⚽Sport and culture· 2019-2026
Football clubs owe tens of millions to social security
Ten clubs had built up close to US$50m in debt to social security; the 2021 standoff was resolved with sworn statements, not payments.
Figure published by the sources
cerca de US$ 50 millones de deuda de los clubes con el BPS (Subrayado, febrero de 2021)
Bodies involved
Banco de Previsión Social · Secretaría Nacional del Deporte
What it is
Uruguay's professional football clubs are employers: they must withhold and remit their players' social security contributions to the BPS (Banco de Previsión Social). Subrayado reported on 1 August 2019 that nine clubs owed more than US$50m to the BPS — and that an AUF survey identified 25 clubs with arrears, a figure sources put closer to US$100m — with cases such as Nacional (about US$9.3m for contributions unpaid between 1996 and 2003), Peñarol (about US$6.3m from the same period) and Rentistas (about US$16.6m). In February 2021 the problem came to a head: some 200 players could not collect unemployment insurance because of irregularities in their contributions, and the players' union warned it would halt the Clausura tournament round.
What is questioned
Subrayado reported on 11 February 2021 that ten first- and second-division clubs carried US$50m of debt with the BPS, quoting the agency's vice-president, Daniel Graffigna, saying the clubs in default "were not paying the institution the social security contributions made by the players". The next day, 12 February, the same outlet reported the deal: ten of the eleven indebted clubs signed a sworn statement acknowledging the debt, and on that basis the BPS maintained players' access to unemployment insurance and health cover, with the AUF as guarantor for two months; Cerro did not sign and its case went to the National Labour Directorate. In other words, the standoff was resolved by acknowledging the debt, not by paying it.
Why it matters to you
Unpaid contributions are not football's internal problem: they are money that funds everyone's pensions and unemployment insurance. When a club withholds a player's contribution and does not remit it, the worker loses cover and the shortfall is ultimately covered by every other taxpayer.
Where it stands
Búsqueda reported on 10 April 2025 that the AUF plans a financial "fair play" rulebook from 2026, coordinated with the new television contract, to verify "strict monthly compliance" on wages, tax payments to the DGI and BPS contributions, in the words of AUF president Ignacio Alonso; it is modelled on Chile's framework — which caps squad spending at 70% of average revenue over three years — and does not include European-style salary caps. There is no updated official figure for the clubs' aggregate debt to the BPS. As of this file's closing (August 2026) there are no developments after April 2025.
The open-data cross-reference
Open this set in the explorerWhat the state awarded to the bodies and companies named in this file, according to the official Compras Estatales data. It is a cross-reference for scale, not proof of irregularity: it includes contracts nobody questioned.
How this cross-reference was builtcontracts whose object mentions “deportivo” · everything recorded under 2 buying units of the named bodies (not only this case) · between 2019 and 2026
Who was paid
Suppliers ranked by amount awarded in the cross-reference. A contract with several suppliers counts in full against each one: this is a ceiling, not a split.
Which body paid
What it bought
Spending by category, from price times quantity of each awarded item, in the contract currency.
Contracts per year
The detail
The largest contracts in the cross-reference, high to low. Tap one for its record and the link to the official purchase.
- FERULA AFOSUAREZ DIANO EMILIO · 05 jun. 2026$ 33,6 M
- CONTRATACION DE ARBITRO DEPORTIVOCONFEDERACION ATLETICA DEL URUGUAY · 25 set. 2024$ 50.600
- COLCHONETA (DEPORTE)CAVIA MIGUEZ FEDERICO AYAR · 16 abr. 2024$ 41.589
- CONTRATACION DE ARBITRO DEPORTIVOFEDERACION URUGUAYA DE NATACION · 24 set. 2024$ 23.910
- CALZADO ORTOPEDICO DEPORTIVOBERGANTIÑOS S EN C POR A · 23 mar. 2021$ 5.820
- CALZADO ORTOPEDICO DEPORTIVOBERGANTIÑOS S EN C POR A · 26 feb. 2021$ 5.820
Amounts in pesos, normalised. Records with impossible quantities are excluded from the total. This is tax and social security debt, not a public purchase: it does not appear in the state procurement system and has no associated buying agency. What can be cross-referenced are the payments public bodies and municipalities make to clubs for sponsorship, agreements and use of facilities.