Argentina Shuts Down Football To Shield Its Boss

(MENAFN- The Rio Times) Key Points - Argentina's football association unanimously suspended all competitions from March 5 to 8 - the first non-pandemic shutdown in decades - after its president and treasurer were summoned to testify in a tax fraud probe. - The tax agency ARCA accuses the AFA of withholding 19.3 billion pesos ($14 million) in income tax and social security contributions between March 2024 and September 2025 without depositing them to the state. - Behind the legal battle lies a deeper war: President Milei wants to open Argentine clubs to private capital through sports corporations, a model the AFA and its clubs have repeatedly blocked in court. A Weekend Without the Beautiful Game

For the first time since the pandemic emptied stadiums in 2020, Argentina will pass an entire weekend without football. The Argentine Football Association, the AFA, announced Monday that all competitions - from the top-flight Apertura tournament to youth leagues - will be suspended from March 5 to 8, wiping the ninth matchday off the calendar.

The dates are no coincidence. AFA president Claudio "Chiqui" Tapia and treasurer Pablo Toviggino are scheduled to appear before a criminal court on March 5 and 6, respectively, to face questioning in a tax fraud investigation brought by ARCA, the federal revenue agency. Three other senior officials - including former Racing Club president Víctor Blanco - must testify the following week.

The Case Against the AFA

ARCA filed its complaint in December 2025, alleging the AFA withheld income tax and social security deductions from club employees totaling 19.3 billion pesos ($14 million) over 19 consecutive months but never deposited the funds. The agency argues the AFA had the money - pointing to bank records showing billions in credits and multiple fixed-term deposits in pesos and dollars - and chose not to pay.

The AFA insists it owes nothing enforceable, claiming all obligations were paid voluntarily before their due dates. Its lawyers sought dismissal, arguing government resolutions had suspended tax collection from nonprofits. Both the prosecutor and ARCA asked the court to reject the request. A separate money-laundering investigation, which triggered raids on AFA headquarters and several first-division clubs in December, remains open.

Football vs. the Free Market

Club presidents framed the shutdown as institutional self-defense. Vélez Sarsfield's Fabián Berlanga, speaking after Monday's executive committee meeting, called it a government war on football. Even Juan Sebastián Verón, the Estudiantes president who has been among Tapia's sharpest critics, fell in line. Tapia rallied support with a three-word social media post that doubled as a warning: "AFA somos todos" - "We are all the AFA."

The deeper conflict predates the tax probe. Since taking office in late 2023, Milei has pushed to allow private investors to convert clubs into publicly traded sports corporations - a model common in European football but fiercely resisted in Argentina, where clubs operate as nonprofit member associations. A federal court suspended the relevant decree in December 2024, handing Tapia a legal victory. Milei publicly called the AFA's resistance an attack on freedom.

Fans Are Not Buying It

The only voices breaking the unanimous front belong to the people who fill the stands. Social media erupted with fans calling the strike a mafia-style act of self-preservation by football's ruling class. Many of the same supporters who celebrated Tapia after the 2022 World Cup and back-to-back Copa América titles have soured on his leadership, citing controversial refereeing and sudden rule changes. Whether the courts or the government are acting in good faith matters less to them than the basic absurdity: millions of Argentines lose their emotional refuge for a weekend so that the men who run their game can make a political point.

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