The football war in Argentina: Javier Milei faces clubs and the AFA over the arrival of private capital

In the message, the president listed the teams of the 11 starting players of the national team, noting that all of these clubs had private capital. “Could it be that results are important and SADs have the best? No more poor socialism in football,” he said on the eve of the final against Colombia.

After winning the continental tournament, the government hastened the regulation that enables SADs in Argentine football. According to the resolution, as of November 1, clubs that so decide will be able to acquire this legal status.

Unlike other countries, the statute of the Argentine Football Association (AFA) only allows clubs that are non-profit civil associations to participate in official competitions. After the publication of the new regulation, the response was not long in coming.

The AFA interrupted the celebrations for the second American championship and called up its troops. On July 19, the governing body of local soccer issued a statement in which it ruled out the implementation of the SAD and defended the inalterability of its statute. The text was signed by the majority of clubs, except Talleres de Córdoba and Estudiantes de La Plata, who welcome the arrival of external investors.

This week, the Government made the regulations official and added fuel to the fire. The brand new decree 730/2024 establishes that the AFA has one year to include SADs in its statutes, and that it will not be able to prohibit participation in tournaments to those institutions that adopt this new legal form.

When it comes to football, many nerves are touched in Argentina and, therefore, the discussion goes far beyond the walls of the AFA and the Casa Rosada.

Sergio Smietnansky, representative of the Banfield club in the Coordinadora DD. HH. del Fútbol Argentino, considers Milei’s premise to be fallacious, since it omits the fact that the selected players were trained in clubs that are civil associations. “Everything that reaches the first division has a prelude. That prelude is years and years of clubs training kids in the lower divisions,” he says.

In Argentine clubs, training involves support that goes beyond the strictly sporting aspect. Mariano Elizondo, director of the Sports Studies Centre at the Universidad Austral, points out that most of these institutions have schools and carry out social support tasks in the affected neighbourhoods, which can range from nutritional and psychological talks to recreational activities for retirees. “In addition, each club has other sports disciplines. So, in Argentina, it is not about football clubs, but about clubs with football,” he describes.

The continuity of this social function is one of the biggest doubts that arise in the event of the arrival of the SADs. “It would depend on the conditions negotiated by each club, but all these functions could be left aside, because no investor will want to buy a club to keep taekwondo or manage talks,” says Elizondo.

Business in dispute

Those who defend the arrival of private capital see in the SADs the possibility of cleaning up the economy of the clubs and, therefore, putting together better teams. “The opportunities for investment and a competitive market are improved. Thirty years ago, when the country was better, the players stayed because they earned well. Today we cannot retain them because the clubs do not have money,” says Jeremías Rucci, Project Manager of Fundación Bases.

The government believes that SADs would improve levels of financial transparency and resource management. In recent times, there have been many institutions that have gone through financial difficulties. In 2023, Independiente launched a public collection to settle its debts. At the beginning of the year, FIFA included this club along with four others (San Lorenzo, Banfield, Unión and Central Córdoba) on its list of debtors.

“Here you will know where the money is spent and where it is not. The AFA will no longer be able to make decisions about certain clubs, because it will be in the hands of private capital,” says Rucci, who believes that the Argentine president’s interest in economic openness in football is part of his libertarian agenda.

The pro-government deputy Juliana Santillán points directly at Claudio ‘Chiqui’ Tapia, president of the AFA, stating that she is opposed to SADs because in the football business “there is scam, fraud and corruption.”

Former President Mauricio Macri, a man linked to football with a past as a manager at Boca Juniors, has also spoken out on the issue. “It makes no sense to resist the arrival of the SADs. What are they afraid of?” he posted on his X account last Wednesday.

For Ariel Scher, a sports journalist and writer, going to the extreme of economic dependence on third parties would also entail risks. “The big operators are there to do business. If after a while these investors find a better deal, they will move away, leaving the club in a state of abandonment,” he says.

The journalist recalls that this is not the first time that this discussion has taken place in the country. During the Menem administration (in the 1990s) and, more recently, during Macri’s mandate in 2016, there were attempts at privatization. In both cases, the project was cut short in the face of strong opposition from the clubs. Scher believes that this resistance has an emotional charge from members and fans. “Clubs in Argentina, due to their history and significance, are a space of social relevance for many people,” he describes.