The AFA president tried to shield himself from criticism over the format of the Argentine league by comparing it to the Champions League
During an interview with the sports channel TyC Sports, the main person responsible for the body that regulates soccer in the country tried to defend himself. In his exchange with the media, he stated that his administration is in tune with the transformations taking place at the international level.
Without a doubt, for some time now, Argentine soccer has been going through its darkest moments with Claudio Chiqui Tapia at the helm of the AFA. After the elimination of relegations in the previous season, the governing body of national soccer resumed the old idea of the mafioso Julio Grondona of a First Division with 30 teams, only with a different format.
Unlike what was imposed by Don Julio 10 years ago, the top category is divided into two tournaments, Apertura and Clausura, which use the play-off format to determine the champion. Currently, the 30 participating teams are divided into two zones of 15, where the top 8 from each qualify for a play-off that starts from the round of 16.
This format is the result of the multiple experiments by Chiqui Tapia to make Argentine soccer more "attractive", even though, at times, it's difficult to even understand how it works. As soon as he took office, he wanted to return to 20-team tournaments, but over time, and with a pandemic in between, the president of the AFA decided to keep adding clubs, until returning to 30 in the current season.
Since the announcement of the elimination of relegations and the presentation of the 2025 tournament format, numerous criticisms directed at the head of the AFA quickly emerged, who this Tuesday spoke again regarding the objections about the current organization of the national league.
"Soccer has changed. The Champions League is played with more teams, the World Cup is played with more teams, the Club World Cup is played with more teams," Tapia began, comparing the local scene with the main global tournaments. He then added: "We are training clubs. We have 10 more teams in the First Division, representing 360 more professional players."
Regarding the much-debated suspension of relegations, Tapia was blunt and emphasized: "The Argentine soccer leaders requested the 30-team tournament from me, they asked to suspend relegations, we understood it was the right thing to do."
What Tapia seems not to understand, or chooses to ignore, is that the comparisons he is making are with cups and not with long tournaments. No country that considers itself serious has more than 20 teams in its first division. This can be seen both at the European level, with the 5 major leagues (Spain, England, Germany, Italy, and France), and at the South American level, with the Brasileirao, whose teams have been dominating the latest international competitions.
