There are things that are forbidden until one day they stop. Or a certain framework controls them and in a certain context they leave the marginality to be official. In Argentina, gambling, for example, pools, is permitted according to the regulations of each province, but punished if they are secretive. What defines marginality is the absence of a regulatory body. Penalty championships are like clandestine pools: no tax black money, liquidity in transactions and no regulations outside of orality. and at least until now.

The Argentine Football Association (AFA) will control this activity. “AFA unveils first professional criminal circuit in history”, is the first thing to be read on the official site of the unprecedented activity, which will be played nationwide. For the first time there was a penalty kick championship written terms and will use a virtual wallet for registrations. Each participant must pay 1,000 pesos to go for prizes, which are still unknown in concrete terms.

In addition to the AFA, behind the tournament is Argentine soccer players united (FAA), Soccer experience -a company specializing in sports marketing and stadium construction- and sports association, the range of gyms. Both owners are the same company, which is also responsible Santa Monicawhich governs commercial selection agreements, until the death of Julio Grondona. How big is the marginal business of prisons?

The answer is yes. Only one organized in the field of Spanish sports -and that was raid- offered nine million pesos in prizes and high-end vehicles. On that day, there were 24 detainees, firearms and drugs, in addition to food without bromatological control and alcoholic beverages without a sale permit.

Official tournaments will lose that marginal feature. They will be played on “real” courts. The first stage that starts this Friday will take place at the stadium Ituzaingo. The rest will come in Karera, Yupanqui, hikers, Silver students, Defenders of Belgrano and “other clubs” not listed in the regulations, although they are on the registration form: Central Barracks Y acassuso.

With the exception of the La Plata club, others respond to management politics Claudio Tapia of the FAA. What do Students do, then? The construction of its stadium at 1 and 57 is the result of a commercial agreement with Soccer experience. Exploitation of space is not exclusive to the governing entity Juan Sebastian Veron.

Participants associated with the clubs where the competition takes place participate free of charge. That yes, if they are removed they can continue, but re -paying registration requires participation.

One detail, on the official page the hyperlinks of the four sponsors, leads elsewhere. The Football Experience, on page Punishment; the one in the AFA, that Quilmes and the FAA, in Argentina airlines. Will they join as sponsors?

Its beginning armed with commercial alliances, is the Punishment cup, the AFA announced amid the pandemic. On that occasion, on December 22, 2020, the official announcement indicated that the novelty would “benefit the country’s clubs” and that “all revenue collected will be reserved for institutions.” Funds raised in the current version have no published destination.

How are the championships?

Argentina kick It will not have goalkeepers: only kickers will be registered. It will have the essence of penalty kick tournaments, but will lose the “I don’t know what” of the early mornings in the paddocks that attract professional soccer players who are already earning from twelve steps and even travelers. in the country earning their living in the series of the best of the three until reaching the final.

Stopping the race before the penalty kick is a procedure already Jose Luis Sanchez used in every club where he played and that he brought back from lightning tournaments. “I really liked how he kicked Carafe. He was a boy and I saw him in La Matanza kicking penalties ”, he said on the occasion Nestor Ortigoza, another professional who never gave up that marginal training even playing Libertadores. The two, among so many others all the time, kicked both in paddocks or in packed stadiums.

“My way of hitting is in front of the ball so that the goalkeeper doesn’t guess you. Then with a knock at the end, I moved my ankle to pick. They barely saved me from punishment and I even referred to a Libertadores with punishment. I learned that there, don’t hesitate ”, he told Página/12 in an interview. “It’s nice, it prepares you. Kicking a penalty to the Libertadores is tremendous pressure, but so is the kicking and people shut up behind you as you run to kick and on the one hand they say don’t pass it and on the other hand they. lower you so you don’t do it. they even push you a bit. They have different scenarios, but I concentrate, “he completed the compliment on 12 paddock steps.

Official contests will vary. They lost their lightning character and were promoted as fed. “The circuit starts in the Province of Buenos Aires and consists of a series of Official Tournaments that will be played at different clubs between May and October 2022,” it explains from the official page.

On the web, “economic prizes for the champion” and “points for the AFA ranking of the best classified and quotas to play in the Final of the Province of Buenos Aires” were announced, to be held on October 2 at the venue of Julio Grondona of Ezeiza, where all teams train: from Major, youth and women. The National Final is in November, “in a stadium and province to be determined”, in which the best ranked from each province will participate.

The differences

In paddocks, the kicker stands in front of the goal, there is no penalty point, and the goalkeeper has half a meter between the goal line to take the lead. Next to the shooter, bettors huddle. The shot goes directly to the goal. Officially, there will be more barriers in addition to the goalkeeper, in the last instances the arch will have holes where the balls must enter.

The furtive championships are at dawn. The light, the dark. At the end of the first, the next will begin. It ends when it clarifies … or when differences are resolved through violence.

In Argentina Patea, the call is open to binary people divided into male and female categories. Minors are allowed, with parental consent.

Compete alongside soccer players.

The structure allows for a parallel competition: the Argentine Penalty Cup. This opportunity is for teams, made up of 160 highest -ranked players in the National Final. According to their order of classification, they will select 16 Argentine soccer clubs to be part of it.

Each group will consist of 10 novice players and six professionals, staff members of the participating club. This will be the most lightning the organization has to offer, but it will be in “an emblematic stadium” and will take place one day with direct elimination. This is where the Argentine penalty kick champion will come from.

From marginality to the official circuit, the dream of earning a living by kicking the ball has a price and costs 1,000 pesos in one shot.