2024-07-23 03:01:00
On the same weekend that the AFA Executive Committee ratified its firm refusal to accept the entry of sports corporations into Argentine football, Two of the traditional giants, Independiente and San Lorenzo, played their matches without having been able to enable their incorporationsIn both clubs, the situation has reached such a level of deterioration that they cannot strengthen themselves because they are inhibited and when they manage to lift those inhibitions (i.e. pay their debts) they still cannot get new players approved. They always lack something, they always have a paper to present.
Independiente and San Lorenzo are the visible face of a model that shows signs of being exhausted. But he can’t find a better one to replace it. Within the current institutional format (that of non-profit civil societies) the partners of both clubs opted for a covert privatization: at the time They believed that Hugo Moyano and Marcelo Tinelli would come to put part of their fortune on the table to finance great campaigns and champion teams.They did it, but the end result was exactly the same: finances in tatters, debts everywhere, bad checks littering the country and repeated bad football campaigns. Nestor Grindetti in Independent and Marcelo Moretti In each case, San Lorenzo took over with the idea of turning the page, tidying up the accounts and starting to fight for championships. So far, it’s more of the same.
The members of both clubs (and those of many others in more or less similar situations) could see with relief a privatization option that would provide them with fresh funds to improve the economic numbers and boost sporting expectations. But in parallel, They fear losing the social and cultural essence of their institutions, because football clubs are much more than that in Argentina. The fans of Real Madrid, Manchester City and Bayern Munich demand great players, glorious afternoons and nights and modern, functional stadiums. They are spectators of a luxury spectacle. Argentines also want their children to go to the schools that operate in their facilities and on game day, eat a delicious barbecue with the family in the barbecue area or go in the pool and then go to the field with their father and the kids.
In this tension between football and social issues, Argentine clubs are playing their fate against the privatization advances pushed by President Javier Milei and Minister Federico Sturzenegger. The member wants his team to win all the matches and play in all the Cups. But at the same time he wants an institution that provides him with services beyond the ball.The big money in the world of football is going for the first. And they may even manage to achieve it. The second is much more doubtful. And not understanding it implies not knowing the logic of the owners of the money and also, what the clubs mean as social, cultural and emotional heritage of Argentine society.