What do you do for a living? I watch football matches. If only it were as simple as that… While one of the main functions of a technical secretary is exactly that, the position is much more comprehensive. In today's modern football, it is a key gear for the sporting director, to whom they usually report.
In Argentina, not all clubs have a technical secretariat. Over the years, this will surely change, and all institutions will have this position, which is already commonplace in Europe.
Unlike a sporting director, who is usually present in negotiations and talks with the coach and the club president/owner, the technical secretary is a kind of right-hand man to the sporting director. However, depending on each individual's profile, they may have more or less proximity to each of the aforementioned actors.
Furthermore, one of their great functions is to watch an incalculable number of matches, but not as a simple spectator, but to follow a footballer who could be a potential target in the market.
Those matches are not just any type of matches: they look for footballers consistent with the economy of the club in question and the player profile that the institution requires. To cite an example, there is no point in tracking a player who is only available for sale if the economic capacity of the club where the technical secretary works only allows for signing free agents or reinforcements on loan.
The technical secretariat is responsible for performing the 'screening' for the sporting directorate. They present a series of names for the positions to be reinforced so that the sporting director can finish filtering those players and make the decision in consensus with the coach and the club president/owner. Thus, the goal is to reduce the margin of error.
In addition, their focus is not only on the main squad but also on the reserve and youth divisions. Beyond the fact that the players themselves have their representatives, a good technical secretary is capable of finding opportunities for interesting players from their club so they can get minutes, return improved, and have a chance to play in the first division.
Fernando Romano, who holds that role at Banfield, told RTX Media: 'When Ariel Broggi was the coach, he wasn't going to consider Lautaro Villegas. We saw that the boy had potential. Because of my relationship with the Tristán Suárez coach, I suggested the name. We held a friendly between clubs so he could see him live; he liked him and signed him. The result was that he played almost all the time in the Primera Nacional (Argentina's second tier) and today he is part of Banfield's main 20 players.'
A technical secretariat is the only office in the club dedicated to professional football that should not be carried away by the immediate result of the weekend and can plan calmly. They are not expendable like the coach or, to a lesser extent, the sporting director. Their area also generates a very important database for the clubs. The technical secretary may leave, but that information remains at the institution at the disposal of their successor.
Is it important for a technical secretary to go to a practice? An example of something that happened at Racing serves perfectly to illustrate this. Adrián 'Toto' Fernández was on loan from San Telmo, and during the entire first half of 2025, coach Gustavo Costas gave him very few minutes. However, in the practices where those who didn't play on the weekend played football, his performance was good, and an interesting projection was seen. Based on a recommendation from the technical secretariat endorsed by the sporting directorate, Racing decided to exercise the purchase option in the middle of that year for US$800,000. If they had done it at the end of 2025, the value was 1,100,000.
The skill of a technical secretary is to make the coach understand that, in current times, their area is another element that helps them with various market issues. An important point for those in these positions involves so-called soft skills: knowing how to read the club's internal landscape and which authority to present each recommendation to in order to achieve the necessary consensus for it to be executed.
Unlike what happens in Argentina, where sporting directors are often chosen more for their glorious past at a club than for their ability, a technical secretary is removed from those situations, and their selection is directly related to their knowledge.
Independiente Rivadavia usually chooses players who, without much hype, end up performing. And for that, the role of the technical secretariat is important: 'We had been following Matías Fernández since he was at Quilmes, we saw him mature at Excursionistas, and we brought him in on loan. He stood out a lot, and we ended up buying him for a very low value (U$S110,000 for 50%),' said Gastón Córdoba, in charge of that area.
With less presence than sporting directorates, technical secretariats are beginning to emerge in Argentine football. And that, without a doubt, is something interesting for its growth.
