No turning back: AFA strike to hit all Argentine football | OneFootball

The meeting will take place from 1:00 PM at the Lionel Messi complex in Ezeiza. The representatives of the 30 teams will decide when activities will resume. The options are March 18, April 22, or May 13.

The Professional League Committee will meet this Tuesday from 1:00 PM at the Lionel Messi complex in Ezeiza. Among the topics to be discussed, the strike of Argentine football for this weekend will be ratified.

The 30 representatives of the First Division clubs have been summoned for the meeting. While topics related to the finances of the clubs that make up the League and organizational aspects for 2026 will be addressed, the main focus will be on the continuation of the strike for Matchday 9 of the Apertura Tournament and the other lower divisions.

Thus, what the Committee will address this Tuesday is the date for the resumption of football. March 18, April 22, or May 13 are the options being considered by the AFA and the League to lift the strike. After the decision, those present will share a lunch. According to SFD, Unión would adopt the position of playing on March 18.

The measure was decided at last week's Committee meeting, where a unanimous vote was held to carry out the strike in protest against the government's actions toward the Argentine Football Association. The only two clubs that did not participate in that last conclave were Boca (justified by their trip to the Copa Argentina) and Estudiantes (absent from recent meetings).

This comes in the context of the case investigating the alleged misappropriation of contributions amounting to $19,353,546,843.85 related to tax and social security withholdings which, according to the ARCA complaint, were deducted but not deposited between March 2024 and September 2025. In response, the AFA stated that “it has no outstanding debt” with the Revenue Agency and that these claims “were used as the basis for the judicial decision to summon the authorities of this entity for questioning.”

AFA's response to the IGJ statement on the appointment of overseers

After the confirmation of the strike as a show of support for the AFA leadership, the Ministry of Justice announced the appointment of overseers with the aim of auditing documentation and reviewing alleged administrative irregularities.

In response, the AFA issued a statement asserting that if an oversight is initiated, it would be “illegitimate” and confirmed that it will file legal actions so that “the measure is dismissed, as occurred in the Bullrich case.” “The AFA will not be subjected to an illegitimate oversight, based on false or distorted facts and dictated for a political purpose unrelated to the law,” it emphasized, adding that it will make “the corresponding legal filings so that this measure is dismissed, as occurred with the Bullrich precedent.”

It then highlights the contradiction between the Inspector General of Justice, who stated that the oversight was a “mere ‘preparatory measure,’ an information survey,” and the official statement that “describes the facts under investigation as ‘serious irregularities.’” “If the irregularities were truly serious, the IGJ would have the legal obligation to apply sanctions (fines, intervention, cancellation of legal status). But it does not do so,” the AFA adds.

On the other hand, the governing body of Argentine football assures that the financial statements from 2017 to 2024 “were submitted on time and are awaiting review.” “The 2025 statement was not submitted to the IGJ because, since November 2025, the AFA has its legal domicile registered in the Province of Buenos Aires,” it notes.

It also explains that the change of address, which the IGJ considers “false,” “was approved by the competent provincial authority and the registration in the Province is a valid and current administrative act.”

In conclusion, the AFA responds: “That confession exposes the true nature of the measure. It is not about controlling a civil association, but about implementing a public policy that seeks to impose Sports Joint Stock Companies (SAD) by weakening the AFA institutionally, the main defender of the social club model.”

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