Palmaflor’s transfer to Evo exposes club to legal mess

“If we have a club, we have every right (…) Evo Morales could become president of the Bolivian Football Federation.” The statement of MAS senator Leonardo Loza reflected the future, although the present has not yet happened. About two weeks ago, the former president of Bolivia announced the start of the “legal transfer” of the Palmaflor club to the Six Federations of the Tropics. According to experts, legal hurdles that could harm the team must be overcome in order for the agreement to be signed.

One of these drawbacks is in the Law on Granting Legal Entity No. 351 and its Decree No. 1597. “Devir” puts the sports institution in danger of losing its legal status. “There is an administrative offense. It is already shown only with the announcement. The issue of whether it’s free or not is the least. The point is that Article 11 of Law No. 351 can be violated”, explained Johan Zambrana, a graduate lawyer in sports law.

Article 11 of the ban on transfer of legal personality “prohibits any transfer and/or commercialization of the legal personality of collective persons.” In clause d of article 19 of the Decree No. 1597, “by way of transfer or commercialization of legal entity” is the cancellation.

“No club in Bolivia, including the FBF, can exceed the national standards protected by FIFA by their statutes and regulations. The Federation also recognizes the State of Bolivia as the state granting legal status,” he said.

On Monday, the 14th of this month, the leaders of the Palmaflor club met with Evo Morales in Cochabamba. A day later, it was reported that the transfer of the professional club from Cochabamba to the Six Federation of the Tropics was decided. “This is a leadership decision,” said Julio César Mollo, former head of the Valluno team. He managed Las Fieras, which played in the Copa Sudamericana in 2020.

A source from the cocaleros group working on the transfer did not identify “any problems as there were legal consultations on how to proceed and organize ourselves”.

Is the trophy at risk?

“Like 99% of clubs in Bolivia, Palmaflor is a non-profit association, so it cannot be transferred to a non-profit association, it should just be a change of board,” said Ricardo Alípaz, a lawyer who specializes in sports law.

For Zambrana, “the first principle is that non-profit civil associations cannot transfer their legal personality, so Palmaflor does not comply. Who should revoke this legal status? If the governor of Cochabamba and the governor do not cancel, the Deputy Minister of Autonomy can intervene under the direction of the legal entity affiliated to the Presidential Ministry.

According to the lawyer, if the legal status is revoked, “FBF will have to leave the Palmaflor club and will therefore lose its place in the Copa Sudamericana this year.”

I didn’t “want” the transfer

Another former club president, Édgar Aduviri, regretted the transfer. “I can’t, sorry, I didn’t want to but what can I do? I got on the team from B, we went to Simón Bolívar and went professional and now… it’s not possible”, the former agriculture-dedicated Palmaflor boss was embarrassed.

Page Seven also tried to contact the current leaders of the Valluno team, but none of them agreed. A source explained that workers have received orders not to come to the agency’s offices. Sports reporters from Cochabamba said they saw Evo Morales, Loza and former Sports Minister Tito Montaño entering the yellow team’s facilities almost every day.

They revealed that the current board leaders, dissatisfied with the transfer of the club to Cocaleros, “do not want”, but the remaining members of the miner’s cooperative. Club responsibility accepted.

The disturbance also reached Quillacollo, the team’s headquarters. The organizations rejected the transfer because they thought it would mean “a loss for the municipality”.

The District’s Civic Committee explained that the Quillacollo Mayor’s Office has 1,500 employees with team season tickets, that if the deal is finalized they will have to go to Villa Tunari, the Bicentennial stadium; to Entre Ríos, Carlos Villegas stadium and Puerto Villarroel, Evo Morales to see the team.

It was also anticipated that compensation would be sought for the damage done to the municipality, which invested more than one million Bolivians in the settlement of Palmaflor, according to Mayoral officials.

Evo on FBF

Senator Loza said Evo’s other goal could be to reach FBF, after completing his plan to bring professional football to Chapare.

“Brother Evo told me that sometimes in Argentina they asked him if he would be president of Bolivia again and he replied yes, but he replied jokingly from the Football Association of Bolivia. Loza, we have every right to join Red PAT as a club and why? not matter, in the future Evo Morales may be president of the federation.” Currently, the cocaleros have agreed that Morales will be the owner of Palmaflor.

not yet signed

“Details are lacking,” Loza confirmed to the Página Siete investigation into why the agreement had not yet been signed. In Cochabamba this was more obvious. “We do not want to be mistaken. I hope we will sign the final document in the coming days for legal reasons,” he said. Edwin Callapino, VP at FBF, said, “We won’t be commenting on it until something official happens. It’s not easy”.

Evo on FBF

Senator Loza said Evo’s other goal could be to reach FBF, after completing his plan to bring professional football to Chapare.

“Brother Evo told me that sometimes in Argentina they asked him if he would be president of Bolivia again and he replied yes, but he replied jokingly from the Football Association of Bolivia. Loza, we have every right to join Red PAT as a club and why? not matter, in the future Evo Morales may be president of the federation.” Currently, the cocaleros have agreed that Morales will be the owner of Palmaflor.

not yet signed

“Details are lacking,” Loza confirmed to the Página Siete investigation into why the agreement had not yet been signed. In Cochabamba this was more obvious. “We do not want to be mistaken. I hope we will sign the final document in the coming days for legal reasons,” he said. Edwin Callapino, VP at FBF, said, “We won’t be commenting on it until something official happens. It’s not easy”.

Own goal in Palmaflor’s transfer to cocaleros

Vinto Atlético Palmaflor Municipal Club is a football club from Quillacollo, Cochabamba. It was founded on September 10, 2008 and has been playing in the Professional Division of the Football Association of Bolivia (FBF) since 2020. After being promoted to the Professional Division, its name was changed from Club Municipal Vinto to Club Atlético Palmaflor.

According to the news in different written and television media, the meeting between Sarzuri Huarachi, representing Atlético Palmaflor club, held on November 15, 2022 in Trópico Federation; On the one hand Rolando Flores Huaynoca on behalf of the Palmaflor Mining Cooperative, on the other hand Juan Evo Morales Ayma and María Eugenia Ledezma Caba on behalf of the Women’s and Men’s Coordinator of the Six Tropical Federation are determined at the first spot “…to carry out the transfer in addition to cooperation in team administrative management…”.

Legal-administrative-sports results arise from this “transfer”. Administrative sanction: Revocation or revocation of legal status with immediate effect on FBF, which must warn the Palmaflor club president about the violations committed. In addition to what has been explained about the legal-administrative effect of this “transfer”, it has a legal-sports effect, and this is the loss of all sports competitions: national and international, respectively, since at that time the legal status of the Atlético Palmaflor club, in case of an administrative decision by the competent authority will be revoked or revoked and as a legal consequence will forfeit and terminate all of its rights (including sports rights) as well as its obligations.

Despite this, FIFA, through the 18 duplicitous articles of the RETJ, does not allow a person to address a club’s independence, policies or the performance of their teams, directly or indirectly, in matters of work and transfer issues. Everything about Club Atlético Palmaflor done Illegal.

In the examined case, I think that there is a real, fundamental and material violation of the duplicate article of Article 18 of RETJ.FIFA, since the independence of the club is affected and limited in a way that disrupts the integrity of the competition. at risk, because third-party buyers violated the norm first

When the defender of the “transfer” object of these lines is the person who issued the Legal Entity Law and its regulations, the law is more strict and stricter. own goal