Today, Thursday, an Argentine court issued a decision to prevent Claudio Tapia, president of the local football federation, from leaving the country and summoned him to appear before it for investigation in an alleged tax evasion case, according to a ruling published by the local press.
Claudio, nicknamed “Chickie” Tapia, has been summoned to appear in court on March 5, based on a complaint filed by the Argentine Tax Authority, which suspects him of tax evasion and embezzlement of social security funds.
Pablo Tuvigino, the Federation’s treasurer, was also summoned to appear before the court on the 6th of the same month. The travel ban also includes three other EU officials.
The court ruling states that “given the seriousness of the facts under investigation, it is appropriate to impose a travel ban on the aforementioned individuals,” without specifying the duration of this ban, in particular whether it will continue until their appearance before the court or extend beyond that.
The authorities are investigating whether the Argentine Football Association illegally retained retirement contributions from players and employees and evaded paying taxes between March 2024 and September 2025.
The judge ruled that there were “sufficient grounds to suspect the involvement of the aforementioned individuals in the facts under investigation,” according to the ruling reported by several media outlets.
In addition to this case, the Argentine Football Association is also under investigation for money laundering. This led to an inspection of its headquarters last December.
The Argentine Federation denounced a “smear campaign,” and confirmed that the businessman behind the lawsuit, who was excluded from organizing friendly matches for the world champions, has “the support of the national government, specifically the Minister of Justice, Mariano Cuneo Libarona.”
Relations are witnessing tension between Claudio Tapia, who has headed the federation since 2017 and has a history of union work, and the government of extremist liberal President Javier Meli.
Tapia, 58, strongly opposes the idea of turning Argentine football clubs, which have traditionally been associations of members, into sports companies open to foreign investment. It is a model supported by Milley.
