According to La Tercera, Jair Bertoni and Mariano Zavala are the two officials FIFA sent to Chile this Wednesday and Thursday. They are coming to review the scope of the new Professional Sports Corporations Law (SADP) and will meet with football leaders and government officials.
The law was enacted on May 27. One of its central changes is the separation of the ANFP (National Professional Football Association) from the Football Federation of Chile, a provision that sparked debate over how Chilean football will be organized.
Bertoni is Argentine and heads FIFA’s Member Associations division for the Americas. He joined the organization in November 2016, after nearly 10 years at European Leagues, where he managed relations with FIFA, UEFA (European football’s governing body), and players’ and clubs’ associations. He is the son of Daniel Bertoni, who won the 1978 World Cup with Argentina’s national team.
He has experience with reforms in South America. In 2017, he was part of a delegation that traveled to Bolivia to review changes to the Bolivian Football Federation’s statutes. Two years later, he took part in reforming the Peruvian Football Federation.
Zavala is a lawyer specializing in sports law and director of Member Associations at Conmebol, the South American confederation. He previously served as its director of Judicial Bodies. He and Bertoni were both part of the delegation that reviewed the Bolivian statutes.
The two also spoke before Ecuador’s National Assembly during debate on a sports law. There, they stressed the need to guarantee the autonomy of the Ecuadorian Football Federation.
Zavala is already familiar with the Chilean case. In 2025, he and Elkhan Mammadov signed a letter to the ANFP in which FIFA and Conmebol expressed concerns about potential state intervention.
The schedule begins on Wednesday with a meeting involving FIFA, Conmebol, the Federation, the ANFA (National Amateur Football Association) and Sifup (Professional Footballers’ Union). This will be followed by a meeting with the ANFP’s board and the Federation’s council members.
A meeting with Minister Francisco Riveros and Senator Matías Walker, one of the reform’s proponents, is scheduled for Thursday.
The visit coincides with the race for the ANFP presidency between Jorge Yunge and Jorge Uauy. The election is on November 19, and the winner will be responsible for reviewing the statutes and implementing the institutional separation.
