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II Torneo Argentino A
Season	1996–97
Champions	Almirante Brown (A); (1st divisional title); San Martín (M); (1st divisional title)
Promoted	Almirante Brown (A); San Martín (M)
Relegated	Alvarado; CAI; Central Norte; Desamparados; Germinal; Grupo Universitario; San Martín (F); Unión Santiago
	← 1995–96 1997–98 →

The 1996–97 Argentine Torneo Argentino A^[1] was the second season of third division professional football in Argentina. A total of 22 teams competed; the champion was promoted to Primera B Nacional.

Club information

Zone A

Club	City	Stadium
Almirante Brown	Arrecifes	Estadio Municipal
Alvarado	Mar del Plata¹	(None) ¹
Ferrocarril	Concordia	Professor Mariano Amable
Grupo Universitario	Tandil	Municipal General San Martín
Patronato	Paraná	Presbítero Bartolomé Grella
San Martín	Formosa	17 de Octubre

Play their home games at Estadio José María Minella.

Zone B

Club	City	Stadium
Desamparados	San Juan	El Serpentario
Huracán	San Rafael	Pretel Hermanos
Independiente Rivadavia	Mendoza	Bautista Gargantini
Juventud Alianza	Santa Lucía	Bosque del Bajo Grande
San Martín	Mendoza	San Martín

Zone C

Club	City	Stadium
CAI	Comodoro Rivadavia	Estadio Municipal
Cultural Argentino	General Pico	El Volcán
Deportivo Patagones	Carmen de Patagones	Tricolor
General Belgrano	Santa Rosa	Nuevo Rancho Grande
Germinal	Rawson	El Fortín
Villa Mitre	Bahía Blanca	El Fortín

Zone D

Club	City	Stadium
Central Norte	Salta	Dr. Luis Güemes
Concepción	Concepción	Stewart Shipton
Estudiantes	Río Cuarto	Ciudad de Río Cuarto
General Paz Juniors	Córdoba	General Paz Juniors
Unión Santiago	Santiago del Estero	Roberto Molinari

Teams from Argentino B that played the Final Stage

Club	City	Stadium
Ben Hur	Rafaela	Parque Barrio Ilolay
Ex Alumnos Escuela N°185	Oberá	Juan Areco
San Martín	Monte Comán	Ovidio Bernues
Unión	Villa Krause	12 de Octubre

First stage

Zone A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Almirante Brown (A)	10	8	2	0	23	3	+20	26	Second Stage
2	Patronato	10	4	3	3	10	9	+1	15
3	Ferrocarril (C)	10	4	2	4	18	18	0	14
4	Grupo Universitario	10	4	1	5	16	11	+5	13
5	San Martín (F)	10	3	2	5	15	29	−14	11	Relegation Playoffs
6	Alvarado	10	1	2	7	6	18	−12	5	Relegation Playoffs

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Zone B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Huracán (SR)	8	5	1	2	13	10	+3	16	Second Stage
2	Juventud Alianza	8	3	4	1	6	3	+3	13
3	San Martín (M)	8	3	3	2	8	9	−1	12
4	Independiente Rivadavia	8	3	2	3	10	6	+4	11
5	Desamparados	8	0	2	6	8	17	−9	2	Relegation Playoffs

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Zone C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Deportivo Patagones	10	6	1	3	17	18	−1	19	Second Stage
2	General Belgrano	10	6	0	4	18	13	+5	18
3	Cultural Argentino	10	6	0	4	9	8	+1	18
4	Villa Mitre	10	5	2	3	23	14	+9	17
5	Germinal	10	3	2	5	8	12	−4	11	Relegation Playoffs
6	CAI	10	1	1	8	8	18	−10	4	Relegation Playoffs

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Zone D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Estudiantes (RC)	8	3	3	2	14	7	+7	12	Second Stage
2	Concepción FC	8	3	3	2	16	12	+4	12
3	Central Norte	8	3	2	3	12	18	−6	11
4	General Paz Juniors	8	3	1	4	15	16	−1	10
5	Unión Santiago	8	3	1	4	12	16	−4	10	Relegation Playoffs

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Second stage

Championship Stage

Zone A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Villa Mitre	14	9	4	1	27	17	+10	31	Third Stage
2	Almirante Brown (A)	14	8	3	3	22	8	+14	27	Third Stage
3	Cultural Argentino	14	6	3	5	23	19	+4	21
4	Ferrocarril (C)	14	5	5	4	28	24	+4	20
5	Patronato	14	4	5	5	15	16	−1	17
6	Deportivo Patagones	14	4	4	6	17	24	−7	16
7	General Belgrano	14	4	2	8	15	27	−12	14
8	Grupo Universitario	14	1	4	9	14	26	−12	7	Torneo Argentino B

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Zone B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Huracán (SR)	14	9	0	5	17	15	+2	27	Third Stage
2	San Martín (M)	14	7	5	2	16	8	+8	26
3	Independiente Rivadavia	14	7	2	5	20	16	+4	23
4	Concepción FC	14	5	2	7	22	20	+2	17
5	Estudiantes (RC)	14	4	5	5	23	24	−1	17
6	General Paz Juniors	14	4	4	6	19	24	−5	16
7	Juventud Alianza	14	4	3	7	21	23	−2	15
8	Central Norte	14	2	7	5	10	18	−8	13	Torneo Argentino B

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Relegation Playoffs

First stage

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Relegation/promotion playoff 1
Germinal	2–1	CAI	1–1	1–0
Relegation/promotion playoff 2
Alvarado	3–2	Desamparados	2–1	1–1
Relegation/promotion playoff 3
Unión Santiago	–	San Martín (F)	–	–

CAI is relegated to 1997–98 Torneo Argentino B and Germinal advances to Second Stage by winning the playoff.
Desamparados is relegated to 1997–98 Torneo Argentino B and Alvarado advances to Second Stage by winning the playoff.
San Martín (F) withdrew and is relegated to 1997–98 Torneo Argentino B and Unión Santiago advances to Second Stage by winning the playoff.

Second stage

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Germinal	4	2	1	1	4	6	−2	7	Third Stage
2	Unión Santiago	4	1	1	2	6	1	+5	1^[a]	Torneo Argentino B
3	Alvarado	4	0	2	2	4	7	−3	2	Torneo Argentino B

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

^ 3 points deducted

Third stage

Championship Stage

Zone A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Almirante Brown (A)	8	7	1	0	21	4	+17	22	Primera B Nacional
2	Villa Mitre	8	6	0	2	16	8	+8	18
3	Ben Hur	8	4	0	4	12	8	+4	12
4	Germinal	8	1	1	6	8	17	−9	4	Torneo Argentino B
5	Ex Alumnos Escuela N°185	8	1	0	7	6	26	−20	3

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Zone B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion
1	San Martín (M)	8	5	2	1	13	7	+6	17	Primera B Nacional
2	Independiente Rivadavia	8	5	1	2	16	7	+9	16
3	Unión (VK)	8	2	3	3	6	11	−5	9
4	Huracán (SR)	8	2	1	5	7	9	−2	7
5	San Martín (MC)	8	2	1	5	6	14	−8	7