Controversy between San Luis and the AFA: the conspiracy behind the 300 million pesos that focuses on a former official

The news had a strong impact Saint Louis and little by little it is taking on a national scope. THE AFA decided to suspend the San Luis League after the intervention of the provincial government on a club designated by Justice, the San Luis FCan institution founded in 2021 focused on women’s football and which achieved a historic promotion to the First division in 2023.

“First team from the province of San Luis to play in the First Division”, their website still proudly reads. This enthusiasm has become a source of controversy in recent weeks, especially due to the change of political flag in the province historically governed by the Rodríguez Saa family.

Cintia Ramirez She is a young manager who has been working with Punta sport for a long time and directed that Secretariat until December 10th, the date on which her assumption of the role was made official. Claudio Poggithe brand new governor who emerged from Justicialism who took advantage of the breakup of the brothers Alberto and Adolfo Rodríguez Saa to obtain his second mandate, this time with the support of Together for Change.

Days before leaving office, Ramírez (35 years old) would have transferred a close amount 300 million pesos to San Luis FC, an institution that she presides over. This is the accusation brought forward by the management led by Poggi through the Management of legal entitiesand one of his first decisions was to intervene in the club for the duration of 90 days to carry out the investigation.

In a note reporting “the arguments that support the intervention of San Luis FC”, the San Luis provincial press agency explains the province’s position and reports on the episode, which had national and international resonance. He arrived first at the AFA and then at the National Congress.

An audit that began on December 13 uncovered this movement of money made 48 hours before Ramírez stopped running the secretariat, initiating criminal proceedings for misappropriation of public funds.

The Provincial Administration requested the intervention of the Legal Entities. “This Directorate carried out an inspection, ordered by Resolution no. 398-DPJ-2023, at the address declared as the institution’s headquarters, from which it appears that the headquarters or any other space occupied by it does not operate there. Consequently, the club does not exist as such,” explains Agencia San Luis.

In its report, in turn, it is highlighted that the San Luis FC club “has existed as such since January 6, 2023”, when it was created by a state resolution, and that it currently “has only 13 active members with the right to choose activities.

Cintia Ramírez and her defense

Born into the chess environment, Ramírez has denied the accusations and criticized the club’s intervention in a statement released Tuesday evening. He spoke of a decision driven by “exclusive political purposes, which seek only to discredit the arduous, prolonged and extensive work accomplished” during his administration, which focused on “the football inclusion of our San Luis citizens at the national level, achieving it with resounding success.” “.

On its web page, San Luis FC tells its young storywhich was born in 2021 and is dedicated exclusively to women’s football “with the inspiration to open the doors of the world of football to all women who practice this sport with passion, that passion that only the ball inspires even in the most remote places”. places in the world”.

The San Luis FC girls went from C to B, becoming undefeated champions after 24 matches, and last year they reached the A after another tournament in which they dominated overwhelmingly, with 17 wins in 20 dates.

Meanwhile, the institution has focused on the development of the children’s and youth categories, “with more than 500 girls and boys from cities across the region”, one of the assumptions being that the team is made up of a majority of players born in the province . . From now on, what will happen to all of them is unknown.

In the midst of the scandal, the club released a statement denying the allegations and appearing to establish the source of that money and what it hoped to do with it.

“Two years after its creation, San Luis FC has become a point of reference for the country’s professional sport, having won two consecutive promotions, which in 2024 places, after 40 years, a San Luis team in the highest category of Argentine football, ” reads the post. on social networks, published days before the AFA decided to disaffiliate from the League.

And he continues: “Thanks to this significant result, the club had the privilege of receiving the ‘Pueblo Puntano de la Independencia’ medal, the highest distinction awarded by the Provincial State to those who have performed acts of dedication and exaltation towards the our province, the country and the world.”

There the “prize” in question “requested and coveted by our institution” is explained and it is specified what the financial proceeds will be used for: “it was a subsidy for the purchase of a 60-seater bus for use by all categories of the club that has to travel to Buenos Aires every 15 days”.

Reaction from the AFA and Congress

After the provincial intervention on the Puntano club, the Argentine Football Federation took up the challenge and decided to disaffiliate the entire San Luiseña Football League, dragging into its decision two men’s football teams that compete in the Federal A, Sportive Estudiantes AND United University Youthwith the latter also in the running for the Argentine Cup (they had to face Deportivo Maipú, and in the next phase they could meet Indpendiente de Avellaneda).

On par with FIFAthe institution presided over by Claudio Tapia defends the independence of the clubs from the rules of ordinary justice and believes that “the principle of non-intervention by one of its members” is violated, as established by its statute.

The measure to abolish Sanctuary football did not happen overnight, as the AFA explains. Through the Council that governs federal football, the AFA had asked the province to provide explanations for its decision to intervene but received no response, so it ended up disaffiliating the league.

From his office to National Congresshe was the one who expressed his discomfort with the situation Bartolome Abdala, provincial senator who became President Javier Milei’s trusted man and third in the line of succession. “Sports lover” and former president of the Punta League, he did so through an open letter that he published on his social networks.

“It is unheard of that after the efforts of the players, the coaches, the efforts of their families, the support of fans, friends and neighbors to obtain the long-awaited promotion by Fútbol Club San Luis (sic), they find themselves in such a situation a serious situation in which “not only the future of the SLFC First Division is in danger but also the participation of all clubs,” wrote the legislator.

In his text, entitled “Enough with the goals against the Puntanos”, Abdala does not leave aside the accusations made against Ramírez’s management: “Once again the dreams of the San Luis people are being frustrated due to the corruption and instability of government administrations . “.

However, who was also Punta’s representative in the Federal Council of the AFA, he harshly criticizes the past of the Saa as well as the present of Poggi: “The suspension of the affiliation of the San Luis Calcio League is the responsibility of both governments, which once again have thrown away the sporting passion of Punta.

After the AFA resolution, it remains to be known what will happen to the gaps that the Puntanese teams will leave in their respective competitions. One of those who could end up “taking advantage” now is Sportsman Peñarol de San Juan, a team that a few years ago had been promoted to Federal A after a highly discussed final and that last November had returned to the Regional Amateurs, amidst rumors of a possible cancellation of relegations. The tricolor Chimbas, founded in 1908 and known to be a Tapia favorite from San Juan, eagerly awaits.