Tevez-Toviggino: the political plot of a round trip that revealed the war for power that haunts Chiqui Tapia’s AFA

The fight has to do with football, it’s clear. But it goes far beyond Alexis Domínguez’s attack on Ivan Marcone, who barely received a yellow card. Pablo Dóvalo’s regulatory nonsense has left an open wound in the AFA and exposed its internal one. It is no coincidence that the protagonists of this scandal, which has been growing on a large scale since Tuesday evening, are walking on opposite paths.

Despite the friendship he has with Carlos Tevezto the point of sharing birthday parties, one of the main objectives of Claudio Tapia It is the growth of Barracas Central, the club that promoted his career as a manager. What happened on the Huracán field, therefore, is just a clear example of what has been observed in recent years, a controversial arbitration with benefit to him The commissioner’s horse.

Dóvalo, who took charge of 24 matches Handsome With 60% of points obtained for the team of Luna and Olavarría, he is a supporting actor. The brawl broke out between the Independiente coach and Pablo Toviggino, executive secretary of baseball’s parent company, It has a political background.

Born 44 years ago in Rosario, but resident in Santiago del Estero where his connection with football began, Toviggino was a member of the Normalizing Commission led by Armando Pérez, president of Belgrano, and in 2015 – after the infamous 38 to 38 – he established footing in the AFA with Luis Segura. In close connection with the governor Gerardo Zamora, he has built power at the helm of the Federal Council which brings together 220 leagues and 3,500 clubs in the interior of the country. He is Tapia’s right-hand man, who arrived at the presidency of Via Viamonte at the hands of Daniel Angelici and survived the government of Mauricio Macri, aligned with Alberto Fernández and the Kirchnerist apparatus.

You have to read between the lines when Toviggino, who expressed himself via X (formerly Twitter) in the early hours of this Wednesday, talks about “memory of the wind” at the end of his post. The blow is for Tevez and, at the same time, for Macri. In 2016 the former Boca player bought a project to build six wind farms and two solar parks in Argentina. The nation’s Auditor General (AGN) opened a file on the matter in November last year, not coincidentally, around election time.

Macri and Tevez are friends and Toviggino considers them enemies because the proposal that Javier Milei has for football is the arrival of Sports joint stock company (SAD). It is the old wish of the former Boca boss, who failed to prosper during his tenure at the helm of the National Executive. Close to the President of the Nation they told Clarion who “is not aware” of what happened in Barracas Central-Independiente, but republished Nik this morning.

The cartoonist expressed on his social networks: “The day has finally come. They have begun to lose their fear. They are the caste of Argentine football, which they are destroying day after day. Carlos Tevez and Kun Agüero came out to cross Chiqui Tapia very hard and his right-hand man, Pablo Toviggino. Chiqui “Mafia” and Pablo “Tobillera”… when will there be a serious “audit” on the affairs of the AFA? And the VAR? And the corruption of the referees? And the unpresentable Beligoy? The assets of these two guys? And the collector’s cars? And the negotiations of the “friendly” matches of the national team? And the offshore accounts? And the frontmen? And the relationship with Sergio Massa “We need to clean up the corruption of politics and also the corruption of Argentine football. Out!”

Milei supported Macri during the elections of Boca, who competed as Andrés Ibarra’s vice president against Juan Román Riquelme. The former enganche ended up winning by a wide margin. This is another friend of Massa, whom Toviggino publicly supported in the national elections lost by the former Minister of Economy against the libertarian economist.

How much does this strong bond between Massa and Toviggino have to do with his nomination to the Chamber of Deputies? According to the record you accessed ClarionUntil this Wednesday, Tapia’s right-hand man appeared on the payroll of the staff of the Chamber of Deputies with file 801436 at the General Secretariat of the Presidency since April 2020. Yes, at the beginning of the pandemic and when the Tigrense was, precisely, who he was responsible for the house of legislators. He has never been seen in Congress. And, when the news spread, Martín Menem’s administration terminated his contract.

Tevez returned heavy ammunition with “buried” suitcases from Qatar and friendlies from China, canceled due to a conflict between agents. The AFA has severed the connection with Guillermo Tofoniowner of World Eleven, the company that organized the national team’s matches and with which it collaborated Eduardo Beltramini. There is a complaint in court regarding this issue.

Tofoni, in fact, is the one who proposed to entrepreneurs to invest in Argentine football through Juliana Santillán. A few weeks ago he appeared with the deputy Daniel Scioli (Minister of Tourism and Sports) and Nicolás Maya, manager of 777 Partner, shareholder of Genoa in Italy, Vasco da Gama in Brazil, Hertha Berlin in Germany, Standard Liege in Belgium, Red Star Saint-Ouen in France, Seville in Spain and Melbourne Victory in Australia.

Tapia opposes the arrival of the SAD and has expressed this through the Executive Committee, which will meet again next Monday or Tuesday, with the idea of ​​disciplining the league leaders or making a decision with the referee? Toviggino knows that Macri is behind all this. Furthermore, that Tevez is friends with him and that Independiente is led by two active members of the PRO, the president Nestore Grindetti (now chief of staff of Buenos Aires) e Cristian Ritondodeputy and head of the yellow bloc in the Chamber.

The two met this Wednesday with Tevez, before the press conference in which they tried to lower the foam. In front of the cameras Grindetti was more political. Carlitos, however, upped the ante. The Argentine Association of Referees responded with a document for “slander, insults and incitement to violence”. He wants to bring the Independiente coach to criminal and civil justice.

Federico Beligoy, head of the referees, is Tapia’s man, but is under the protective wing of Toviggino. There is a collection of embarrassing referees that has multiplied from the Amateur Regionals to the First Division. With referees reporting to the AFA, the executive secretary has great power. There are shirts that are heavier than others. Also, union preference.

After all, Beligoy is the secretary of the AAA and also the one who appoints judges. In this sense, for five years he has had a dispute with SADRA, which is conducting it Guillermo Marconi and this generated a series of protections in labor justice with compensation and job restitution for judges who did not want to leave the federal union.

This Wednesday, without going any further, the National Labor Court no. 34 ruled in favor Martino Grassoassistant judge who has not been appointed since 2019. The AFA was convicted of “unfair practice” and will have to pay, including compensation, fines and costs, a sum close to 5 million pesos.

“There are four powerful teams that should not be in the First Division: Barracas Central, Riestra, Independiente Rivadavia and Central Córdoba”said Marconi, who pointed out to Beligoy: “You cannot be in the employers’ association and in the union at the same time.”