The president of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), Claudio "Chiqui" Tapia, spoke on the streaming channel Gelatina about the controversial 30-team tournament.
According to the official, the current format of the First Division is not his fault: "If they're going to talk, let them all talk, don't blame me. How long have there been 30 teams? I didn't put the 30 teams. Have there been 30 teams since 2017? No. Last year the relegations were suspended, yes, but because the clubs came to propose it and we thought it was convenient."
"I take responsibility because I'm the president, but we always act accordingly and based on what the Argentine football officials propose to me, it doesn't come from me," he added.
Meanwhile, he denied that the elimination of relegations was to help Barracas Central, a club he was president of and where one of his sons plays: "They also said 'Barracas is going to be relegated,' last year it was 12/14 points above and they said we removed the relegations because of that. Lies."
What Tapia seems to not remember, or decides to omit, is that he himself said that the 30-team tournament was unfeasible. "There are no elite tournaments with the number of teams we have. In fact, if we look closely, it should have 18 teams," emphasized the AFA president in a 2019 interview with TyC Sports.
Moreover, as if that weren't enough, he had promised that by 2024, the number of teams in the First Division would be 22: "We commit that in five years this category will be as it should be, with 22 teams. We also think that the Superliga can't have the number of teams it has today and they are on that path, it should have 20 teams."
Where did the 30-team tournaments come from?
In 2015, the corrupt Julio Grondona left as his last legacy the first 30-team tournament, after suspending relegations and directly promoting 10 teams from the B Nacional. From there, and after his death, Tapia would assume the top position in the AFA and set out to reduce the number of teams.
