Nearly 200,000 fans led by a influencers of social networks go to the rescue of a historic Argentine soccer team. Antepenultimate in the first division league, abandoned by the president elected by his partners less than eight months ago, and with a debt accumulated over decades that reaches 20 million dollars, Independiente de Avellaneda needs a miracle. Led by Santiago Maratea, a young man known for starting solidarity collections among his followers on social networks, they have raised three million dollars in the last two months to calm the fire.
Independiente is one of the biggest teams in Argentina, but its glory is a throwback to the last century. Between the 1970s and the 1990s, they won 24 tournaments, including seven Copa Libertadores, a number never reached by another South American team, and they maintain the nickname of King of Cups. Seedbed of great players such as Ricardo Bochini, Sergio Kun Agüero or Diego Forlán, its last years have been marked by bad deals: a stadium that was half finished for years, complaints of unpaid salaries and player transfers that did not work out. This week’s news is a good example: the three million raised by his fans were used to pay part of a debt with América de México, to which they owed 5.7 million for the hiring of a defender who played just two seasons in Argentina.
It is only a quarter of the debt, but the fact that America has accepted a payment plan was good news. The Mexican team had sued the Argentine at the end of 2021 before the Court of Arbitration for Sport and, as Independiente could not pay the debt, FIFA sanctioned him by prohibiting him from hiring new players. The punishment will be lifted after this first payment, and Independiente, who lost 8 of the 22 games this season and is third from bottom in the league, will be able to strengthen for the next one.
A influencers to the rescue
Independiente comes from experiencing a profound political change. Last October, its president of nearly eight years was ousted. Hugo Moyano, the most powerful trade unionist in the country, who had revived the team after a relegation, ended up sinking amid accusations of fraudulent administration and money laundering. He was succeeded by journalist Fabián Doman, who landed in Independiente politics with unprecedented support: 70% of the members’ votes in a record turnout. It was a political coup in the country: a trade unionist linked to Peronism defeated before a outsider supported by all the center-right opposition. The change lasted just six months.
Doman resigned in mid-April as the team continued to lose. Without a coach or president, and while an interim commission rearmed the leadership, a influencers 30-year-old jumped to the rescue.
Santiago Maratea has nothing to do with the world of football and less with Independiente, but he knows how to raise money. Among his almost four million Instagram followers, he had raised funds for causes such as endowments for volunteer firefighters, medical treatment for children or hiring a charter flight so that 35 Argentine athletes could participate in the South American athletics event in Guayaquil, in 2021. Maratea He turned it into a way of life: he could post a payment link with no more clarification than “I’ll tell you later” and donations would rain down on him.
Independiente became his most popular cause: through a virtual payment platform, he raised more than 900 million Argentine pesos in two months, about 3.4 million dollars at the official exchange rate. What was in it for him? 5% of the collection. “Look, if they break their balls a lot, I’m going to start calling it my salary, so they understand what we’re talking about about that 5%,” he complained at the beginning of May, while being criticized for taking a cut of the collection.
Between the three million from Maratea and one million from the club’s coffers, Independiente has announced that it has less than two million dollars left to settle its debt with the Mexican team, which it will pay in three installments until next year. This Friday, Maratea announced that he received another $40,000 in donations, and that he will continue to lead the collection. Not only that, he has also proposed another dream: “If 100,000 Newell’s fans [un equipo popular de la ciudad de Rosario] put 16,000 pesos [unos 60 dólares]in a year they buy Messi ”.
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