The main leader of Argentine football has more at stake in this year’s World Cup than just maintaining the country’s status as defending champion.
A good performance by Argentina would also strengthen the position of Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia, president of the AFA (Argentine Football Association), in a long political dispute with the country’s president, Javier Milei.
The rivalry between the two reached the courts this year, with a wave of judicial investigations into corruption among Argentine football officials, as the team prepares to travel to the United States for the tournament.
“Argentina comes into the World Cup with incredibly high international expectations, but at home everything that happens in association football is a complete mess,” said Mariano Hamilton, a sports journalist in Buenos Aires.
Tapia, who became president of the AFA in 2017, is a former leader of the Argentine truck drivers’ union and has strong ties to Peronism, the left-wing movement that is the main opposition to Milei.
The conflict with Milei began shortly after his inauguration in December 2023, when Argentina’s president issued an executive decree that would allow the country’s non-profit football clubs to become private companies, as is common in many other countries.
The AFA took legal action and managed to prevent the change. Since then, efforts to attract private investors to Argentine football have stalled and the dispute between Milei and Tapia has intensified.
The government declared Tapia’s re-election to the AFA presidency in 2024 “invalid”, with Milei comparing the contest to Venezuela’s fraudulent elections under now-deposed leader Nicolás Maduro. A federal court struck down the government’s resolution.
In December, Patricia Bullrich, a senator from Milei’s party, reported Tapia to Conmebol (South American Football Confederation) for alleged ethical violations. She asked the entity to investigate “the mafia that controls the AFA and tarnishes Argentine football.”
Meanwhile, in March, a Buenos Aires court accused Tapia and senior AFA officials of tax evasion in a case brought by the Argentine Federal Revenue Service. Prosecutors opened six other investigations.
Because of the investigations, Tapia was forced to seek judicial authorization to travel to the World Cup games.
Many commentators accuse Tapia of replicating the authoritarian and opaque management style of his predecessor, Julio Grondona, who led the AFA for 35 years.
The unusually large structure of the Argentine league, with 30 teams, strengthened support for Tapia among smaller clubs. But two-thirds of fans believe referees and tournament organizers routinely favor Tapia’s preferred teams, according to research firm Isasi/Burdman.
Critics say the sheer number of games in the league, combined with unpredictable changes to the calendar, has created a chaotic experience for fans, while restrictions on private investment have led top talent to seek opportunities abroad.
A survey carried out in December by the consultancy CB Consultora revealed that 65.8% of those interviewed disapproved of Tapia’s management.
Tapia has played down the criticism and insists the government cannot remove him before his term ends in 2028. “Three presidents have already been through the nine years I have been in office,” he said in November. “I still have many years ahead of me.”
Tapia also has important allies. FIFA (International Football Federation), which has a strict policy against national government interference in football, signaled its support by appointing Tapia to its 37-member board last year.
Some analysts believe that Argentine national team captain Lionel Messi would also side with him if forced, although he has long avoided speaking out on Argentine politics.
Tapia even made nods to the President of the United States, Donald Trump, an ally of Milei, participating in a private dinner in December at the Mar-a-Lago resort, in Florida, in honor of political activist Charlie Kirk.
The AFA did not respond to a request for comment, but in a previous statement the association defended its model, which it says keeps Argentine football “genuinely competitive” compared to other countries.
Argentina’s international success in recent years has eased frustration with Tapia’s management. In 2022, 4 million people — almost a tenth of the country’s population — turned out in Buenos Aires to welcome the victorious team after its first World Cup title in four decades, under the command of a coach chosen by the AFA president.
The team also won the 2021 and 2024 Copa América titles and the 2022 Finalíssima, previously known as the European/South American Nations Cup.
The team’s performance at the World Cup could determine whether the pressure on Tapia increases or decreases.
“If we are world champions, you will see that none of this institutional issues matter,” said Tomás Aguilar, a fan of Club Atlético Independiente, from the city of Avellaneda. “Argentineans are like that by nature.”
Partly due to the selection’s success, Milei’s efforts to mobilize public opinion against Tapia “failed,” said Lucas Romero, director of political consultancy Synopsis. “Tapia’s biggest detractors tend to be Milei voters. This is not something that will generate more support for him across society.”
With the World Cup approaching, Milei suspended his public criticism of Tapia. “Another victory would certainly end the conflict,” Romero added. “No one wants to fight with someone who has just led Argentina to two world titles.”
Daniel Vítolo, who until March headed the IGJ (General Inspectorate of Justice), responsible for investigating the AFA’s finances, told the FT that, although an Argentina victory in the World Cup would not necessarily lead the government to shelve the processes related to the AFA, the investigations would become “slower and with less commitment”.
However, an official from the Ministry of Justice stated that the government has “no interest in easing oversight” over the AFA.
Meanwhile, Ezequiel Fernández Moores, a veteran sports journalist in Argentina, said that a bad tournament — like not reaching the quarterfinals, for example — would reignite Milei’s dispute with Tapia.
“Tapia would lose strength, and then the government, the Ministry of Justice and the media would turn more forcefully against him,” he said.
“On the other hand, a very good performance would make it much more difficult to act against him,” he added. “Let’s see if the ball goes in the goal.”
