Matías Bustos Milla
01/21/2021 13:05
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 01/21/2021 7:19 PM
The end of the 2020 season and the imminent start of the new year of competition once again put the discussion on the formats of the tournaments, the averages, the calendar and also the distribution of money for the two football giants at the center of the scene. Argentinian.
To that end, Rodolfo D'Onofrio and Jorge Ameal were once again united in the search for a common good, aware that River and Boca motor a large part of local and international consumption.
As it happened at the beginning of last year - beyond virtual meetings and constant phone calls - the presidents of both clubs met this Thursday at noon in the Estilo Campo restaurant in Puerto Madero.
It was a private meeting, but they were not alone.
They shared the table with people linked to the political world and with various concerns about the ball but also the football industry devalued by the pandemic.
Lunch between Ameal and D´Onofrio, with a political presence.
After the meeting, both sent a message of concern about the health crisis and agreed that the return of the public to the stadiums is "complex but necessary."
"We want people to return to the stadiums, for us to have a more normal life in football and that makes the economy of our clubs", said Ameal.
And in the same vein was D'Onofrio, who highlighted: "I think that from Boca and River we can build awareness of the care in this fight that we are giving with the Argentines. For that we ask Pepe Albistur -present in the meeting-, what this idea can be so that we can reach young people, everyone. We play this game together. The courts will be full when we are all vaccinated, with a life as we used to have. It is a campaign to raise awareness , care and encourage the idea of vaccination, of doing so many things in family and social life ".
But the Covid-19 crisis was not the only topic that was discussed.
There was so much more.
Other concerns that unite Boca and River have to do with the calendar, with approximately 40 games ahead in 2021 (the tournaments have not yet been approved) while both teams, as happened in recent years, also play the Copa Libertadores.
Will there be any complaint or presentation in the Professional League in the next few days?
"We still do not have a draft, we want to know well what type of tournaments will be played," they warned while
advocating the return of relegation and long tournaments with fewer teams
.
"Boca and River are the two locomotives of football. It would be silly not to realize it. They are the ones that generate the greatest expectation. Both River and Boca can help a different path. We do not agree that there are no declines. That goes down. It is complex a 28-team tournament, complicated. There is a majority who believe that it is convenient. We want football to grow more.
That we have attractive tournaments and that it is not a death to descend
. If it touches you, then you go up again and again. And if not Let's have a 70-team championship and we are all happy.
No one will go to the field and it will be a disaster,
"said D'Onofrio.
And Ameal completed: "We want long championships with descents. If this did not happen, we have to go to a project that is better.
We want serious football
. When we have a draft of the new tournament we will hold a press conference and say what we think . We have to go to a successful project. We want serious football. We have to order it. It is not whether or not there are classics. "
The economic part was not left aside.
In River and Boca, the giants that receive the most sponsor money from the country, they are also in difficulties due to the purchase and sale of foreign currency, a situation that complicates the payment of fees, debts and even being able to incorporate renowned footballers.
"In order to have a more attractive Argentine football, in which Boca and River are always protagonists, we need facilities to be able to retain the players," they confided to
Clarín
from both leaders.
The account is simple: they receive dollars that they must pesify in 72 hours at the official exchange rate, but to buy foreign currency they have the same restrictions as anyone.
And thus, contracts or debts incurred abroad are increasingly complex.
The relationship with the League also had short circuits in the last time.
Just as Tinelli always seemed an ally of D'Onofrio in his fight against Tapia and Angelici, in recent months the head of River distanced himself from the man who also presides over San Lorenzo.
In the case of Ameal, the talks are more frequent and even in San Juan they shared the award to Boca.
Of course: D'Onofrio (at the end of the year he will leave the presidency of the Núñez club) and Ameal also go hand in hand in the complaint before the Professional League.
The Boca-River tandem so far works much better than in the times of Angelici, although it is true that for now they have not emerged victorious from the small disputes they had in AFA, beyond the moment when they stood hands to prevent it from being broke the contract with one of the companies that has the TV rights.
Something else: both are already positioned so that in the new mandate of Claudio Chiqui Tapia they occupy the vice presidencies and both Boca and River once again have more weight in the kitchen of decisions.
Perhaps a new space of power to take football in the direction they want, where income can be multiplied.
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