Javier Faroni He came to the world of football with a previous journey, with a well-known surname on the Buenos Aires billboard and with the gymnastics of someone who knows how to move between producers, artists, contracts and big numbers. For years he was a classic theater entrepreneur: commercial plays, blockbuster figures, stints in Mar del Plata and a fine sense of smell to understand where the money was and who managed it. In that world, Faroni built ties, accumulated experience and, above all, learned a logic: business is not always on stage, it is often behind the scenes.
That learning helped him the day he decided to cross into the field of politics. His passage was brief, but significant. Faroni arrived at the Buenos Aires Legislature by the hand of Renewal Frontwhen Sergio Massa He was still the leader who promised order and management. The Faroni and the Massa They are friendly families who shared summers in Pinamartent in between at the hostel C.R.. Even, with the help of Massa, Faroni also had a short time through Argentine Airlinesin a position that did not leave a public mark but did allow him to learn how state companies work from the inside. He was not a leader with a fiery speech nor a high-profile official. Quite the opposite: he even had a silent step, perhaps in search of that “experience in the State” that usually seduces entrepreneurs, to learn how a Government works from the inside.
When he returned to the private sector, Faroni was no longer just “the theater producer.” He was someone who understood state logic, who knew how contracts are signed, how structures are put together and, above all, how power is administered without exposing oneself too much. That capital was key in the next leap that would be strengthened thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. Covid in 2020.
From his place in Argentine Airlines Faroni established a good relationship with Claudio “Chiqui” Tapiawho had already been president of the Argentine Football Association (AFA). The management of “Chiqui” opened a different stage in the management of the football business. More centralization, more cash and a clear decision: professionalize—or outsource—international commercial exploitation. There Faroni gained ground as a manager. Someone used to negotiating, setting up companies and managing percentages.
The contract signed in December 2021 between the AFA and TourProdEnter LLCthe company based in USA managed by Erika GilletteFaroni’s wife, marked a turning point, to the point that at that time the businessman left his role as director of Argentine Airlines. The firm retained the international commercial representation of the Argentine national teamwith almost total exclusivity and with a commission scheme that had no precedent in local football. The number—30% plus an additional fee for logistics— did not go unnoticed in the industry, but it advanced just the same. With Tapia, with Pablo Toviggino and with a structure that concentrated the collection and administration of external income.
From that contract onwards, all the dollars that came in through international sponsors, friendlies, rights and commercial agreements went through foreign accounts managed by that company. Faroni did not appear as the visible face of the agreement, but he was at the center of the device. The theater entrepreneur who had learned to distribute percentages between producers and artists now managed figures that far exceeded any season on the street. Currents.
In parallel, other linked businesses appeared: the ticket company Sportickwhich went from selling tickets to small clubs, like Tigerto manage matches of the Selection; the purchase of the Italian club Perugia; and operations linked to international events, travel and logistics. All within an ecosystem where football functioned as a platform and the AFA as institutional guarantor. Faroni even has the trademark registration AFA University to exploit it in USA and anywhere in the world.
The magnitude of the scheme began to generate noise when the Justice put a magnifying glass on money movements, expenses and transfers. Private planes, luxury consumption, companies in Florida and amounts that did not completely close. Even private trips are being investigated. Wall and Toviggino on a plane Gulfstream G400 tuition T7-SUE. That plane changed its location to Argentina and now has the registration LV-SYG.
The relationship between Faroni and Toviggino It consolidated over time. Yeah Wall It was the political signing of the agreements, Tovigginoas treasurer of the AFAfunctioned as the operating gear. With the flow oiled, the lateral movements began. Transfers that did not respond to clear services, societies that grew without visible activity and a logic of atomization that avoided attracting attention. One of the central pieces was SOMA SRLa firm of the Toviggino ecosystem based in Santiago del Esteroformally dedicated to transportation and services, but without structure according to the amounts it began to receive. From accounts of TourProdEnter transfers went out for almost half a million dollars towards that company, in spaced transfers, with variable amounts and from different banks, as revealed by the newspaper The Nation. These shifts coincided with heritage movements around Toviggino.
In parallel, a personal transfer of 40 thousand dollars to Maria Florencia Sartiranaformer Finance Manager of the AFA. The data is not minor. Sartirana had left the organization when the commercial scheme was already underway and, shortly after, he began to develop his own businesses linked to the same ecosystem: premium wines that supplied football events, cross-billing with surrounding companies and a constant presence in the AFA circuit.
The map is completed with other assets that are under the sights of the Justice. The mansion of Pillaracquired through intermediary companies; a wine called Neurusa hotel in Santiago del Estero; service stations, heliports and real estate developments; and an equestrian heritage that cannot be explained by declared income alone.
What is the origin of the funds for such a business deployment? The track would reach Faroni who, on this board, was not a spectator. I would have been the flow manager. The one who collected outside and distributed inside. Tovigginothe one who needed that circuit to work smoothly and Wall like the head of a golden triangle. There is no declared commercial partnership between them, but there is evident coordination. Today, with the Justice Looking at each movement, those links stopped being a rumor and became a concrete problem.
The investigation is still ongoing, but it has already made one thing clear: Faroni He is a protagonist of the businesses of the AFA. And to rise to the occasion, he hired a lawyer known in the courtrooms: Maximiliano Rusconiwho, in addition to legal defense, also provides media defense. Among the first statements he made was to take off Sergio Massawho also for his part sent to say that the relationship with Faroni has lost frequency.
Today, as the files progress and the numbers are reviewed, the story of Faroni works as a symptom. Not from theater or politics, but from a model where the business moves quickly, contracts are signed in other countries and the protagonists are rarely in the main photo. Faroni always preferred to be behind the curtainmonitoring the entire business.
