A national study carried out by CB Consultora exposed the profound deterioration in the image of Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia at the head of the Argentine Football Association (AFA). According to the survey, 65.8% of those surveyed disapprove of his management, a figure that hits the leader squarely in the midst of a climate of growing distrust towards the organization he leads.
The survey, carried out between December 1 and 2, 2025 and with a sample of 1,115 cases throughout the country, shows that disapproval is the majority in practically all segments. The result confirms a trend that was already manifesting on social networks and television debates: the perception that the AFA is experiencing structural malfunctions.
Different factors appear among the reasons for the fall in Tapia’s image. Respondents mention financial complaints that involve the leadership, controversial arbitrations that are repeated in different categories and an institutional leadership that generates more doubts than certainties. The report states that arbitration failures are no longer read as errors, but as signs of possible agreements or pacts that compromise the transparency of the tournament. The accumulation of controversies made the public associate conflicts not with isolated events, but with a dynamic that continues and worsens.
The survey also reveals a disturbing fact: more than half of those consulted consider that the national team could be affected by the internal problems of the AFA in the run-up to the next World Cup. For this sector, scandals and instability in institutional leadership are transferred, to varying degrees, to sporting performance.
Another critical point pointed out by those surveyed is the lack of legitimacy in the AFA president election system. The majority maintains that the current mechanism should be modified towards a more representative one, which implies a direct questioning of the way in which Tapia renewed his power in the entity.
The panorama presented by the study is overwhelming: Tapia faces a level of disapproval that exceeds two-thirds of the country and that puts in check his ability to maintain authority in an organization that is already accumulating internal tensions, public conflicts and complaints of varying severity. Those around them know that these numbers not only damage the image of the leader, but also that of Argentine football as a whole.
Meanwhile, the survey opens a clear conclusion: the president of the AFA faces an adverse scenario that, if not reversed with concrete actions and a profound change in public perception, runs the risk of consolidating itself as a structural crisis of confidence that will mark his management.
