BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA — Argentina produces some of the best football players on the planet and has three World Cup titles to prove it.
Off the field, though, a major power struggle is transpiring between Argentina President Javier Milei and Argentine Football Association president Claudio Tapia.
Tapia opposes Milei's effort to enable football clubs to become sports limited companies, inspired by the model of the English Premier League. He wants clubs to continue to belong to members — not to private shareholders.
The government threatened to intervene in AFA due to alleged irregularities in Tapia's reelection to a third term.
Amid this struggle, FIFA and CONMEBOL warned that any government interference in the management of AFA will result in its disaffiliation, and its teams will be marginalized from all competitions.
What did Milei's decree say?
Milei, a libertarian economist who has pushed economic deregulation, signed a decree last December enabling football clubs organized as civil associations to transform into public limited companies. The former do not pursue a commercial purpose, while PLCs seek profit.
The government also gave sports associations, federations and confederations a period of one year from August to modify their statutes and accept this new form of organization.
The new model is optional and clubs that want to transform into sports corporations will require the vote of two-thirds of their members present at an extraordinary assembly.
Milei said that the time has come to end "poor socialism” in football and predicted a windfall of investment.
What does the federation say?
AFA says its statutes prohibit the affiliation and participation in its tournaments of sports corporations. It won a court order blocking the decree. That ruling was appealed by the government and the Supreme Court will have the last word.
"The clubs need to fulfill the function they fulfill as the civil associations that they are," Tapia said. "I am convinced that that is its essence. Most clubs have an established statute that civil associations are not to be changed."
If a club decides to become a public limited company, it will be disaffiliated, AFA warned.
An imperfect model?
Argentina is a renowned producer of football talent — Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona start the list.
Despite the success developing young players, most clubs are forced to let them go earlier to be able to financially sustain not only their professional team, but also other sports and social activities in the club.
In Argentine football “we are 40 years behind," said Guillermo Tofoni, a FIFA agent who is also an adviser in Milei's government. "It is played any day, at any time, the tournaments (formats) change, the corruption of the referees. All this combination means that the television networks do not pay what they deserve, and a vicious and non-virtuous circle is generated."
Argentine football receives less than $100 million a year for television rights, far below the billions of dollars shared by English Premier League clubs.
According to Tofoni, with genuine private capital investment "clubs can keep their players until they are 24, 25 years old, and sell them to the European market when it is convenient, not because they need to."
Are clubs willing to try it?
So far, Estudiantes La Plata and Talleres de Córdoba are the only clubs publicly in favor of allowing private capital to enter football.
"I am pragmatic, I understand that soccer is a business. They leave us out of business, Argentina, Argentine football is out of business," Estudiantes president Juan Sebastián Verón said. "Let us not be afraid of growth, of the new, which can take us to a very important place in the future."
The former Argentina midfielder recently signed a pre-agreement with the American businessman Foster Gillett, who will invest $150 million in the club.
In turn, the American investor will benefit from future sales of players, the commercial exploitation of the stadium's name and profits from competing in international tournaments. The agreement must be endorsed by the members of "Pincha" in an extraordinary assembly.
Tapia's reelection bad news for Milei?
Amid the dispute, Tapia called an election of new AFA authorities a year early. As the only candidate, Tapia was reelected to a third term on October 17, thus ensuring he would continue in office until 2028 — a year after the end of Milei's term.
"It looks like Venezuela with (President Nicolás) Maduro celebrated Christmas earlier," said Milei, who a few days later signed a decree that took away social security benefits from AFA.
In turn, the General Inspection of Justice, a body dependent on the Ministry of Justice and in charge of regulating civil associations, challenged Tapia's reelection and threatened to intervene in the AFA.
However, a civil appeals court upheld the October vote.
What does FIFA and CONMEBOL say?
Both entities are closely following the dispute. In official notes, they indicated that only the local federation can set the statutory framework of the clubs and warned that state interference is a cause for disaffiliation.
"The AFA, and only the AFA, is, in view of the legal framework of FIFA, the only entity competent to decide, through its legitimate associative governing bodies, aspects relating to the legal nature of the clubs affiliated to the same," FIFA said.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino also congratulated Tapia on his reelection and thanked him for "all his efforts, work and important contribution to the development of our sport."
