (LP) | Miguel Ángel Russo | Resigned | November 7, 2011[11] | Juan Manuel Azconzábal[12] | November 9, 2011[13] | 19th |
| San Lorenzo | Omar Asad | Resigned | November 21, 2011[14] | Leonardo Madelón | November 22, 2011[15] | 15th |
| Olimpo | Omar De Felippe[16] | Resigned | November 21, 2011[17] | Héctor Rivoira | December 2, 2011[18] | 17th |
| Inter-tournament changes | ||||||
| Banfield | Ricardo La Volpe | Sacked | December 14, 2011[19] | Jorge da Silva | December 23, 2011[20] | N/A |
| Godoy Cruz | Jorge da Silva | Resigned | December 14, 2011[21] | Nery Pumpido | December 23, 2011[22] | N/A |
| Newell's Old Boys | Diego Cagna | Sacked | December 19, 2011[23] | Gerardo Martino | December 26, 2011[24] | N/A |
| Racing | Diego Simeone | Resigned | December 19, 2011[25] | Alfio Basile | December 26, 2011[26] | N/A |
| Clausura changes | ||||||
| Colón | Mario Sciacqua | Resigned | February 20, 2012[27] | Roberto Sensini | February 21, 2012[28] | 16th |
| Banfield | Jorge da Silva | Resigned | February 27, 2012[29] | Eduardo Mario Acevedo | March 10, 2012[30] | 15th |
| Argentinos Juniors | Néstor Gorosito | Resigned | February 28, 2012[31] | Leonardo Astrada | March 1, 2012[32] | 18th |
| Independiente | Ramón Díaz | Resigned | March 3, 2012[33] | Cristian Díaz[34] | March 5, 2012[35] | 20th |
| Atlético de Rafaela | Carlos Trullet | Sacked | March 12, 2012[36] | Rubén Forestello | March 13, 2012[37] | 18th |
| Olimpo | Héctor Rivoira | Resigned | April 1, 2012[38] | Walter Perazzo | April 4, 2012[39] | 20th |
| San Lorenzo | Leonardo Madelón | Resigned | April 1, 2012[40] | Ricardo Caruso Lombardi | April 3, 2012[41] | 17th |
| Racing | Alfio Basile | Resigned | April 14, 2012[42] | Luis Zubeldía | April 15, 2012[43] | 16th |
| San Martín (SJ) | Daniel Garnero | Resigned | April 21, 2012[44] | Facundo Sava | April 23, 2012[45] | 19th |
| Estudiantes (LP) | Juan Manuel Azconzábal | Sacked | April 27, 2012[46] | Martín Zuccarelli[47] | April 27, 2012 | 9th |
The 2011 Apertura was the first championship of the season. It began on August 5 and ended on February 4, 2012.
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Club | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=center rowspan=1 | 1 | Rubén Ramírez |  Argentina | Godoy Cruz | 12 |
| align=center rowspan=3 | 2 | Mauro Matos | Argentina | All Boys | 7 |
| César Pereyra | Argentina | Belgrano | 7 | ||
| Santiago Salcedo | Argentinos Juniors | 7 | |||
| align=center rowspan=5 | 5 | Alexis Castro | Argentina | Atlético de Rafaela | 6 |
| Facundo Ferreyra | Argentina | Banfield | 6 | ||
| Darío Gandín | Argentina | Atlético de Rafaela | 6 | ||
| Teófilo Gutiérrez |  Colombia | Racing | 6 | ||
| Martín Rolle | Argentina | Olimpo | 6 | ||
| align=center rowspan=10 | 10 | Mauro Boselli | Argentina | Estudiantes | 5 |
| Darío Cvitanich | Argentina | Boca Juniors | 5 | ||
| Gastón Fernández | Argentina | Estudiantes | 5 | ||
| Guillermo Franco |  Mexico | Vélez Sársfield | 5 | ||
| Esteban Fuertes | Argentina | Colón | 5 | ||
| Federico Higuaín | Argentina | Colón | 5 | ||
| Diego Morales | Argentina | Tigre | 5 | ||
| Mauro Obolo | Argentina | Arsenal | 5 | ||
| Mario Regueiro | Lanús | 5 | |||
| Paulo Rosales | Argentina | Unión | 5 | ||
The 2012 Clausura was the second and final championship of the season. It started on February 10 and ended on June 24, 2012.
| Rank | Name | Club | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=center rowspan=1 | 1 | Carlos Luna | Club Atlético Tigre | 12 |
| align=center rowspan=1 | 2 | Gastón Caprari | San Martín (SJ) | 8 |
| align=center rowspan=5 | 3 | Ernesto Farías | Independiente | 7 |
| Esteban Fuertes | Colón | 7 | ||
| Darío Gandín | Atlético de Rafaela | 7 | ||
| Emanuel Gigliotti | San Lorenzo | 7 | ||
| Mariano Pavone | Lanús | 7 | ||
Source: Soccerway[48]
| width=28 | width=185 | Team | width=50 | width=50 | width=50 | width=50 | width=50 | width=50 | Relegation | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vélez Sársfield | 61 | 82 | 64 | 207 | 114 | ||||||||||
| 2 | Estudiantes (LP) | 71 | 69 | 50 | 190 | 114 | ||||||||||
| 3 | Lanús | 60 | 63 | 55 | 178 | 114 | ||||||||||
| 4 | Boca Juniors | 47 | 53 | 76 | 176 | 114 | ||||||||||
| 5 | Argentinos Juniors | 73 | 54 | 49 | 176 | 114 | ||||||||||
| 6 | Arsenal | 46 | 57 | 62 | 165 | 114 | ||||||||||
| 7 | Belgrano | — | — | 55 | 55 | 38 | ||||||||||
| 8 | Colón | 55 | 47 | 60 | 162 | 114 | ||||||||||
| 9 | Newell's Old Boys | 69 | 42 | 48 | 159 | 114 | ||||||||||
| 10 | Independiente | 68 | 43 | 47 | 158 | 114 | ||||||||||
| 11 | All Boys | — | 51 | 54 | 105 | 76 | ||||||||||
| 12 | Godoy Cruz | 53 | 63 | 38 | 154 | 114 | ||||||||||
| 13 | Unión | — | — | 50 | 50 | 38 | ||||||||||
| 14 | Atlético de Rafaela | — | — | 50 | 50 | 38 | ||||||||||
| 15 | Racing | 46 | 52 | 50 | 148 | 114 | ||||||||||
| 16 | Tigre | 32 | 50 | 63 | 145 | 114 | ||||||||||
| 17 | San Martín (SJ) | — | — | 48 | 48 | 38 | Relegation Playoff Matches | |||||||||
| 18 | San Lorenzo | 52 | 47 | 44 | 143 | 114 | ||||||||||
| 19 | Banfield | 73 | 47 | 22 | 142 | 114 | Primera B Nacional | |||||||||
| 20 | Olimpo | — | 48 | 29 | 77 | 76 |
The 17th and 18th placed teams in the relegation table (San Martín (San Juan) and San Lorenzo, respectively) played the 3rd and 4th-place finishers of the 2011–12 Primera B Nacional season (Instituto and Rosario Central, respectively); the winner of each claiming a spot in the following Primera División season. The Primera División team (Team 1) played the second leg at home with sporty advantage if the aggregate would have been drawn. Both San Lorenzo and San Martín (San Juan) remained in the Primera División.These were the last promotions played between Argentine Primera División and Primera B Nacional teams.
|-!colspan="5"|Relegation/promotion playoff 1|-!colspan="5"|Relegation/promotion playoff 2|-|}
The 2011–12 Primera League table contributes towards qualifying for CONMEBOL tournaments in 2012 and 2013.
International qualification for the 2012 season presented a change from previous ones. Qualification for the first four Copa Libertadores berths comprises the previous season's Clausura champion, this season's Apertura champion, and the top two non-champions in an aggregate table of the aforementioned tournaments). The fifth Copa Libertadores berth was given to the best team in the Copa Sudamericana who has not already qualified otherwise.
Qualification to the Copa Sudamericana was determined through the same aggregate table as the Copa Libertadores. However, the six berths went to the top five teams that have not qualified for the Copa Libertadores and who were not participating in the relegation/promotion playoffs, and the Copa Argentina champion.[50]
The winner of the Clausura 2012 tournament (Arsenal) qualified directly. Other teams will qualify based on their combined points in Clausura 2012 and Inicial 2012.[50]