GEBA Stun Ciudad in the Clásico as Mitre Survive on Sporting Advantage

The men’s Metropolitano playoffs finally got going on Sunday, and both quarter-finals delivered exactly what this stage is for.

GEBA won the clásico. Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires finished fourth in the regular season, GEBA fifth, and there was nothing between them all year. GEBA won it 2-1 at Parque Olímpico, knocking out the higher seed and booking a semifinal against Banco Provincia next Sunday.

The other tie was even tighter. Mitre, third, drew 2-2 with Ducilo, sixth. No winner, no shootout, no extra time. Mitre go through on sporting advantage, the rule that hands the tie to the team that finished higher in the regular season. It’s the same rule that sent Italiano through in the women’s quarter-finals last weekend, after their 2-2 draw with the holders San Fernando. Ducilo will feel hard done by. That’s the deal with this format, though. You finish sixth, you have to win outright. A draw isn’t enough.

So the semifinals, on Sunday 15 November, are San Fernando against Mitre and Banco Provincia against GEBA. San Fernando are the champions, chasing a double after winning both the men’s and women’s titles in 2025, and they’ll be favourites. But GEBA have just beaten Ciudad in a clásico, and Mitre have already survived a knockout game. Neither semifinal is a formality.

The final is on Saturday 21 November, also at Parque Olímpico, where every playoff game is being played. The women’s semifinals are this Saturday, 14 November: Lomas against GEBA and Santa Bárbara against Italiano.

For our money, the GEBA result is the bigger story. Beating Ciudad, in a clásico, in a quarter-final, is the kind of win that changes a season. GEBA now get Banco Provincia with nothing to lose. And San Fernando against Mitre is a proper semifinal: the champions against a side that knows how to survive. This is the best week of the Buenos Aires season, and it hasn’t disappointed yet.