Why bankruptcy proceedings “could be favorable” for Rampla Juniors, clinging to Foster Gillett's word

The tunnel through Rampla Juniors is dark, but there is a ray of light that the president of the civil association, Gabriel Kouyoumdjian, and the “administrative” president of Soriano SAD, which manages its sports assets, Gastón Tealdi, are clinging to: that Foster Gillett keeps his word and the money appears, basically. To start with, there is the debt for unpaid salaries to players exceeding $500,000, from 2025 alone, for which the Mutual Uruguayan Association of Professional Footballers will not allow the club to start the 2026 season of Divisional C, which begins in May. That, plus other salaries owed to the coaching staff of Leandro Somoza and Mario Saralegui, and other debts to sports complexes that were leased last year for training, is what the club would have to pay to be eligible to play this year. “In total, the investor would have to put in just over a million dollars,” Kouyoumdjian said in an interview with Ovación, echoing what Tealdi had said the day before, that otherwise the club would have no chance “of meeting its liabilities or the debts it continues to generate.” But a separate issue is the liabilities that the club has been carrying for years, before becoming a public limited sports company (SAD) and due to the bankruptcy proceedings that were decreed a few days ago. Scheduled for next September, this process will provide an opportunity to verify credits and document debt, i.e., to clarify the club's total liabilities and arrange payment methods, which may or may not include debt relief, depending on each situation and what each creditor decides. For Kouyoumdjian, the bankruptcy proceedings could even be “favorable” for Rampla, because the liabilities, which he estimates to be between $6 million and $7 million, could be reduced. Of course, this is only if the investor puts up the money that the club currently does not have. “Last year, a lot of money was invested in the squad. We brought in players with salaries that were unheard of for the Second Division, players who were earning $9,000, $10,000, $12,000, and $13,000. Some of them were well-known, yes, but some of them hadn't played soccer in a year. They thought that putting money in would be enough, but it's not that simple,” said the president. A year ago, in March 2025, Rampla made headlines as “the SAD that invested heavily and signed 24 players to fight for promotion to the First Division.” But on the first match day, they suffered a devastating 8-0 defeat against Colón at Parque Palermo. “It was a blow, the team was never able to recover and it set the tone for everything that came after,” said Kouyoumdjian. For him, the sporting failure was due to the lack of knowledge of the Argentine staff who took charge of putting the team together, and who today “are the main claimants for money, but also responsible for the relegation.” “It hurts me a lot that they are punishing Gastón Tealdi because he is not a Rampla fan; he came to earn a salary like everyone else. Not only did he not get paid, but he also put money out of his own pocket when the investor failed to show up,” he added. In other words, theoretically, Tealdi himself is one of Soriano SAD's creditors. "I spoke with Foster Gillett three times last year. I have spoken more often with Guillermo Tofoni (the Argentine partner, executive president of Soriano SAD). He is available; if I call him, he answers. But in general, I let Gastón take care of that," he explained. Once again, the Picapiedra leader's theory is that “Foster Gillett was swindled in Argentina” with a promise of inclusion in the SAD that never materialized. And that indirectly hit Rampla, which continues to cling to the 30-year contract it signed with the American investor.