The government vs the people and a fight for Argentine football

The president vs the president.

In one corner, you have the president of the Argentine FA (AFA), Chiqui Tapia, who will next month be re-elected unopposed to the post he has held since 2017.

In the other, the president of Argentina itself, Javier Milei, whose psychic connection with his dead dog (that he has had cloned several times over) and extreme political views prevailed in an election last year.

First, second and third on Tapia’s to-do list is to continue his fight against Milei for the future of football in the country. Neither president is backing down.

A libertarian populist who believes in unfettered capitalism, Milei was elected last year promising a raft of dramatic, sweeping reforms to fix the country’s ailing economy. Those included a brutal austerity program that has seen pensioners protesting on the streets about their pensions disappearing (and being tear gassed for their troubles), but has had some success in reducing the country’s out-of-control inflation.

One of Milei’s many reforms in a “mega decree” issued days after he became president in December last year was to bypass the AFA rules that only allow clubs to be asociaciones civiles, or fan-owned non-profits. In the current system, fans vote for who they wish to represent them in club elections, and gain access to certain facilities. 

Milei’s decree, and a subsequent one in August, are both trying to force the AFA to allow sociedad anónimas deportivas (SADs) under their statutes. SADs are for-profit corporations.

As head of the AFA, Tapia has fought the country’s president tooth and nail, in the courts and the media, to protect Argentine football’s status quo. 

"We know which is the model of football we want for our institutions: non-profit civil associations," said Tapia last month. 

"If anyone thinks that football is going to be saved with the sporting corporations, that is a total lie.

“Whatever comes, it will find us defending the institutions we cherish and believe in.”

In early September, the courts issued an injunction against Milei’s measures, which had given the AFA a one-year timeline to comply.

The government’s argument is that they’re giving the clubs the choice to be whichever model they wish, not forcing them to become sporting corporations. Milei himself has been a bit less nuanced in his view, slamming the “impoverishment model” and “poor socialism” of Argentine football.

“A question,” he posed on X in July, alongside a picture of the country’s World Cup winning national team. 

“If the AFA is opposed to sporting corporations, why does it allow the [Argentina] starting lineup to come from these companies? 

“Is it because results are important and SADs have the best?”

The clubs have, in the majority, expressed their opposition to Milei’s interventions. With the way politics works within South American football, a lot of that is knowing who butters their bread and keeping Tapia happy as the head of the FA. Life can be made very difficult for clubs who do not fall in line, but many of them simply wish to remain as they are.

Clubs currently make their income from membership dues, TV rights, gameday revenue and (hopefully) player transfers but with a non-profit model it all gets reinvested. Clubs also have teams competing in other sports that benefit from being attached to big community institutions with a top-flight football team. 

Polls show most fans (and club members) are against the introduction of SADs, fearing they will lose their voice in club matters and, worse, lose their soul if bad-faith (or just bad) investors pour in from overseas. 

There are some prominent voices in favour, however. Mauricio Macri, who was president of Boca Juniors before being president of Argentina, is one of those voices. Many suspect he wishes to buy the super-club he once ran. Sergio Aguero is another, with suspicions he would buy his boyhood club Independiente, though he has couched his support by saying that members should decide in a vote. 

Probably the most prominent supporter in football is Juan Sebastian Verón, the former Manchester United, Inter Milan and Chelsea midfielder who went back to his boyhood club Estudiantes to finish his playing career and was then elected as club president in his retirement. 

Veron has been outspoken in his support, posting on social media about the “virtuous circle” of “investment > results > stability > growth”. 

Veron recently hosted Foster Gillett in La Plata, where his plan is for the American to invest over $100m in Estudiantes. Gillett’s father, George, endured a fractious and protest-filled time as Liverpool owner and Foster, who made an aborted bid to buy Lyon in 2022, is the first big-money foreign investor to openly try and buy into an Argentine club. 

Milei has loudly courted foreign investment in the country, most notably from Elon Musk, and is supporting Veron’s attempts but it is still unclear which model Estudiantes will follow if the AFA succeeds in limiting Milei’s interventions. Reports out of La Plata talk of a hybrid model or “third way” to inject the funds into the club. 

Supporters also point to neighbouring Brazil, where SAFs (their SAD equivalent) were introduced a couple of seasons ago. Brazilian clubs have now won the last five Copa Libertadores titles, the South American equivalent of the Champions League, with three of those being all-Brazilian titles. 

“It is probably too soon to say if it has worked, but the signs are very positive,” says Ricardo Fort, our resident expert on sports sponsorships and a football consultant in his native Brazil. 

“In the first two years since the law has changed, there has been a strong influx of investors buying mid-table clubs and injecting a lot of money into the football economy.”

As in Argentina, the move is not mandated and Fort added: “the biggest clubs in Brazil (that have decent finances) will never do it. The first to jump ship were the ones with larger debt.”

John Textor and 777 group were some of the first to buy into Brazil, acquiring Botafogo and Vasco da Gama respectively. Botafogo squandered a 13-point lead to miss out on the title to Palmeiras, with Textor infamously labelling it “fucking corruption.”

Those clubs have attracted most coverage but Bahia and Fortaleza are among the mid-sized clubs considered success stories since changing their ownership structure.

With its incredible football heritage and passionate culture, seen above at last week’s Superclasico between River Plate and Boca Juniors, the Argentine league would no doubt be of interest to foreign investors if the doors were to open. 

But with the AFA kicking hard in resistance and fans leaning towards the status quo, the reality might be that there are years of fighting to come before we have any outcome.