Martin Voogd
Daniel Avellaneda
02/26/2020 - 15:34
- Clarín.com
- sports
Meeting in Cardales. The menu had roast and came from the best. For dessert there was flan with dulce de leche and apple pie. The trick was even played at the house in the North of Greater Buenos Aires. In what could have been a meeting of friends or a reunion of the secondary school, the future of Argentine football was finished.
The main thing: the Super League will cease to exist and the Professional Club League (LPC) will be born . The pieces were finished so that Claudio "Chiqui" Tapia, the host of the meeting that started at 20.30 and continued until dawn, was re-elected as president of the AFA. The positions of the next Executive Committee were distributed and the date of an election that will have a unique list and that will serve to make Daniel Angelici, who clung to his chair in the main house of the ball in spite of not being in Boca, be expedited. displaced
Chiqui Tapia, the host of the meeting held in Cardales, in the north of Greater Buenos Aires. (Photo: Juano Tesone).
There was no talk of the abolition of averages, but the possibility of only two declines at the end of this season began to be felt . That is the only point in discord, as some wish to continue with the initial plan to reach the 22 teams. Although the plates and cups were emptied, the table was served so that from the second half of 2020 the order changes in Argentine football , although basically not much will change.
Nicolás Russo, Jorge Ameal, Claudio Tapia and Marcelo Tinelli got together last month. (Photo: Clarín Archive).
The photo went viral on Tuesday night while the ball was spinning in matches of the Copa Libertadores, the Copa Sudamericana and the Copa Argentina. Diego Maradona was reunited with Guillermo Coppola on the Quilmes court and the political thread made sparks at the other end of the Conurbano. The image was not casual. Chiqui Tapia in the header. To his right Jorge Amor Ameal, president of Boca. On his left, Marcelo Tinelli, strong man of San Lorenzo. Víctor Blanco appeared next to Ameal. Next to Tinelli, Hugo Moyano was smiling. In addition, Nicolás Russo (Lanús), Lucía Barbuto and Eduardo Spinosa (Banfield), Sergio Rapisarda (Vélez), Pascual Caiella (Students), Adrián Pérez (Argentinos), Cristian D'Amico (Newell's), Gabriel Pellegrino sat at the table (Gymnastics) and Ricardo Carloni (Rosario Central). Tapia had as a right hand Marcelo Achile, president of Defensores de Belgrano and who usually organizes the leadership troop in the promotion categories. There was also Pablo Toviggino, executive secretary of the AFA presidency and the man who brings together the Interior clubs.
Jorge Amor Ameal, a key man in the new structure. (Photo: Reuters / Mariana Greif).
The photo will be repeated in March 2021 . If there are no surprises, these same protagonists will be the members of the next Executive Committee of the AFA. There may be slight changes. Tinelli appears as the next president of the Professional Club League, the structure that will replace the Super League but will operate under the shelter and control of the house on 1366 Viamonte Street. Spinosa, former president of Banfield, served as one of the great articulators for Tapia and Tinelli to file old rough edges and work together for this new order that is coming. And it will be, in his role as CEO, who will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the Professional League. The two men of the group's TV, Tinelli and Mario Pergolini, will be the ones in charge of renegotiating the contracts with those who have the transmission rights in Argentina and who will take the post in the tender of the rights for the outside.
D'onofrio and Tapia met this Wednesday morning. Will River occupy a vice presidency in the new structure of the AFA? (Photo: Marcelo Carroll).
The big absent in the picture is River. In Cardales there was Rodolfo D'Onofrio and none of its slopes. However, this Wednesday morning, the millionaire mandamás held a secret meeting with the president of the AFA . It did not transcend the content of the talk, but Tapia's idea is to add D'Onofrio with whom the relationship has improved substantially in recent times. The link was broken when the man from Barracas Central, with Angelici as an ally, took the reins of the parent company of the ball and set aside the Nunez club in the assembly of the Executive Committee. The changes of political airs, without Mauricio Macri in the government and without Angelici in Boca, helped the bond heal.
If River, who was always in favor of supporting the management of the Super League, decides to enter, a vice president expects it . It is not clear if the one who will take the step to the side will be Tinelli, who will remain, as said, with the presidency of the LPC or if the one who will have the courtesy will be Achile, the representative of the Ascension clubs.
For all this to happen, a series of formal steps must be taken. On March 10, in an Extraordinary Assembly, it will be resolved to dissolve the Super League and make the call to advance the AFA elections. For the first, it will not take more than the members of the Executive Committee to vote by show of hands. For the latter there will not be too many inconveniences either. The idea is to move as quickly as possible beyond the advancement of elections will not lead to the immediate change of authorities. But it will serve to change the air.
Can the Super League act judicially to prevent this from happening? The document that accompanies this note makes it clear that no. The leaders agree that the structure that Mariano Elizondo manages did not meet the silver objectives when it was decided, in mid-2016, to delegate the exploitation and commercialization rights of the First, Reserve and Lower Divisions tournaments. "There have been difficulties and disagreements between both institutions that at this point are irreversible and impede the proper functioning of the First Division of Argentine football." That is one of the many arguments outlined and that lead to the conclusion that there will be total absence of civil liability of the AFA when extinguishing the Super League. The creation of the organism was a political decision and a political decision will be the one that ends the organism.
What does the government of Alberto Fernández think about it? "In this the Government does not get involved , it is a decision of the football leaders. But we follow it carefully and surely these days we will meet to know what the plan is," a source from the Casa Rosada told Clarín. It was an open secret that the President did not welcome the double command between AFA and Super League . In addition, from the Front of All it was always believed, without too many foundations, that the Super League was, in principle, the instrument for clubs to become public limited companies, in addition to being a place that was in tune with Macri's sports policies and Angelici.
A fact nothing less. He was not at the table, but there was an important political actor at the Cardales table who was aware of everything that happened at the meeting. It was Sergio Tomás Massa, president of the Chamber of Deputies, who spoke long and hard with many of the protagonists. Tigre's strong man supports the move.
What will the First Division tournament be like? There is the main point of discussion between the future Executive Committee. One party wants the tournament to continue to have 24 teams and the other intends to continue with the plan to reach 22. If the status quo is maintained, the political decision will have to be made to change the rules of the current tournament and move on from three to two descents at the end of the season - they are decided at the end of the regular phase of the Super League Cup. That would make a lot of noise , but it wouldn't be flashy because the AFA, at the beginning of the season, modified the regulations of the First National. The averages were not discussed, but it was established that the two annual tournaments will follow. The difficulty will be how to have two 23-date championships played in a calendar year. That will be a topic that will be discussed at the next meetings.
The concrete thing is that a dinner in Cardales was enough for Argentine football to prepare the ground to take another huge turn. It will be necessary to see if the alliances are maintained and if the project is not shipwrecked. It should not be forgotten that just over five years ago, with many of the leaders who offered the best wine last night, there was an election that ended 38 to 38 when there were only 75 voters. To be continue...
JCh
