We need to leverage what we have: today it means more players are being formed in the First Division, and that's the good part that I don't know why isn't highlighted. Despite Malaspina's emphasis on defending Tapia, the reality is that there were indeed 30 teams in the First Division when he became president of the AFA in 2017. However, there was a clear attempt to reduce this number for a couple of years, and it even reached 24 in 2020, but this initiative was reversed again to return to 30. As for the Primera Nacional, when Tapia took office, the league had 23 teams, and now it has 36. The day Macri intervened to prevent San Lorenzo and Huracán from being relegated In another part of the interview, Malaspina recalled that in 2017, then-President of the Nation, Mauricio Macri, intervened to prevent San Lorenzo and Huracán from being relegated. "When the relegations started in the Superliga and with financial fair play, a national government got involved and did not want the point deduction for two big clubs, Huracán and San Lorenzo were going to be relegated," Malaspina began his story. He concluded: "Their fair play had gone wrong and with such a large point deduction, both teams would have gone to B. There was a call from the Casa Rosada to a leader of a big club to go talk to the clubs because points could not be taken away from them." Buenos Aires, November 26 (NA) – The president of Argentinos Juniors and general secretary of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), Christian Malaspina, defended the First Division tournament with 30 teams and recalled that "it comes from the time of Julio Grondona." "We have a reality of 30 teams that is not a reality that Tapia invented, this comes from the time of Grondona," Malaspina pointed out, in dialogue with the medium "La Fábrica del Podcast" for an interview to which the Argentine News Agency had access. He also emphasized: "They wanted to federalize football and it led to a situation that today is very difficult to get out of. I believe that with that reality, this format is ideal for many reasons: it is the way to make it more competitive." In turn, Malaspina also highlighted: "There is no league in the world where in almost every match something as transcendent as a playoff, playing a cup, or fighting for relegation is at stake." In his defense of the current situation of Argentine football, Malaspina also backed the president of the AFA, Claudio 'Chiqui' Tapia: "It's difficult for him, overnight, to reduce 10 teams from A, 10 teams from B... You are annihilating the clubs."
