Argentine football: Foreign investors vs. fan club ownership

Billions from the Arab world? investors from the Premier League? Argentine President Javier Milei wants to privatize the country's club football. The right-wing populist and conservative politician sees this as a major opportunity to increase competitiveness on the international stage.

What he may be overlooking though, is that unlike the crisis-ridden country's economy, which is very much in need of reform and modernization, there is another aspect that plays a decisive role in football: emotion. Football supporters in Argentina tend to not just to be fans but also members of their clubs — complete with a vote when it comes to electing who runs them. This internal democracy at any given club is sacred to the fans.

Milei is encouraging Argentine football clubs to convert from this fan-membership model into public limited companies, something that promises to make them more attractive to international investors. The idea is to help Argentine clubs retain their top players for longer. At present, many move to top foreign clubs, usually in Europe, at quite a young age because there they can earn significantly more than at home. Investors' money, the argument goes, would help Argentine clubs be more competitive on the international stage.

Menotti: 'Football is also a cultural matter'

However, Milei's ideal is meeting fierce resistance in some circles in Argentina, including from Cesar Luis Menotti, the legendary coach of the country's 1978 World Cup-winning team.

"Football is also a cultural matter and belongs to the members and the neighborhood in which they (the clubs) grew up," the 85-year-old told DW.

"If you want to do business, open a DIY store."

Menotti's advice reflects the mood of a large proportion of Argentine football fans, for whom their favorite club represents a mixture of mysticism, religion and patriotism.

"I hope that the clubs won't be privatized," CA Huracan fan Agustin Torres told DW. "Because we have a culture of doing things ourselves."

Torres, also fears that outside investors could prevent or restrict the fans' participation and influence.

Clubs rooted in their communities

Another fan of the Buenos Aires club, which has won the Argentine title five times, takes a similar view.

"I'm against it because Huracan is a neighborhood club that is run by the family that goes to the stadium and pays the membership fee," Agustin Sanchez told DW.

Neither is Sanchez impressed by the prospect of multimillionaires like Lionel Messi returning to buy up the club of their youth — in Messi's case Newell's Old Boys.

"The club belongs to the people, not the players, even if they started their careers there as children," Sanchez said. "It makes no sense for any player, person or company to buy a club with their own funds."

Backing from former national team star

However, from a purely economic point of view, Milei's idea does make perfect sense if Argentine clubs wish to close the financial gap to their European counterparts.

Over the past decade, the Club World Cup has been won exclusively by European clubs — often featuring several Argentine players. The last winners from Argentina were Boca Juniors in 2003.

This is one reason Milei's proposal also has its supporters in the world of football, including former Inter Milan stalwart Javier Zanetti. The 50-year-old, who made 143 international matches for Argentina, is now a vice president at Inter.

"The transformation can be an alternative that some clubs can try out to see if it is a solution to many of the problems they have today," Zanetti said in a recent interview with an Argentine television station.

Zanetti has personal experience with foreign investors in football, as in 2016 China's Suning Holdings Group acquired a majority stake in in Inter Milan.

"There would be joint-stock companies that would also get their members to participate," he added. "I don't think any of them will go counter to the identity of a club. On the contrary: they want to improve (it)."

Mariano Campetella in Buenos Aires contributed to this article, which was originally published in German.