2024-03-07 18:22:44
In a country as passionate about football as Argentina, it is almost impossible to find someone who does not know who they are and what they did. Carlos Tevez during and after his career as a footballer. Different is the case of Pablo Tovigginothe AFA treasurer who came out to the “Apache” crossing on social networks after he complained about the arbitration of Pablo Dovalo in the tie between Independiente and Barracas Central: despite being one of the men with the greatest power and influence in Argentine football and having been involved in several controversies, he is not exactly among the leaders with the greatest visibility and public recognition. And that “anonymity” is anything but casual.
It is very likely that it will not be so difficult for San Martín fans to recognize who it is: Toviggino is the leader of Santiago del Estero (actually, he is from Rosario by birth) who faced in 2020 with Roberto Sagra -then president of “Santo”- when, as a consequence of the covid-19 pandemic, the AFA decided to suspend the relegations of the First National but not the promotions, which had to be defined on the field, although erasing what had happened up to that point. moment of the season. This decision mainly harmed San Martín and Atlanta, who were first in the race towards the Professional League. At that time, Sagra had accused Toviggino of acting “like (Silvio) Berlusconi” and threatening club presidents who opposed the AFA’s decisions via WhatsApp messages.
Toviggio arrived at the mother entity of Argentine football in 2015, propelled by a meteoric managerial career in Santiago. Without a past as a soccer player, he managed an establishment dedicated to equestrian activity before becoming a leader of the Comercio Central Unidos club. From there he weaved his political path towards the leadership of the Santiagueña Football League, from which he rose to the presidency of the Federal Football Council of the AFA, an organization that brings together some 3,500 clubs spread across more than 200 leagues in the country. country.
That same year, Toviggino was denounced for allegedly attempting to bribe assembly members in exchange for votes for the candidate. Luis Segura in the election against Marcelo Tinelli for the presidency of the AFA, which ended with a scandalous 38-38 tie (the voters were 75). The cause did not prosper, and through influences, Toviggino was later appointed as a member of the AFA Normalizing Commission, from where he began to build the arrival of Claudio Tapia to the presidency. “Chiqui” immediately established him as his right-hand man. Since then, Toviggino functions as a kind of super-minister with broad powers to intervene in a wide range of issues related to Argentine football, while Tapia is more linked to everything related to the National Team, today the strongest argument he supports. to its management.
It is even said that Toviggino handles the refereeing appointments for the federal tournaments and the Primera Nacional, something that had a lot to do with the controversial promotions of Deportivo Riestra and Barracas Central, a club of which he was vice president precisely during Tapia’s presidency.
One of the many functions of the Rosario-Santiagueño is to defend tooth and nail the management of “Chiqui” (whom he calls “Commander”), and that is why he usually gets involved in media discussions with figures who criticize the decisions of the AFA. Before Tevez – whom he accused of not having been “so studious” to take the coaching course and of having made much more serious fouls when he was a player than those he claims now as a coach – he had already targeted figures such as Juan Sebastian Veron and even his own Javier Zanetti.