In Argentine football, already shaken by cross-accusations, suspicions over refereeing, asset investigations, and cases involving fund movements, the rejection of Tapias's request reinforces the image of a leadership besieged by the judiciary. The case has already passed the inquiry stage, and the judge is in a position to decide in the coming days whether to prosecute, dismiss, or find a lack of merit for the five main defendants. However, the judicial refusal makes it clear that, for now, his institutional role is not sufficient to obtain broad procedural privileges. The president of the AFA can continue to request specific authorizations for concrete commitments, but he did not achieve what he was really looking for: to be freed for two months from the judicial straitjacket on the eve of the planet's most important tournament. The court had already shown it was willing to evaluate specific permits when the information was complete and properly supported, but this time it understood that the president of the AFA was seeking a sort of preventive safe-conduct that the case, in its current state, does not justify. In practice, the judge considered the request too open, with undetermined destinations and without a fixed agenda that would allow verifying the need, urgency, and proportionality. The central argument for the rejection was forceful. Amarante stated that the “imprecision of the alleged reasons,” the “lack of current documentation,” and the “previous conduct records” prevented the necessary proportionality test to relax the measure. The judge also recalled inconsistencies in previous travel requests, including one linked to Venezuela, which had already raised objections due to the information provided about its purpose. The judicial background of the case explains why the refusal cannot be read as a mere administrative matter. Tapias was investigated in the case along with the treasurer Pablo Tovig and other AFA leaders after the ARA reported the alleged misappropriation of 19,353,546,843.85 pesos linked to tax withholdings and social security contributions deducted between March 2024 and September 2025, and according to the accusation, not deposited with the treasury. Buenos Aires, March 25, 2026 - Total News Agency - TNA - The president of the AFA, Claudio “Chiqui” Tapias, suffered a major political and sports judicial setback on Wednesday when Judge Diego Amarante rejected his request to leave the country for 60 days in a general capacity, within the framework of the investigation into the alleged withholding of contributions, taxes, and social security charges for over 19.3 billion pesos. He even offered alternative control mechanisms, such as travel reports and periodic appearances, but the court understood that the proposal was not enough to lift the precautionary measure in place. The message is clear: until his legal situation is defined, Tapias will remain under strict judicial control. The political impact of the decision is not minor. The decision leaves the leader without the flexibility he sought less than three months before the start of the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and forces him to continue requesting individual permission each time he needs to travel abroad. The magistrate's ruling came at a particularly sensitive moment for the leadership of Argentine football. Tapias's defense had argued that his institutional activity was incompatible with the dynamics of requesting permission by permission and sought to replace that scheme with a broad permit that would allow him to move without requiring prior authorization on each occasion. With 78 days until the World Cup debut, the economic criminal case has thus become a factor that directly conditions the international agenda of the most powerful man in Argentine football. This proximity to decisions makes any attempt to relax precautionary measures even more delicate. For Tapias, the blow also has a symbolic dimension. The 2026 World Cup will begin on June 11, and the AFA's international agenda grows as the world's biggest football event approaches. He also emphasized that it was not a specific request, like other exceptional permits already granted in the file, but a generic permission that required a much higher level of precision and compliance.
