The preview of the new year was agitated for the universe of Argentine football and the afternoon of this Tuesday was added with a new episode to the last intense days around the Professional Football League (LPF), after several leaders meet informally amid a tense climate linked to the request for the removal of its president, Marcelo Tinelli. The first novelty that took place in the offices that the LPF has in the Puerto Madero neighborhood was the surprising appearance of Juan Román Riquelme, vice president of Boca, one of the clubs that had not signed the petition last week. As reported by the agency Telam, The meeting concluded with the agreement between 18 leaders of the LPF to make the request for elections to Tinelli in the first conclave of the entity next year, scheduled for January 11, after the question of his removal was not discussed. at the meeting but the discomfort of a significant number of clubs due to his management was noted.
The representatives of Aldosivi, Lanús, Argentinos, Independiente, Gimnasia, Estudiantes, Godoy Cruz, Rosario Central, Huracán, Defensa y Justicia, Arsenal, Colón, Platense, Sarmiento and Central Córdoba de Santiago del Estero were those who had signed the note that on December 24 requested the extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee to deal with the removal and, therefore, they were the institutions that arrived at the meeting scheduled for 15 on Tuesday with their position made explicit in advance. The recently promoted Barracas Central was another of those expected to join the list with the same position.
Boca, on the other hand, did contribute news this Tuesday, related to the significant appearance of Riquelme at the meeting in Puerto Madero. The Xeneize vice president and top idol of the Ribera club appeared surprisingly at 3:23 p.m. at the LPF headquarters on the hot afternoon in Buenos Aires. Dressed in black, the leader entered the building located at 771 Olga Cossettini street. His presence assumes a position – which is supposed to be solid – of Boca in relation to Tinelli’s situation, after his institution had not officially made its opinion explicit after the vertigo of the last days. In the meeting, in fact, Riquelme sat next to the first vice president and head of Argentinos Juniors, Cristian Malaspina, who had harshly criticized the president of San Lorenzo (of license, until May 2022) and warned that the body of the LPF would make use of article 16, paragraph 8, of its regulations, for its removal. Such subsection enables the Executive Committee – if it has a majority, which would be the case – to change authorities.
Boca’s second vice president avoided the press and was in tune with the rest of the leaders, who did not express an opinion on the matter. The meeting was also attended, among others, by Ricardo Carloni from Rosario Central, Luis Chebel from Lanús, Héctor Maldonado from Independiente, José Lemme from Defense and Justice and David Garzón from Huracán.
As reported by the agency Telam, the meeting also added the novelty of the presence of Racing -through a representative- as well as the absence of Tinelli himself -who was not present or participated in the meeting through Zoom-, while from River they slipped that they are “out of the fight.”
With January 11 in the sights as the date for the resolution of the tension and with the meeting on Tuesday as a prelude to an increasingly consolidated position from the clubs, it will be the first conclave of next year that formally defines what will happen with the Professional League.
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