The Argentine Foreign Ministry announced on Monday a new program in which Estudiantes de La Plata football coaches will develop footballers across several Caribbean countries. The initiative will be backed by the Fondo Argentino de Cooperación Sur-Sur y Triangular (known as FO.AR), one of Argentina’s foreign policy mechanisms to develop cooperation projects with other countries.

The coaching initiative, called “Argentine-Caribbean Youth Football: Training of Trainers Programme,” will see Estudiantes run an eight-week virtual course from February to March 2025, followed by a five-day intensive football clinic at the UWI/JFF Horace Burrell Center of Excellence in Jamaica in April 2025, with all expenses covered by the government.

According to the Argentine embassy in Jamaica, the goal is to “strengthen youth football in 10 Caribbean countries, promoting technical development and new opportunities through sport.”

The announcement comes at a very controversial moment. Last Wednesday, Argentine Football Association (AFA) treasurer Pablo Toviggino accused Estudiantes president Juan Sebastián Verón of lying to club members about the club’s investment deal with American business magnate Foster Gillett, the terms of which have been jealously guarded.

On Saturday, President Javier Milei said in an interview with Radio Mitre that the club would soon become a private sports corporation (SAD by its Spanish initials), something Verón denied. 

The situation escalated on Sunday as Boca Juniors informed AFA that the payment to activate midfielder Cristian Medina’s contract release clause — announced as an Estudiantes signing — had come from Gillett’s personal account, which could be seen as a case of third party ownership, which is banned by FIFA.