The financial company Sur Finanzas, founded in AdroguĂ© in 2022, has recently been denounced for laundering a total of $72.342 billion. According to the Argentine News Agency, the company has been the main sponsor of Banfield since 2022, with President Eduardo Spinosa at the helm of the club, and continues to be featured on the chest of the team's jersey to this day. Additionally, at the beginning of the year, the sponsorship was renewed, reformulating the terms of the debt that the 'Drill' (Banfield's nickname) maintains with the aforementioned company. In the midst of a scandal for being accused of laundering over 70 billion pesos through 74 fake companies, Sur Finanzas is in a very difficult situation, which also affects clubs like Banfield and San Lorenzo, to which it has made loans, as well as the Argentine Football Association (AFA). Rodrigo Auzmendi celebrates a goal against Newell's. Thus, the company moved to the prime spot on the chest, a position it maintains to this day, even after the presidential change (in October 2024, opposition leader MatĂas Mariotto took office). Regarding the 'Drill', Ariel Vallejo, one of the owners of the financial company and very active on social media X (formerly Twitter), has claimed to be 'helping Banfield' and has promoted free packages to watch the club in the Argentine Cup, including transportation and a ticket. Furthermore, despite arriving at the club with Spinosa, the businessman was highly critical of the former president after Mariotto's assumption, describing that period at the club as 'terrible' and showing his support for an audit, one of the main campaign promises of the current green-and-white leader, which has not been fulfilled. After Banfield, Sur Finanzas began to expand in the national football scene, reaching Platense, Barracas Central, and even Racing, until it was confirmed as the sponsor of the Argentine national team and the First Division tournament, also giving its name to the reserve tournament of the top tier of Argentine football. Therefore, AFA President Claudio 'Chiqui' Tapia could be linked to the investigation. Another club linked to the financial company is San Lorenzo, which started taking loans in exchange for promissory notes with a 36% annual interest rate and has already received more than $1.9 billion from the company of Graciela and Ariel Vallejo. The club would start the season with only one advertisement on its jersey, the logo of the Municipality of Lomas de Zamora on the sleeves, until February 11, the day the club would play its first match, when the arrival of Sur Finanzas as a sponsor was announced. The company was linked to the club's former president, Eduardo Spinosa, and had been recently founded. It was initially placed on the back, below the number, although a month later it was confirmed as the main sponsor.
