Objective/Context:

This article analyzes the professionalization of soccer in Peru during the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces, first phase (1968-1975).

Originality:

This research contributes to the history of sport in Latin America and shows how sport was an arena for political dispute between the reformist military government and football club owners, who were characterized by their patrimonialist approach to club management. This perspective challenges approaches that see the military's intervention on sports as exemplifying relations of mere manipulation.

Methodology:

The analysis focuses on the patrimonialist management practices of football club owners in Peru and how these were challenged by the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces. The sources used include newspaper archives, interviews with former professional football club managers during the period 1968-1975, the set of decrees issued at that time to regulate sports, and secondary literature.

Conclusions:

The professionalization of football was the main strategy used by the Government to break the practices of patrimonial control over football clubs in Peru. This process was part of a broader reformist political project by the military, which sought to transform the traditional structures of Peruvian society. The intervention involved three mechanisms: the promotion of amateur sports, the reformulation of professional soccer tournament rules and the granting of labor rights and managerial functions to soccer players.

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