O Argentine football faces a battle with Javier Milei’s government more than two years ago. What began with ideological debates ended up becoming a case of justice and, this week, the crisis gained a new chapter, which directly affected the country’s main championship this season.
The Argentine Football Association (AFA) decided suspend the 9th round of the Apertura Tournament, of the Professional Football League (LPF), scheduled to take place between March 5th and 8th, in a kind of protest against a investigation of the Argentine Federal Revenue Service (Arca) regarding an alleged illegal withholding of social security contributions and other taxes estimated at more than 19.3 billion pesos (around R$70 million) between 2024 and 2025. AFA denies any irregularities and states that it has no tax debts.
In the context of the ongoing judicial investigation, judge Diego Amarante, from the Criminal and Economic Court, summoned the entity’s president, Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia, and other members of the board to give testimony between March 5th and 9th.
On January 22, Arca filed another complaint regarding transfers of resources without corresponding supporting documentation, which could constitute a scheme to hide the true destination of the money and circumvent current tax control mechanisms.
But this entire conflict, which escalated to the judicial sphere, began in the first months of Javier Milei’s administration.
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Tensions between the Argentine government and the AFA have been increasing for more than a year due to the Milei government’s intention to implement a model of publicly traded sports companies in the country’s football sector, a system known as Sociedade Anônima do Futebol (SAF), as is already the case in Brazil. Currently, clubs are considered non-profit associations.
The proposal was categorically rejected by the highest Argentine football entity and by the majority of sports teams, on the grounds that there would be a risk in the management of national football.
In December 2023, when he took over the Casa Rosada, Milei signed a “decree” of Necessity and Urgency (DNU) that aimed to deregulate the economy. One of the changes established the Corporation Law, allowing clubs to become companies with investors and even a SAF.
As a result, the sector’s social security contributions would increase from 7.5% to 13.06%, with an additional 5.56% for 12 months. This meant that the tax rate on club revenues in the following year would be 18.62%. The measure was met with strong protests from the entities responsible for managing clubs in the country.
The AFA, the Professional League and some well-known teams quickly mobilized to protest the presidential measure. In September of the following year, the Argentine court suspended sections of Milei’s decree, including the part that would allow the teams to transform into SAF.
In response, the following month, the government announced the end of tax benefits, a measure that reduced clubs’ social security contributions and increased the entities’ operating costs.
In December, the government increased its confrontational rhetoric and investigations resulted in police searches of the AFA headquarters and clubs on suspicion of money laundering involving sponsors. The entity protested, saying that the actions had “political purposes” and decided to suspend all national championships, both professional and grassroots.
The new chapter of the crisis in Argentine football takes on special weight as it is the year of the World Cup, which could generate negative results for Argentina’s performance in the world’s main championship.
