The Argentine Football Association (AFA) clubs will vote on Thursday on whether the private sports corporations model (SAD for their Spanish acronym) should be included in its statutes as a valid organization structure. This comes just days after most of them issued statements against the idea.

“On Thursday, at the conclusion of the Ordinary General Assembly, the delegates will vote on the incorporation of the private sports corporations into AFA statutes,” reads the statement sent by Argentine football’s governing body to its member clubs.

Under the current AFA statutes, the member clubs of the association cannot be private sports corporations — as per Article 10 of its membership statute, clubs are currently required to be non-profit civil associations.

The debate on whether clubs as private sports corporations has been a central theme in Argentine football in recent months. President-elect Javier Milei backed the system during his campaign — his political ally, former president Mauricio Macri, has also been a long-time proponent of the idea. “In a world where we all aim to choose freely, let the members of each club choose,” Macri told Infobae in 2017.

However, most Argentine football clubs rejected the idea recently, releasing statements defending their status as non-profit civil organizations. 

“Faithful to its origins and respectful of the clear principles it has defended for almost 120 years, Boca Juniors reaffirms its character as a non-profit civil association and [stays true] to the premise that our club belongs to its people, its members, who make it greater every day,” the club wrote.

Should the clubs vote in favor of the private model, it would still require a law in Congress to be implemented. However, the expectation is that clubs will uphold their rejection of the system.