The president of Vélez, Fabián Berlanga, strongly came out in support of Claudio 'Chiqui' Tapia amid the tensions between the National Government, the Argentine Football Association (AFA), and several Argentine football clubs. Berlanga stated that he saw the head of the mother association 'calm, giving reasons and defending his position' and compared the current criticism of Tapia to the one he himself received when he took over his club. 'When he took over the AFA, it was a broken AFA, a total mess, with that famous 38-38 fiasco, and today they have done many things,' he emphasized in an interview with Radio 10. In the same vein, Berlanga directly attacked the Executive Branch and linked the political offensive with the intention of promoting Sports Anonymous Societies (SAD): 'I think they are the ones who are pushing a bit for the SAD and they are wrong.' 'I have two SADs abroad that owe Vélez almost five million dollars,' he gave as an example. 'We don't owe anything to any club, but they do owe us,' he said, reinforcing his stance in defense of the traditional associative model. Berlanga also referred to Juan Sebastián Verón, president of Estudiantes de La Plata, who was critical of the current AFA leadership, and openly invited the leader to participate in the meetings and voice his differences. 'It would be good for him to come and express everything he thinks is wrong.' He also closed with a personal example about the risk of external negotiations: 'I had problems with Foster and no one called again, even though there were signed papers.' 'No political party benefits from getting involved with the clubs, because we play a very important social role,' he concluded. Additionally, he was firm in stating that in Vélez there is no possibility of moving towards a privatized model due to what its statutes establish. The leader also questioned the functioning of SADs abroad, where —according to him— there are significant non-compliances that affect the club itself. 'Both of us had bad experiences with foreign entities.' 'I don't think it's a problem between institutions, it's something else,' he expressed.
