Marcelo Tinelli asked to challenge the presidential list of the Professional League and denounced irregularities to the Justice

When it seemed that football had finally closed its last chapter of political tension, a piece of news shook the leadership board of the Professional Football League. Cristian Malaspina had been elected president of the entity after heading the only list that was presented, but the current president Marcelo Tinelli filed a request to challenge the electoral process to renew authorities.

The man who has been in charge of the first football in the country since March 2020, when the body was still named Superliga, had to leave his post from April 8 after the elections but in the last hours that process remained on standby.

Among the arguments put forward by Tinelli's space are that the mandate of Malaspina and its Board of Directors was stipulated until 2023, the non-inclusion of management in the items on the Assembly agenda, irregularities in the inclusion of Hernán Arboleya (2nd alternate member of Lanús), the lack of some requirements in other candidates for positions and problems with the old Super League.

Malaspina, an authority of Argentinos Juniors and who was listed as 1st vice president of the Tinelli management, presented a list with Héctor Maldonado (Independent), José Alonso (Colón) and David Garzón (Huracán) as vice-presidents and placed the aforementioned Arboleya in the role of secretary. According to Tinelli's presentation, the director of Garnet is not qualified.

The substitute member of the southern club was first deputy secretary and then vice president during the administration of Nicolás Russo. Lanús regulations prevent the same person from holding positions for more than two terms and the Professional League requires that the managers of the main table be in top positions in their clubs. Therefore, Arboleya would not meet the requirements to become a secretary since he holds an alternate role in his entity.

“The only list that was presented in this electoral process flawed of nullity, its candidates have not met the minimum requirements for admission as such,” states the presentation noting that the candidates did not provide information required by the General Regulations of the League as accreditation of the absence of bankruptcies and contests, or criminal records. “That is why, at the time of sending you this letter, I already challenged the formation of the aforementioned list (in addition to requesting the nullity of the entire electoral process),” he told his peers.

Tinelli brought her legal concern to justice, sent a letter to the AFA and then contacted the presidents of the clubs that are under the orbit of the LPF to detail their allegations. There he returned to the concept he had already proposed last December 24 when he learned that a number of clubs were asking for his departure: “I consider destabilization institutional coup”, he said at the time.

“The passage of time only confirmed that this was nothing more than an institutional coup. As part of this impeachment attempt, an electoral process was launched, fraught with all kinds of irregularities and anomalies. Among them, we can highlight that the Assembly was never called to consider the current management, a point that is more than important to respect the institutionality”, he explained today.

The host and television entrepreneur, who called for elections during the first days of January of this year, assured that he will not be part of the next administration of the Professional League but reaffirmed its decision to leave with an orderly transition without irregularities.

At the same time, he reminded his colleagues that in July 2021 he sent a communication to the president of the AFA, Claudio Tapia, to remind him of the old operating problems that were unresolved. “It's like they say 'I don't solve it to Tinelli, but to another who subordinates himself on all issues, yeah. ' It is inexplicable that, if the issues could have been defined from 2017 until today, almost all of the problems mentioned have not been resolved,” Tinelli said without forgetting that Malaspina will take the lead as an ally of Chiqui Tapia. In this item, he assured that he demanded responses for, among other things, local and international audiovisual rights, review of sponsors and active participation in the process of appointing arbitrators.

The election of the next authorities of the entity that will regulate the country's main football “must be legitimate, transparent and comply with all the corresponding steps,” he clarified to justify his decision to transfer his legal concerns to the Justice. Now we will have to wait if they accept the precautionary measure and stop the election process of the League.

“In no way can I leave my post in the middle of a dirty campaign of such dimensions, without considering my management and that of those who accompanied me on the Board of Directors. As if all that was known were little, in recent days I became aware of actions that concern the future of the First Division. Those who intend to occupy - whatever the case may be - the position of president and secretary go to the headquarters of the LPF to give instructions to employees and occupy offices assigned to the current members of the work teams, without considering that there are authorities in place and that they have not yet been proclaimed. These indications are contrary to those given to the employees and collaborators themselves by the current LPF authorities. This means a new serious lack of ethics and an outrage of all leaders, employees and collaborators,” was one of the strongest paragraphs of his six-page letter.

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