Argentine police raided the national football association headquarters and several top-flight clubs Tuesday in a sweeping money-laundering investigation, just months before the world champions are set to defend their title.
The raids targeted dozens of locations linked to a financial company that served as the official sponsor of both the Argentine league and the national team last year.
“So far there have been 25 to 30 raids of teams and private homes,” a police source told Agence France-Presse (AFP), confirming that the Argentine Football Association headquarters and the national team’s training facilities south of Buenos Aires were included.
First-division clubs hit in the operation included Racing, Independiente, Banfield and San Lorenzo.
The company under investigation is Sur Finanzas, whose owner is close to AFA president Claudio Tapia. Last month, tax authorities filed a complaint accusing the firm of dodging taxes on Argentine pesos equivalent to $550 million. Local media reported authorities are investigating whether the firm used frontmen to provide loans to clubs in exchange for benefits such as broadcasting rights.
The judge in charge has lifted banking confidentiality for the clubs under investigation.
Racing downplayed its ties to Sur Finanzas, saying in a statement that a 2023 commercial agreement with the company “was only an advertising and sponsorship deal,” set to expire on Dec. 31, 2025. The club also noted that Sur Finanzas owes it money.
Another raided club, Buenos Aires-based Atlético Excursionistas, denied any financial ties to the firm beyond a standard sponsorship deal.
The scandal comes as football in Lionel Messi’s Argentina – which lifted the 2022 World Cup trophy – is mired in power struggles. Several controversies have raised questions about the influence of Tapia, who has headed the AFA since 2017.
Tapia has clashed with the government of President Javier Milei, who favors turning football clubs into publicly traded companies, which AFA rules currently forbid.
In a controversial move last month, the AFA created a new championship combining points from the season’s two main league tournaments. Rosario Central – the club of former Paris Saint-Germain player Angel Di Maria – was crowned “Argentine champion,” even though the final of the closing tournament has yet to be played. Estudiantes, which is playing in Saturday’s final against Racing, rejected the title, and its president was suspended for six months by the AFA disciplinary tribunal.
One of the clubs raided, Barracas Central, was run by Tapia for two decades before his son took over. In recent months, anger has grown over alleged referee favoritism toward the club, which rose from the lower divisions to the top flight in recent years.
Tapia has remained defiant amid the growing controversies. “Three Argentine presidents have come and gone in just nine years since I began leading Argentine football, and I still have many years ahead,” he said two weeks ago, referring to the end of his current mandate in 2028.
