BUENOS AIRES.- In a new chapter of the dispute between the far-right president Javier Milei with the leader of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), Claudio Tapia, by the most popular sports organization in the South American country, the Ministry of Justice suspended on Tuesday the elections in which the leader intended to be re-elected.
The General Inspection of Justice (IGJ), a body dependent on the justice portfolio in charge of supervising commercial companies and civil entities, declared “the irregularity and ineffectiveness” of the call for an ordinary general assembly of the AFA next Thursday.
He argued that the AFA brought forward the elections a year ahead of schedule, shortening the current mandates “in violation of the law and its own statutes.” The organization also questioned that the aforementioned assembly intended to extend the duration of the directors’ mandates from four to five years, which is against the sports law.
Tapia, at the head of AFA since 2017, aspires to a third term. He is the only candidate.
In the same assembly, a reform of the tournaments and the elimination of relegations in the current season was also planned.
“No one is above the law,” the Ministry of Justice said in a statement. “AFA’s decisions must strictly comply with the law.”
AFA did not officially rule on the suspension of the elections.
The IGJ’s ruling has as its background the struggle that the government maintains with the AFA over a presidential decree that sports corporations implemented in Argentinaa mechanism that enables the entry of local and international capital to invest in this sport.
AFA position
AFA rejects this measure and defends the validity of the current model of clubs as non-profit civil associations. Through a judicial presentation, the entity managed to get the court to provisionally suspend the decree until higher courts define whether or not it is constitutional.
The entity also warned that, if the Milei government persists in its idea of intervening in football, Argentina risks being disaffiliated from FIFA and CONMEBOL.