Carlos Benavides: “The Peruvian Football Federation prefers to have clients before growing clubs”

Almost two years have passed since Charles Benavidez He traveled to La Paz to start a new stage as a sports manager abroad. He was first manager of the Bolívar club and today he is president of the Celaya club, a team in the Expansion League of Mexico, which will seek promotion next year. Despite the distance, the former director of Sporting Crystal draws parallels between the Peruvian League 1 and the foreign tournaments where he has recently worked. In addition, he takes stock of the performance of Peruvian soccer players in Aztec football. Pedro Aquino received the highest rating.

—Why did you decide to start over from scratch when you went to Celaya in Mexico?

During the pandemic, I left Peru to assume the position of commercial director of Claure Fútbol Club and assumed the general management of Bolívar. In the ten months that I was there, we launched the Centennial plan, which is the club’s most ambitious plan. We are linked to the City Fútbol Club Group thanks to the management of Marcelo Claure. The process was somewhat difficult psychologically because we had to go through the hard stage of the pandemic, I even had to travel to Bolivia on a humanitarian flight. I decided to step aside so that someone with more energy and clarity can arrive. When I returned to Lima, some people from Mexico contacted me, who invited me to Mexico to tell about my experiences and talk about my book (The power of transformation). There I was able to meet Alan Achar, president at that time of Celaya, and he invited me to work at the club as general manager. I always had the desire to work in Mexico or Spain. The project was very ambitious, especially for participating in the Expansion League, which is a project to take care of the Second Division clubs in Mexico. Celaya is preparing to get certified and seek to compete for promotion in 2023. There were three weeks between the proposal and my start as a club worker.

—And how did you go so quickly to the presidency of the club?

There is a company here called ‘Developer of Soccer Mexico’, which belongs to the Achar family and they own the Celaya club. And Alan Achar, who was the president of the club, decided to take on new challenges. He was satisfied with my work and ten days ago I was summoned to Mexico City. They told me that they wanted to continue my work to achieve the club certificate. That is why they gave me the honor of assuming the presidency and now I am going to put together a structure to report our progress with the Achar family, who are very capable and very good people.

Do you have any contract time for this position?

I belong to the club’s list. It is a position of trust, the deadlines are marked by the goals achieved. This process can last about 4 years, in June of this year the official promotion tournament begins. In June 2023, it is defined which teams achieve promotion.

—Is your balance in Bolivia that better football or does it have more shortcomings than Peru’s League 1?

There are players with a lot of quality and conditions. I found a more fluid interaction between clubs, but it is more informal than in Peru. It reminded me of what Peru was ten years ago, with changes in regulations and bases. Until I was in Peru, Liga 1 was superior to the Bolivian league. My feeling from a distance is that the Bolivian tournament is getting closer to Peru. For me, League 1 is going backwards due to political interference, more than due to the management of League 1 itself. There are definitions of dismissal and teams that remain due to the CAS, due to interference by the Justice Commissions or by criteria of the Commission of Licenses. The management of the Federation affects League 1. In Bolivia, in addition, there are about three clubs that do make a significant investment and travel by charter to their matches, do preseason in Brazil, etc.

—What would be your greatest criticism of the FPF in the organization of League 1?

The clientelism of the Peruvian Football Federation. The Federation wants to prefer to have clients before growing clubs. They have a way of working as the saying goes: “Everything for my friends and the law for my enemies”. They do not want to let the clubs grow and thus seek to maintain the votes in favor when there are elections. When there are assemblies, the votes it has in favor and the votes against, who denounce the illegalities, are from the best managed clubs in the country.

—If you were still a leader in Peru, would you vote for League 1 to return to the Professional Football Sports Association?

The FPF doesn’t let Liga 1 be an independent competition, that’s my feeling. I would return to the Association, but with a professionalized structure, with a general manager, a commercial manager and a sports manager.

—What do you think of the criticism of the players who come to Peru from the Bolivian championship?

The Peruvian, on the subject of soccer, feels that he is far above Bolivia or Venezuela. Each league can bring a level of players, each league has its seal of quality. For Pedro Aquino to play in America he first had to go through Lobos BUAP. I got into trouble for commenting on Marcos Riquelme or John Jairo Mosquera. Some Cristal fans even told me that he had recommended them. I have no interference or relationship with the club. But it is true that Roberto Mosquera knows the Bolivian market very well. I don’t see anything wrong with players from that championship being hired.

-Now that you mention it. Is it true that Roberto Mosquera is on the radar of the Bolivian national team?

Yes, totally. When I arrived in Bolivia, Bolívar itself spoke very highly of Roberto to me. I know that at some point they made him an offer, the owners of the Royal Pari also spoke highly of him to me. His name has always sounded for the Bolivian team.

—Who are the best remembered Peruvians in Celaya?

Pepe Soto and Sandro Gamarra played here. They ask me a lot about Pepe, I think Sandro was there for less time. But with Pepe they did have a good time in the First Division.

—Alejandro Duarte was also able to sign for Celaya? We saw photos of him with people from the club.

Alejandro was in Mexico City on vacation and it happened that we played there. When the game was over he went down to say hello, he greeted me and other people from the club. In addition, he has played in Zacatepec and in Lobos BUAP, so he has several former teammates around here. He seems like a great goalkeeper to me, but he has a contract with Sporting Cristal and is going to play in the Copa Libertadores.

—Is the Mexican Expansion League superior to other South American leagues?

In terms of infrastructure and organization, it is above leagues such as Paraguay or Ecuador. What is certain is that the quality of the South American player often makes the difference. But if I have to analyze Celaya’s performance and take it to Peru’s League 1, without a doubt it competes at the top. Just for intensity it would already be a tough team in Peru.

—Apart from Guivin, are you interested in another player in Peru?

We have a sports intelligence department that follows players. And of course there is follow-up as in the case of Jordan. The Peruvian little heart has not gone away, the Peruvian player in Mexico is giving a lot and they continue to arrive as in the case of Luis Abram.

—Which Peruvian players are most valued in Mexico?

At the level of history, the Geronimo Barbadillo in Tigre is something that I did not know. You go to Monterrey, you say you’re Peruvian and you don’t know what it’s like with Barbadilo. He is an icon. What happened to Juan Reynoso in Cruz Azul is also historic for everything that has been achieved. Of the current ones I think Pedro Aquino is very important. Pedro is the balance of his team. Now that he has had a string of injuries, America has had a hard time replacing him.

—Do you think that Juan Reynoso, now that you see him up close in Mexico, is the natural candidate to replace Ricardo Gareca in the national team in the long term?

He should be a natural candidate, but in particular it causes me a little sting to imagine the Peruvian team without Ricardo Gareca. Already imagining the national team without Gareca seems a long way off, it would be wonderful if he stayed.

—Santiago Ormeño is well valued in Mexico?

In Puebla it is much loved, in León it has not yet managed to consolidate. What happened in Peru can be understood, it is not easy to be the ‘9’ of Peru. I really liked how Valera entered. It was a difficult match for Ormeño, it was not comfortable.

—How do you see the actuality of Cristal from afar?

What makes me happier is that the DNA is maintained by the hand of Roberto Mosquera and that they continue betting on young people. A lot of work went into developing a model with young boys. It is the great strength that the new administration of the club has received.

—What did you think of the appointment of Jorge Cazulo as coach of the Sub 18?

I thought it was wonderful because Jorge mixes the DNA of a Peñarol player and that he knew how to amalgamate it with the DNA of Sporting Cristal. When we signed his last contract, it appeared that Jorge was going to continue working at the club. I’m glad it crystallized.

—Should the 7-1 loss to Independiente del Valle in the Libertadores Sub 20 be taken calmly?

We have faced a power in South American and youth football. Independiente del Valle is at the level of Brazil or Argentina. Cristal has a good training project, but the ecosystem of each country also influences those projects. If there is no good competition and internal politics it is difficult to grow. Minors are not a priority for this Federation. It seemed very serious to me that, in the midst of the pandemic, it has not been a priority to reactivate minor tournaments. Two years without competing is very hard.