“Enough of being persecuted, the AFA is all the clubs,” was the message that the team San Lorenzo de Almagro was inscribed on a white T-shirt over the Barça shirt. In the meeting between the Boedo team and Instituto, the players gave their institutional support to the AFA, after investigations into alleged tax irregularities of the entity that brings together Argentine football.
However, the local fans did not reciprocate the footballers’ message of protest. In the “cuervo” stand, located in its stadium in Bajo Flores, the supporters joined their voices to the song of “Chiqui Tapia Button”. A predictable result, taking into account the bad image of the top leader of the Argentine Football Association who decided to hold a sports strike for next week.
Argentine football is heading towards an unprecedented paralysis, the AFA resolved, together with the clubs of all categories, to suspend activity between Thursday, March 5 and Sunday, March 8, including date 9 of the Apertura Tournament, in what they defined as a measure of protest for what they describe as “judicial and political persecution” against the leadership of the mother house of football. The measurement occurs after the summons to investigative statement of the president of the AFA, Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia, and its treasurer Pablo Tovigginowithin the framework of a case that investigates alleged fiscal irregularities and improper withholding of contributions and taxes by the sports entity.
The complaint that gave rise to the case was filed by the Customs Collection and Control Agency (ARCA)which maintains that between March 2024 and September 2025 the AFA would have withheld taxes and social security contributions – including VAT, Profits and social charges – without depositing them with the treasury within the legal deadlines, for an amount that exceeds the 19.3 billion pesos. He Criminal Economic Judge Diego Amarante He was the one who issued the summons for investigation for Tapia and Toviggino, incorporating the sports association as a legal entity in the case and expanding the investigation to other directors. Furthermore, it They were banned from leaving the country. while the judicial process progresses.
However, the AFA and the clubs maintain that the entity is up to date with its tax obligations and that the payments that ARCA puts under scrutiny were made “voluntarily before their expiration,” which is why they consider that the complaint lacks technical and legal support. This defensive line was reflected in institutional statements and in the public position of the majority of the clubs, which not only endorse Tapia and Toviggino but also describe the progress of the cause as a “attack” promoted by political sectors contrary to the current management. On the other hand, support for the protest has been broad: The associations that bring together the referees also expressed their supportreaffirming the commitment to the institutions and their rejection of what they describe as external attacks.
In parallel, ARCA and the prosecutors involved in the case ask that an investigation be carried out to determine whether the entity acted improperly as a withholding agentby retaining funds from third parties that had to be transferred to the State. This figure is key in the imputation, because Argentine tax regulations consider that the withheld money does not belong to the agent (in this case, the AFA) but to the treasury from the moment of its retention.
In the midst of the conflict, alleged additional irregularities, such as links between people involved in the file and operators in the football fieldwhich, according to versions, raised doubts about the impartiality of some magistrates, even leading to the resignation of one of the judges originally assigned to the case after the dissemination that he had held a social event on a property associated with one of those involved. The protest announced by the AFA thus turns the next football weekend into a scene of clash between the judiciary, the sports leadership and the political sphere.
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