While yielding honors to one of his most illustrious fans – Pope Francis, fanatic for the team and who died two weeks ago – San Lorenzo de Almagro has faced Calvary days.
The Argentine soccer club has been shaken in recent weeks, when a pair of videos in which the president (now away), Marcelo Moretti, has been publicly seen receiving $ 25,000 ($ 141,000), allegedly a bribes to accept a player in the youth team.
In the first recording, in which he is filmed receiving a cake of $ 20,000 ($ 113,000), Moretti asks a woman “how is the boy” and she answers him that he is “desperate to play”. In the second record, from another meeting, the president would have received the remaining $ 5,000 ($ 28,000).
The material was released by journalist Tomás Méndez, in the program Teenueve Denuncia (from Channel 9), on April 21. The report states that the meetings took place in May 2024.
Moretti denies that he received bribes. On social networks and TV Argentina, he said that the money he appears accepting in the video is a donation to the club. He also says he was the target of extortion and persecution by opponents of his management, which lasts just over a year. In the sport world, it was speculated that he would resign-which so far did not occur.
“I will never resign, with everything for what I worked, with everything I did in the club and all the money I and the vice president [Néstor Navarro] And the people who accompanied us put it. It’s impossible, besides San Lorenzo being fine, “he said.
“They have been extorting me with these videos for a year, I will take everything to justice. I have never received bribe, there are people in politics who want to hurt me,” said the president of San Lorenzo.
In addition to the images, the TV show released an audio in which appears the voice of the businesswoman of the city of La Plata (55 km from Buenos Aires) María José Scottini, who was also a candidate for the mayor. She is the mother of a former player of the lower division.
“What happened is what Moretti said, was a donation. There was one more donation and there will be a third in the coming days,” said Scottini in an interview with Tyc Sports TV channel.
According to the businesswoman, when her son went to play at San Lorenzo, she and some acquaintances came together to make the donations, for the bad conditions of the field and the locker rooms. She stated that her son trained last year and in 2025 left the club to study medicine.
“I will appear before the Ordinary Court and the club’s Ethics and Disciplinary Court to prove my absolute innocence. I ask this license to investigate with absolute tranquility and transparency. San Lorenzo is above all and everyone,” Moretti said in a statement.
The AFA Court of Ethics (the Argentine Football Federation) has also started investigations into the case, and the organization requires the board to find a name to command it.
The crisis arrived at the vice president, Navarro, a powerful meat businessman who lives in Uruguay and who stated over the weekend to have no intention of taking command-the presence on the plate would be for the economic support he gave to Moretti’s campaign.
San Lorenzo’s advice is headed by Julio Lopardo, who was vice president from 1995 to 1998, who is a favorite to take charge of the team.
The lack of driving has affected the administrative activity, with suppliers complaining of non -payment and the impossibility of making bank movements without the signing of Moretti.
To prevent the scandal from affecting the field performance, sports director Carlos Sánchez brought together players and coaching staff, and called on the Aperto 2025 tournament, which gives the initial kick on the first division calendar of the Argentine Championship. Next Saturday (10), San Lorenzo faces the tiger.
The scandal occurred amid the mourning of the fans for the death of Pope Francis, who had a deep connection with the Baixo Flores team. The players paid tribute to the Pontiff on the 26th, in the first game after their death, when they faced Rosario Central wearing a shirt with the image of Bergoglio and a track with the phrase “Together for Eternity”.
The religious grew near where the San Lorenzo stadium is and did not hide the passion for the club, from which the partner No. 88,235 was.
