Argentina is a country where football is often a greater part of public life than religion, is one of the sport’s most successful nations. While its non-profit system is an oddity in world football, supporters argue it is essential to preserving the social role of clubs, which run community centres and even schools in many towns — services that for-profit companies may be tempted to cut. But critics complain the model has stunted teams’ development, making even big clubs such as Boca Juniors and River Plate regular exporters of their brightest talents. Lionel Messi, one of the sport’s greatest ever players, left for Spanish club Barcelona aged 13 years old. Brazil, which approved a law encouraging clubs to become limited companies in 2021, has recently attracted a wave of investment, with several top division clubs now foreign owned. Estudiantes, a fast-rising team in Argentina’s top league, is preparing to hold a vote by some of its 56,000 members next month on whether to form a j...