The AFA He wanted to punish and he did. Only the rarefied climate that she herself created in Argentine soccer prevented her from accelerating fully. The now famous “backstroke” of Students of La Plata designed by its president, Juan Sebastian Veronand carried out by his footballers in Rosario, could have resulted in a financial fine. The Disciplinary Court went further and punished the players with two dates – to be met in 2026, and only if they remain in the club – and the president, in addition to imposing a financial fine of $120 million.
A first reading might think that it is a exaggerated measure for a protocol that was published on the AFA website minutes after Pablo Dóvalo, the referee of the match in Arroyito, marked the end. However, a more thorough analysis of the document and everything that happened behind the scenes leads to one word: grotesque. And to a feeling: the AFA was caught in its disaster.
To go to depth would have been to condemn rigorously. Especially when the Court’s verdict speaks of “serious breach of ethical standards and respect, with high media exposure and potentially imitative effect.” Despite this argument, and the figure of “incitement to violence” with which the players’ protest was typified, the AFA decided that they can serve the punishment next season. And that, if they are transferred to another club in the transfer market, they are free from the penalty.
The absurdity is accentuated because amnesties on sanctions after the end of the year are a habit of the Court. In other words: It is most likely that the file of Estudiantes footballers will be free of penalties in January of 2026. Thus, the accusation is not consistent with the penalty that was defined for the delinquent players. The AFA’s explanation is that the punishment is not enforceable in the Closing “so as not to affect the integrity of the current tournament”.
Juan Prates, former vice president of Estudiantes, could not better illustrate the contradiction: “So as not to affect the integrity of the current tournament? Seriously? But if it is a serious offense, it should be applied now, right? Unless you yourselves feel ashamed of the ruling you make and believe that it washes your face a little. Unpresentable,” lashed out the former manager on his X account.
In another context, the AFA would have punished Estudiantes as harshly as possible.. That it is still Verón’s team… the only opponent of Tapia’s management. He is still a manager praised by President Javier Milei. And he continues to be – according to those who frequent the halls of the Ezeiza property – “one of the standard bearers of the Sports Joint Stock Companies in Argentina.”
In the hours before the Court’s deliberations, part of Tapia’s AFA I wanted to go “with everything” against the intellectual and material authors of the “backlash”. Why didn’t they do it? For him humor social. The grotesque and even gray nature of the ruling is explained because the AFA took note of how rarefied the climate is in the football homeland. On Wednesday there was an operation on the networks to defend the Tapia administration from what they did not hesitate to call “destabilization operation.” The posts were filled with negative comments. The soccer fan, the club member who supports the activities, has had enough. AND in the AFA they began to take note. “Somehow they have to stop. Sanctioning Estudiantes players and not playing with Central Córdoba would be extremely dangerous for them,” a management source predicted when asked by THE NATION. He was right.
The ruling of the Disciplinary Court has several curiosities that add to the general confusion. On the one hand, the members of that body talk about setting a “deterrent precedent against this type of attitudes.” [por el espaldazo]”. It is strange that the AFA has not even warned other teams when they did not give a pass to the new champions. Not even a measly handshake. This was the case – to name one; there are more – of Central Córdoba of Santiago del Estero, which on November 10 visited Independiente Rivadavia in Mendoza. La Lepra premiered its Argentine Cup champion title, but there was no pass or sanction, of course. At the other end, Tigre paid homage. to Lanús in the Garnet Fortress after the international title. But the AFA protocol, that of the now famous bulletin with the changed date… only talks about halls for national champions.
There is more. The justification by the Disciplinary Court of the alleged “incitement to violence” of Estudiantes players seems taken from a fiction book. The disciplinary body considers the act reckless. He assures that “even when no physical incidents or obvious hostile reactions have been verified in the stands, the gesture analyzed involves a form of symbolic violence and insult to the values of respect and sportsmanship that the Disciplinary Code protects.”
and it justified in boys and girls who enter the field hand in hand with the players. “This becomes particularly visible – the Court assures – in the situation of the boys and girls who accompanied the exit to the playing field, holding hands with the players of the Estudiantes de La Plata Club: when turning around and releasing their hand to execute the gesture with their backs turned, They were left momentarily alone and unattended in a context of maximum exposure, transmitting a message contrary to the exemplary role that professional footballers must assume towards children and the football community as a whole. This circumstance reinforces the reprehensible nature of the fact and its incompatibility with the principles of fair play, loyalty and respect that inform the disciplinary order.” Yes, the same AFA that sanctioned the Deportivo Morón coach – Walter Otta – for something he did not say speaks in the ruling of one of its courts of “fair play, loyalty and respect.”
The verdict for the “back blow” leaves Verón’s victimization card served. If Estudiantes lose in Santiago del Estero against Central Córdoba and the refereeing is controversial, La Brujita will be able to remember that the AFA punished him for not making a hallway. Furthermore, it places the president as a pundit in a place that was unimaginable until a couple of months ago. At that time, his figure was associated with the failure of his alliance with Foster Gillett, the American billionaire who intended to invest in Argentine soccer. Now, Verón has many more followers.
The ruling of the Disciplinary Court is a little harsher than Estudiantes expected. The club saw the sanction against Verón – self-incriminated in the defense – and the financial fine coming, but Nobody thought that the AFA would dare to impose sports sanctions. There was even a member of the Court who, when asked by THE NATIONoutlined an eventual resignation from his position if the position of football punishment prevailed. Although harmless in the short term, the verdict included it. It will be necessary to see, then, if the Court remains as it is or someone leaves.
