LETTER FROM BUENOS AIRES
The Argentines have voted. Their new president, the ultraliberal Javier Milei, took office on December 10, after his victory in the second round of the presidential election on November 19, with 55.65% of the votes. But another election continues to agitate the country: the chaotic election of the next president of Boca Juniors, the capital’s legendary football club.
In theory, the affair could only interest volcanic fans of the blue and yellow club, located in the popular south of Buenos Aires. But this vote goes far beyond the country’s borders and blatantly reveals the intimate links between football and politics in Argentina and internationally. Javier Milei published a photo of Emmanuel Macron on the social networkthumbs up, look towards the camera, with a gift shipped from Argentina, Friday December 8. A “Boca” jersey, signed with the thunderous slogan of its counterpart, “Long live freedom, damn it”.
To seize the presidency of the club, founded by Italian immigrants in 1905, still located where they had left their meager luggage − at the end of cobbled streets lined with modest houses with colored sheet metal, a stone’s throw from the old port of Buenos Aires –, two tickets are in the running. On one side, Andrés Ibarra, former right-wing minister and ex-manager of Boca, supported as vice-presidential candidate by Mauricio Macri, 64 years old. A man of power. The former center-right president (2015-2019) played an essential role in the election of Javier Milei, providing his support for the second round.
Tense match
Mauricio Macri is also trying to negotiate his big return to Boca. Then an ambitious thirty-year-old, he was elected president for the first time in 1995, a position he held until 2007. “He then keeps control of the club, through his dolphins, until 2019”, observes Nemesia Hijos, anthropologist specializing in football. This pure product of the economic elite, son of a great business leader, initiated the modernization of the club: “it creates new platforms, professionalizes management”, traces German Bellizzi, sports journalist on the TyC Sports television channel. At the same time, Boca was experiencing its most glittering sporting period, with various international titles. If he was able to lead a football club to victory, then why couldn’t Mauricio Macri manage a city, then a country? His record in Boca served as a political springboard for access to the government of the city of Buenos Aires (2007-2015) and then to the presidency. Since 2020, he has been president of the FIFA foundation.
You have 60% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.