Are opposing voices joining against Tapia? River denied the 'vote' for Rosario Central's fabricated title

The controversy over the recognition of Rosario Central as "2025 League Champion" took a new turn with the stance released by River. Nearly a week after the announcement that surprised the football world, the Millonario leadership questioned the origin of the decision and cast doubt on the validity of the procedure carried out by the Argentine Football Association (AFA).

The issue was addressed at Tuesday's Board of Directors meeting, where Ignacio Villarroel, the club's second vice president and representative to the AFA, presented a scenario very different from the official statement of the governing body. There, he explained that the meeting in which Central's crowning was mentioned did not correspond to the Executive Committee, the body that has the authority to grant this type of title, and that there was no vote at all.

"He is misinformed. It was not even a meeting of the AFA Executive Committee. The decision regarding that championship, which is a prerogative solely of the AFA Executive Committee, is wrong because it was a meeting of the Professional League, which is a body within AFA, but it is not the Executive Committee," Villarroel told the directors.

According to his account, not only was the meeting not the appropriate one, but it also did not meet the usual formal parameters: "The formality of the meeting did not have the rigidity that the AFA Executive Committee generally has, where there is an agenda." He clarified that the meeting had a different purpose: "It was an informational meeting about how the 2026 calendar was planned."

The most striking point of the account came when describing how the recognition of Canalla was managed: "At the end of the meeting, without putting it up for consideration, it was commented or reported to the table where the presidents and vice presidents of the clubs were sitting that a recognition would be made to Rosario Central for having led the annual points table. Afterwards, that turned, without any expression of will, consent, or vote, into what was the presentation of the cup to Central."

With this statement, the Millonario official, who was present at the ceremony in which Ángel Di María and the squad received the trophy, completely contradicts the official version of the AFA, which had stated that the awarding of the star was unanimously approved by the Executive Committee of the Professional League.

This way, the Millonario's position coincides with the one previously expressed by Estudiantes de La Plata, which also warned in a statement that there was no vote. That statement had been, until then, the only institutional objection to the crowning of the Rosario team.