Fixture List For 2009 Apertura Released

By: Christian | July 24th, 2009

The complete schedule for the upcoming Apertura campaign was released this week, with the season set to kickoff the August 14th weekend.

After a disappointing Clausura, River Plate will be looking to reverse their fortunes and attempt to win their first Apertura since 1999 (they came within a point of winning it in 2001). La banda will also compete in the Copa Sudamericana.

River will face Banfield in the opening fixture, and debut at home against recently promoted Chacarita Juniors in week 2. The other promoted team, Atlético Tucumán, will visit week 14. This season’s Superclásico will fall on October 18th, returning to the Monumental. The actual times and dates for all fixtures have yet to be announced, though weeks 4,9, and 11 will each fall on a Wednesday, and the Superclásico, as usual, will be on Sunday.

Equally, and perhaps more important than the league will be qualifying for next year’s Copa Libertadores. Estudiantes and Vélez Sársfield have already secured two of the 6 designated berths for Argentina by winning the current Libertadores and Clausura titles, respectively. The winner of the upcoming Apertura will join the top three teams with the best combined averages over the ‘09 Clausura and Apertura seasons. With River finishing a disappointing 8th in the previous campaign, short of outright winning the league, they must finish as high in the table as possible and pray for things go their way in the table.

Apertura 2009 Fixture List

1) Banfield vs. River 08/14-16
2) River vs Chacarita 08/21-23
3) Central vs River 08/28-30
4) River vs Colon 09/2
5) Arsenal vs River 09/11-13
6) River vs Gimnasia 09/18-20
7) San Lorenzo vs River 09/25-27
River vs Independiente 10/2-4
9) Huracan vs River 10/7
10) River vs boca 10/18
11) Argentinos vs River 10/28
13) Newell´s vs River 10/30-11/1
14) River vs Atlético Tucumán 11/6-8
15) Godoy Cruz vs River 11/13-15
16) River vs Estudiantes 11/21-23
17) Vélez vs River 11/27-29
18) River vs Racing 11/4-6
19) Tigre vs River. 11/11-13