Mauricio Macri during an event in his honor at the Alberto J Armando Stadium, home of Boca Juniors, in December 2015. Amilcar Orfali (Latin content via Getty Images)
Mauricio Macri has returned to battle. With one foot in the candidacy of the far-right Javier Milei for the second round on November 19, the former Argentine president (2015-2019) has just put the other in the place from which he catapulted his political career: the Club Atlético Boca Juniors. Macri announced this Monday that he will run as vice president of the football club in the elections on December 2nd. The election has already taken on the character of an epic battle. In front of him, Macri has the current vice-president of Boca, one of the architects of his sporting success and at the same time one of his great enemies: Juan Román Riquelme.
“I never dreamed of moving back into club management,” Macri announced at a press conference. He spoke in the company of Andrés Ibarra, an economist who was his minister both in the city of Buenos Aires and in the national government and will now run for the presidency of Boca Juniors. “It is an honor to have the support of Boca’s most successful president,” said Ibarra, “we will regain the lost glory and make Boca one of the five biggest clubs in the world.” It didn’t take long for Macri to take action against Riquelme: “I cannot leave Boca to arbitrariness, authoritarianism and arrogance.” “Our beloved Boca has no future on this path.”
Boca Juniors was Macri’s great stepping stone to reach Casa Roasda. He was president of the club between 1995 and 2007, and for twelve years he made Boca one of the most victorious teams in South American football. The team’s modern history cannot be explained without Macri: under his command, it won two Intercontinental Cups – against Real Madrid in 2000 and AC Milan in 2003 – and won four of the six Copa Libertadores in its history. The last election was won in 2007, when Macri ran for mayor of the city of Buenos Aires. Macri won, was head of government in the capital for eight years between 2007 and 2015 and was president of Argentina for the following four years. Meanwhile, he remained in control of Boca.
The train crashed in 2019. In October of that year, with popularity at rock bottom and inflation rising, Macri became the first president of Argentina’s democracy to run for re-election and lose; In December, their candidate lost the elections in Boca due to a formula that included Riquelme as vice president. In an election that marked the largest call for members to vote in history, Macri lost control of the club he had led for 23 years.
Boca Juniors fans cover their faces with masks bearing the image of Juan Román Riquelme during his legendary celebration in Buenos Aires in November 2019. Rodrigo Valle (Getty Images)
As vice president of Jorge Ameal, a former Macri ally, Riquelme became professional football’s strongman, responsible for all sporting decisions. His management had ups and downs: the team won six local titles in those four years, but failed to win another international tournament. His supporters owe him the training of numerous youth players and the restoration of the club’s identity to one of the most popular teams in the country; His critics criticize his improvisation in decisions – he hired five coaches in four years – and the team’s poor play. “We will be less bad than the others,” Riquelme even said to the critics who demanded that he improve his game as long as his team was champion.
Riquelme is a sacred word in the La Boca neighborhood. As a youngster who dribbled in the 2000 intercontinental victory against Real Madrid’s Galacticos and as a captain who returned from Europe at the peak of his career to win the Copa Libertadores in 2007, many Boca fans refer to him as block after block The team is the biggest reference in the competition. Argentine football against Diego Maradona or Lionel Messi. When he retired from football in 2015, he had a bit of both: with Messi he shared the overall vision on the pitch; Maradona’s self-confidence. He has not confirmed what position he will seek in the elections, but he has already criticized Macri and called on Boca members to think: “Do you want to continue to be a football club or be used for politics?”
Riquelme was the famous Macris Boca player who won 16 titles in 12 years, but also his terror. Fans still remember a goal against River in 2001, which he celebrated while pointing at Macri’s box with his hands behind his ears, and how the president let him go to Barcelona a year later because of his financial demands considered too high. Also how the extension of his contract a decade later, when he is now an experienced captain, triggered the resignation of the Macristas who opposed him.
In what appears to be the worst year of his political career, Macri has come back for it all. His electoral alliance was excluded from the presidential contest, but the former president has thrown his weight behind the ultra Javier Milei, who hopes to defeat Peronism in next Sunday’s national elections; and he managed to get his cousin Jorge elected mayor of Buenos Aires in the last elections. Now the final round of a battle that has been going on for decades is about Riquelme.