‘Lack of respect’ – Outrage in Argentina as influencer lines up for top-flight football match

A top-flight club this week drew the ire of the country's football community  after selecting an influencer with no professional experience in its starting XI for a top-flight match.

"Wrong message,” and "lack of respect" – that was just some of the reaction after Iván Buhajeruk – better known as streamer “Spreen” – took to the pitch wearing a Deportivo Riestra shirt in the clash against league-leading Vélez Sarsfield on Monday. 

The wave of repudiation swept through Argentine football, leading on Tuesday to Argentine Football Association (AFA) demanding an investigation and the excuses of the club.

Among the 11 players lined up by Deportivo Riestra to play Vélez in the 22nd fixture of the Liga Profesional de Fútbol was Buhajeruk, 24. 

"Spreen"has some 15 million followers on his social media channels, including more than nine million on Twitch.

The streamer remained on the pitch for just 78 seconds without touching the ball before being substituted, leaving his team with one less possible substitution in a match which ended 1-1.

‘Disrespect’

Braian Romero, the championship’s top scorer who notched his 12th goal of the season for Vélez in the match, afterwards referred to Spreen’s debut as "disrespect towards football."

It also sent a "bad message” to society. "Today television showed kids a short cut," said Romero.

"What happened today is the wrong message to society and those kids who try so hard. From my position I want to tell them that is not the way and that they should keep trying because that is what football is all about. If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again," he added.

Spreen totals over 17 million followers between Twitch and YouTube and the rest. But he has never played professional football nor trained in the little leagues.

Yet Riestra's post on X announcing Spreen's presence in their line-up racked up 3.4 million views, compared to the several thousand for a typical match.

While the stunt took the small club viral, it was strongly criticised on social media. Football figures in Argentina lambasted the club.

Estudiantes de La Plata president and former World Cup star Juan Sebastián Verón considered it "a total lack of respect for football and footballers."

AFA on Tuesday opened up a case file for its ethics tribunal to investigate the inclusion of the streamer and establish if Deportivo Riestra incurred in "conduct likely to impair the integrity of Argentine football and bring the game into disrepute."

‘Marketing initiative’

In a statement, the club said that it recognised that "this marketing initiative triggered many negative opinions" and assured that they had no intention of "lacking any respect for the Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield nor for Argentine football in general."

"We want to offer our sincerest apologies to those who might feel offended," states the publication, explaining that the Riestra coach had told his Vélez counterpart about the initiative during the week before the match.

The club assured that its objective "was [and is] to attract new audiences to football, building bridges between different worlds and platforms to keep boosting the product and our club."

Vélez president Fabián Berlanga commented ironically on the issue by ruling out the possibility of the famous music personality Bizarrap, who is a fan of his club, playing a match for them.

"We could not send that fat little fellow out to play," he said in a radio interview although he preferred not to give his opinion regarding Spreen’s inclusion.

Riestra captain Milton Céliz said: "He's a friend of the club, he has a contract... let him enjoy it, everyone would like to play in the first division." 

But Céliz admitted that he "understands the criticism."

The decision was "not our responsibility [as players], it's a matter for the owners [of the club]," he added.

Suspicions

Deportivo Riestra is a small club. It was promoted to the top flight last season after climbing five divisions in the last 10 years, drive by lawyer Víctor Stinfale, who was its president and owns a energy drinks company which sponsors the club.

However, recent reports have increased speculation over the scandal. On Tuesday some media outlets in Argentina raised suspicions over the stunt. 

The Clarín newspaper reported that last Monday an online betting firm had promoted a lucrative bet as to whether Spreen would be a starting player.

"Not only do weird situations arise in the football played in the country of the World Cup champions but things happen which should not happen and which somebody should investigate," said the outlet’s chief sports editor Martín Voogd. "The ball is so tainted that you cannot even be certain that underneath all that muck there is a ball."

On Tuesday the FEJA (Fiscalía Especializada en Juegos de Azar) gambling watchdog of Buenos Aires City said in a communiqué that it has opened an investigation into "the football match between Deportivo Riestra and Vélez, the former’s coach Cristian Fabbiani [nicknamed ‘Ogro’] and the influencer Iván Buhajeruk [‘Spreen’]” to probe if they had “as their final aim picking up sports gamblers on illegal platforms."