Joel Raffo spoke after a trip to Qatar: “I got on that plane to work for Peruvian football”

Joel Raffo, president of Sporting Cristal, was one of the passengers who traveled to Qatar on the plane that took the Peruvian team to Doha for the playoff match against Australia. His presence generated controversy and, in the midst of it, he decided to give a press conference to give his version of the subject.

“I did go on a trip, I paid for my ticket to Madrid. I met the delegation in Barcelona the day they left for Doha. I got on that plane, yes, to work for Peruvian soccer. To work, precisely, for that reform that we are looking for, to bring knowledge from other places, which we have been able to do, with recognized institutions, so that we can begin to change the professional league, the Second Division, amateur football “Raffo pointed out to journalists in Florida.

“This is a profound change. There is much beyond and there have been many meetings in those four or five days that I was present. A whole day in Madrid, with the Spanish League, with the Spanish Federation, with the soccer players’ association, with teams from the Spanish league, precisely to be able to bring that knowledge and be able to put it into practice, adapted to our reality in favor of Peruvian football and begin to change this”added Raffo, in the presidency of the club since October 2019.

Joel Raffo recognized as a shortcoming not having communicated in a timely manner the reason for his trip to Europe and Qatar, but he was uncomfortable with the accusations against him in recent days.

“We have lacked proper communication all this time, but I do want to express my total outrage regarding the totally false, defamatory accusations that have been circulating through many people. Not only from fans of the club, who say they love the club, public opinion, journalists in general, who are also jointly responsible for this by precisely disclosing information that is not real and that, above all, damages the reputation and principles at the personal, which is what I personally take care of the most”, Indian.

Among other things, Raffo invited all the entities that are part of Peruvian soccer to join the restructuring and to stop with the discussions or communications.

“We have to start looking forward, start changing. If we really want Peruvian football, to begin to be united, to stop being with false morals, with communications that amount to nothing, and let’s begin to roll up our sleeves as I did two and a half years ago and bought Club Sporting Crystal”he pointed.