Who is Pablo Toviggino: he earned money in Deputies with Massa and why Tevez remembered “Qatar stock exchanges”

Pablo Ariel Toviggino (Rosario, 1979) prefers to walk in the shadows. Thus, away from the lights, he became one of the most powerful men in Argentine football. But also, as he was able to confirm Clarionat least until last December 5th, of which he is the right-hand man Claudio Chiqui Tapia in the AFA, He was paid as an advisor to the Chamber of Deputies of the Nationwhere he had been nominated by his personal friend Sergio Massa. The category to which his position belongs -A2- currently corresponds a monthly salary of 1.7 million pesos.

He is so powerful that, as if he were Thanos, the villain of the Marvel Universe, he could change the fate of the Argentine Football Federation with a snap of his fingers. Even Chiqui Tapia, his main ally, as well as patron and protégé, fears for all the information managed by those who are today the president of the Santiagueña Football League and treasurer of the AFA.

In the last few hours Toviggino has appeared on the scene with the force of a geyser. He did it for X, the former Twitter, which is usually the place where you “hear” her voice that very few could identify if they heard it. In a publication of exactly 280 characters, you tried to discipline Carlos Tevez, coach of Independiente, who exploded after referee Pablo Dóvalo’s rulings in the 2-2 draw against Barracas Central.

“Seeing as you weren’t very studious in the DT course (I’m talking about Analytics) there are certainly some things that you see as confusing. Strange of you, while you were playing you committed fouls and they only ended in yellow!! I don’t too I did” listen to you in some previous game, what do I reserve. Anyway, Wind Memory!!!”.

It was a slap in the form of a post in which he accused the coach of irregularities in his qualification process and reminded him of the ironing with which he had seriously injured him Ezequiel ham in an Argentinos-Boca and in its silences in matches in which the referees “made a mistake” against the rival of the moment. All crowned by another reminder about a complaint involving the former player against former president Mauricio Macri for alleged irregularities. On the ankles.

Tevez was not left behind. In an account X that is not verified, but is his, Apache has activated: “It seems to me that all the comings and goings in Pilar are making you miss Toviggino a little. In addition to the collection of old and imported cars you accumulate in Pilar, you also bury the suitcases you brought from Qatar and the friendlies in China. Memory, Alí ​​​​Slime”.

The message from the DT, which received the sympathetic nod of Sergio Kun Agüero and the former referee Javier Castrillimentions alleged acts of corruption which would involve Toviggino for alleged profits and undue proceeds deriving from the participation of the Argentine national team in the last World Cup and on one of his last tours. These are versions that circulate in the football underworld, but have not yet been formalized as complaints to Justice. It is linked to the management of the Argentine football fund that the leader has due to his status as treasurer of the AFA..

It is not the first time that Toviggino has used social networks as a disciplinary tool. Every time a manager or a coach or someone complains about the refereeing, Rosario goes on the counterattack. The vice president of Students suffered as a result, Juan Sebastian Verón; the president of River, Jorge Brito; the coach of Belgrano, Guillermo Farré; Godoy Cruz’s team; Juan Pablo Fassison of Andrés, president of Talleres; Javier Zanetti. They were all victims of the intimidating messages.

In exchange, it was Toviggino who brought together, also through a tweet, the club managers who came out in unison to support the candidacy of Mass after the intention of Javier Milei, a few days after the ballot that anointed him president, to open the doors to joint-stock companies in Argentine football. It was a blow that failed to erase the figure of the libertarian.

“You must be good with Pablo”

“You must always be on good terms with Pablo”, repeats a manager of a First Division club who knows the quicksand of Argentine football like few others. It’s a question of being or not being “part of the system”, as Tevez denounced on Wednesday in the press conference held together with the president of Independiente, Néstor Grindetti, in which he once again assured that he felt “robbed” by Dovalo’s arbitration .

Toviggino, beyond his formal role as treasurer of the AFA, has the merit of managing the referees despite Federico Beligoyin his dual role as head of the Argentine Referees Association and national director of refereeing, he is the visible leader of the referees.

What happened on the Huracán pitch is just the tip of a huge iceberg that is replicated, multiplied and strengthened in the minor categories of Argentine football. Scandalous failures are the order of the day from the First National Team to the new Amateur Promotional Championship and even the regional championships. The referees are under the spotlight and the strangest thing is that those who are targeted and questioned are the ones who climb the fastest to reach the First Division. Maybe it’s because everyone is part of that system of irregularities.

How did Toviggino have so much power? It’s the million dollar question. Especially being a person who originally had no connection with football: his passion is horses. The answer is his ability as a politician to form alliances and grow quietly United Central Commercea small club in Santiago del Estero.

From there he gained the trust of Gerardo Zamora, provincial leader and now governor again, and has become the face of football in the province which now has one club in the Professional League -Central Córdoba- and two in the First National Team -Güemes and Mitre-, in addition to the very modern Mother of Cities stadium, which is the AFA’s favorite venue for the finals and hosts the matches of the Argentine national team when they play in the Interior. His great virtue was to understand the strength that all the institutions not directly affiliated can have together, he came to be one of the presidents of the Federal Council, which manages more than 200 leagues and more than 3,500 clubs.

Today it is the main hill of Chiqui Tapia, which he affectionately calls “Comandante”, but its growth is not only due to its proximity to Zamora and Massa. Daniel Angelici, ally of Mauricio Macri and today standing on the opposite sidewalk, and Hugo Moyano, leader of the Camioneros and Tapia’s former father-in-law, were the ones who allowed him to move from the Federal Council to the AFA. Today both are out of football. And Toviggino has more and more power.

He was the first member of the Normalizing Commission who took the reins of the AFA after the scandalous 38-38 in the elections between Marcelo Tinelli and Luis Segura, who he supported at the time. He was, together with Carolina Cristinziano – companion of Gonzalo Belloso and now vice president of Rosario Central – and Javier Medín – lawyer close to Macri -, one of the parties of Armando Pérez, former president of Belgrano, who had been responsible for the intervention.

From that place Toviggino began to build power with the help of Chiqui Tapia, who had emerged as the most powerful leader of the Ascenso. At the beginning of 2017, the man from Rosario reported to FIFA that the Normalization Commission was not achieving his objectives and this ended up paving the way for the consecration of Tapia as the new head of Argentine football. For this accomplished mission, Toviggino was appointed executive secretary of the AFA and at the same time president of the Federal Council. And the allies have not stopped accumulating power.

Today, together, they are the two men who run binary Argentine football. A machine of success and money thanks to the Argentine national team strengthened by the victory in Qatar of the 2022 World Cup. And false and questioned behind closed doors, beyond the fact that at the moment all the complaints received by Justice have never reached Justice. they become sentences.