On December 17, the election of the president of the Boca Juniors Club was held at the Candy Box Stadium. A total of 43,367 members took part in the vote, which was a record high. Boca Juniors and former Argentine national team midfielder Riquelme were elected by a high vote, and he also became the club president with the most votes in the history of Argentine football. Riquelme has a four-year term ending at the end of 2027.
Riquelme, who was even more popular, was elected president of Boca Juniors.
Since 2019, Riquelme has been vice-president of Boca Juniors. In this campaign, he ran alongside the current president, Jorge Amor Amear. On the other hand, Andrés Ibaha partnered Mauricio Macri, the former president of Boca Juniors and Argentina. In this election, Ameal and Macri are both running as candidates for vice president.
Macri, who was president of Boca Juniors from 1995 to 2007, entered politics in the late 1990s thanks to his reputation in football. In 2003, he founded his own "Promise for Change" party. In 2005, he was elected to the House of Representatives. In 2007, he won the Buenos Aires mayoral election and was re-elected in 2011. In November 2015, he was elected to the Argentine Republic** for a four-year term.
Although the former Macri helped out, the opposition camp lost badly. For the 17 December election, there will be 285 ballot boxes. After the counting of the 126 ballot boxes, Riquelme received 15,876 votes and Ibaha 8,715. At this point, Ibaha conceded defeat. "Based on the difference and **, we believe that it is enough to admit that we have failed," he said in a statement. ”
Macri is the most successful president in the history of Boca Juniors, having won six Copa Libertadores titles and three Intercontinental Cups, four of which were won under him. As the "last 10", Riquelme is the second-best 10 in Boca Juniors' history, behind former superstar Maradona. During his time at Boca Juniors, Riquelme helped the team win three Copa Libertadores titles and one Intercontinental Cup, all during Macri's presidency.
However, as early as 2007, there was a conflict between Riquelme and Macri because of contract renewal and salary issues. In the same year, Macri stepped down as president of Boca to become mayor of Buenos Aires, while Riquelme played until 2014. In the post-Macri era, Riquelme had a bad deal with Macri's confidant, Daniel Angelisi, who would later be president of Boca Juniors.
Argentina's former ** Macri suffered a heavy defeat.
On 13 November, Macri announced his candidacy for the presidency of the Boca Juniors Club as a candidate for vice-president of the Ibaha camp. During the election campaign, Macri attacked Riquelme, saying that he was cronyistic and that he and his brother decided the fate of Boca Juniors. Macri said: "I can't throw Boca to arbitrariness, ** and **...Follow this path, there is no future. To say that Boca is the yard of his house, as if it were his house. Boca is one of the largest sports bodies in the world, and everyone should understand that we are at the service of Boca. ”
Riquelme retorted. "This election is about whether we are a football club or whether we have someone like that [Macri] to use the club for politics. Macri shot back: "Boca is Boca, politics is politics." I came to establish a working mechanism that is transparent, methodical, respectful and non-arbitrary. ”
In addition, the Ibaha and Macri camps have also promised to build a new stadium for Boca Juniors to replace the Candy Box stadium. "Boca needs a first-world, modern, all-functional stadium and we need three years to build it," Ibaha said. The plan proposed by Riquelme's camp is to buy some plots around the Candy Box stadium and expand the Candy Box. In addition, Riquelme's camp accused Macri and others of wanting to privatize Boca Juniors.
As of the beginning of 2023, Boca Juniors has 3140,000 members. This makes it the second most membered club in the world and the first most in South America, behind Bayern Munich with 330,000 members. However, in the election of the president of the Boca Juniors Club, only 94,188 members have the right to vote.
The election for the president of the Boca Junior Club was scheduled for December 3, but the Ibaha and Macri camps raised the issue of illegality in the voting rights of 13,300 members and filed a lawsuit in court to suspend the elections. However, on December 11, the court issued a second-instance verdict, holding that the 13,300 members were eligible to vote and that the election was held as scheduled.
The newly elected Argentine ** Mille, who is also a member of the Boca Juniors Club, went to the Candy Box Stadium on the morning of December 17 to vote. Macri and Milley are political allies, and Milley was elected with Macri's support. However, at the Candy Box Stadium, Milley was booed, and some fans even scolded him as a "thief", which made him very shameless. In the end, the politician Macri was defeated by former star Riquelme, and the "last 10" of world football was elected president of Boca Juniors.
Argentina's incumbent ** Milley (center) was booed and scolded during the vote.