As Lionel Messi and his Argentina teammates wrap up another dream year with winning back-to-back Copa America titles and heading into 2026 World Cup qualification, President Javier Milei has declared war on the leader of the Argentine Football Association (AFA) for defying a government decree allowing clubs to become sports limited companies.
The government threatened to intervene in the AFA (the abbreviation of the federation) due to alleged irregularities after the re-election of Claudio Tapia for a third term. In response, Tapia said clubs will continue to be owned by their members and not private shareholders.
Amid this conflict, FIFA and CONMEBOL have warned that any government interference in the management of the AFA would result in disaffiliation of the entity and the exclusion of its teams from all competitions.
Milei, an extreme liberal economist advocating a reduction in state control in favor of free market principles, signed a decree last December allowing football clubs organized as civil associations to transform into joint stock companies. The former do not pursue commercial profit, while the latter seek to generate profits.
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The government also gave a deadline of one year from August for sports associations, federations and confederations to modify their statutes and accept this new organizational structure.
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The new model is optional, and clubs wishing to transform into sports limited companies will need a two-thirds majority of the votes of members present at an extraordinary meeting.
The president, who in his youth was a goalkeeper in the youth divisions of San Lorenzo and Chacarita but never started in the first division, said it was time to end “socialist populism in football” and assured that this new scheme will attract investments amounting to 3 billion dollars.
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The AFA maintains that its statutes prohibit the affiliation and participation in its tournaments of sports limited companies. At the same time, she said that she is not required to comply with the presidential decree, because it is suspended by a court decision due to a lawsuit initiated by the association itself. The government has appealed this judgment, and the final decision will be made by the Supreme Court.
“Clubs must fulfill the role they play as civil associations,” Tapia said a few days ago. “I am convinced that this is their essence. The majority of clubs have established statutes which do not allow changes to the status of civil association.”
If a club chooses to become a limited company, the AFA has warned it will be disaffiliated.
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Argentina, three-time world champions, has distinguished itself as an inexhaustible source of talent, from Alfredo Di Stéfano, Mario Kempes, Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, more recently Julián Álvarez, Enzo Fernández and Alexis Mac Allister.
Despite success in youth development, most clubs are forced to part with their best players at increasingly younger ages to support not only their professional teams, but also other sporting and social activities which cannot not finance themselves.
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“In Argentina we are 40 years behind in football,” said Guillermo Toffoni, a FIFA official and one of the experts on sports joint stock companies advising Milei’s government. “Matches can be played any day, at any time, tournament formats change, and referee corruption persists. This combination results in TV networks not paying what they should, generating a vicious and unvirtuous cycle.”
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Argentine football receives less than $100 million a year from television rights, well below the $8 billion distributed among clubs in the English Premier League.
According to Toffoni, with real investment from private capital, “clubs can keep their stars for up to 24, 25 years, and sell them to the European market when it is advantageous, and not out of necessity.”
Estudiantes La Plata and Talleres de Córdoba are the only clubs to have publicly expressed support for the entry of private capital into football.
“I am pragmatic; I understand that football is a business. We are excluded from this business; Argentina and Argentine football are excluded from it,” said Estudiantes president and former footballer Juan Sebastián Verón. “Let us not be afraid of growth, nor of what is new; it can take us to significant places in the future.”
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The former Argentina national team, Manchester United and Lazio midfielder recently signed a pre-deal with American tycoon Foster Gillett, which will make an initial investment of $150 million in professional football.
Additionally, the American investor, whose father owned Liverpool FC, will benefit from future player sales, commercial exploitation of the stadium name and profits from participation in international tournaments, among other sources of revenue. income.
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The agreement must be ratified by the members of “Pincha” during an extraordinary assembly.
Amid the conflict over sports limited companies, Tapia chose to bring forward the elections for the new AFA authorities by a year. As the sole candidate, he was re-elected for a third term at an assembly held on October 17.
Thus, Tapia secured his position until 2028, a year after Milei’s term ends.
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“They look like Venezuela under (President Nicolás) Maduro, who brought Christmas early,” responded Milei, who days later signed a decree stripping the AFA of social benefits.
Additionally, the General Inspectorate of Justice (IGJ), an agency under the Ministry of Justice responsible for regulating civil associations, challenged Tapia’s re-election and threatened to intervene in the AFA.
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However, a civil appeals court upheld the October vote.
Both entities are closely monitoring the dispute between the AFA and the far-right president. In official notes, they said only the local federation can establish the statutory framework for clubs and warned that state interference could lead to disaffiliation.
“The AFA, and only the AFA, is, in light of the legal framework of FIFA, the sole entity competent to decide, through its legitimate associative governance bodies, aspects relating to the legal nature of the clubs which it are affiliated,” FIFA clarified regarding Milei’s decree.
Its president, Gianni Infantino, also congratulated Tapia on his re-election and thanked him for “all his efforts, his work and his significant contribution to the development of our sport.”
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