Malaspina: Huracán, San Lorenzo dodged relegation thanks to football-mad president | OneFootball

Argentine football has once again been engulfed in controversy following an explosive revelation: according to Cristian Malaspina, president of Argentinos Juniors, the Government personally intervened in 2017 to prevent San Lorenzo and Huracán from being relegated due to sanctions related to Financial Fair Play. The executive claimed that a call from the Casa Rosada stopped the deduction of points that would have sent both clubs down to the B division, and that this maneuver led to the first annulment of relegations during that period.

During his appearance on La Fábrica del Podcast, the head of the Bicho detailed an episode that—according to him—marked a turning point in the structure of Argentine football. He recalled that in 2017 and 2018, when the Superliga was trying to implement Financial Fair Play, both San Lorenzo and Huracán had been sanctioned for non-compliance and were facing a points deduction that would have sent them directly to relegation. At that time, Marcelo Tinelli and Matías Lammens were running the Ciclón, while the Globo was going through a similar financial situation.

According to the executive, the reaction came from the highest political level. “There was a president of the Nation who was very passionate about football and had a friend who was president of a very big club. He didn’t want the points deduction for two big clubs. If it had been applied, Huracán and San Lorenzo would have been relegated,” he recounted. Although he did not mention names, he made it clear that he was referring to Mauricio Macri, then President of the Nation, and his relationship with Tinelli.

Malaspina asserted that the call from Casa Rosada was decisive. “They asked for the points not to be taken away. When it was raised in the Committee, just imagine the executives from the other clubs fighting relegation… the first thing they said was to suspend relegations,” he explained. That decision, according to his account, blocked the plan to reduce the number of teams and kept the championship divided among 28 clubs.

The executive also emphasized that the decision was not the result of Claudio Tapia or the leadership of the AFA, but rather a direct consequence of that political intervention. “It wasn’t Tapia who stopped it. We were left with 26, then the pandemic came and we ended up with 28, and now the decision has been made to go back to 30 as in 2014,” he pointed out.

In his final analysis, Malaspina pointed to the root of the problem: the lack of clear rules and the tendency to change decisions on the fly. “We represent the clubs. No one is going to want to sign up for a tournament with 10 relegations because no one is exempt from going down. But we have to manage this reality,” concluded the president of Argentinos Juniors.

The revelation has reopened an old debate in Argentine football: political influence, management maneuvers, and decisions that end up altering the sporting course of the championships.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.