La Paz has long been a city where football carries the weight of its altitude, its rivalries and its public arguments. This week, however, the discussion around Bolivia’s league has moved beyond an ordinary dispute over an offside call. Alejandro Chumacero, the former Puebla midfielder and a prominent figure in Bolivian football, has voiced fears that results may already be decided before players take the field.
Chumacero spoke after Academia del Balompié Boliviano’s 2-1 home defeat to The Strongest, the club where he began his senior career in 2007. Now representing ABB, the midfielder joined his teammates in protesting a refereeing decision, particularly the disallowed goal they believed should have stood.
His remarks brought renewed force to suspicions that have circulated in Bolivia for some time. “Nobody wants to play football; it is shameful,” Chumacero said. “And if we do want to play, perhaps they already have the scores prepared.”
A league under sharper scrutiny
The comments arrived amid another troubling episode in the domestic game. Always Ready beat Guabirá 6-0 at home on Sunday, September 13, after which claims emerged that Guabirá goalkeeper Manuel Ferrel had received death threats intended to make him concede at least three goals.
No confirmed link between that allegation and the ABB match has been established in the available details, but the two episodes have intensified scrutiny of officiating and of long-running talk around manipulated matches and pre-arranged outcomes in Bolivian football.
For Chumacero, the intervention carries particular resonance. He is not an outsider passing through the league: he is a former The Strongest champion, an established Bolivia international and a player whose career has crossed the continent from La Paz to Mexico and Chile.
From Puebla to Chile and back into Bolivia’s debate
Chumacero arrived in Mexico for Puebla’s Clausura 2018 campaign with the reputation of a multiple title winner at The Strongest and a leading member of Bolivia’s national team. Expectations were high that he would become an influential presence for Puebla, though his time with the club did not reach those anticipated levels.
He left Puebla in February 2021, three years after his arrival, to join Unión Española in Chile. His record in Mexican football stood at 75 appearances, seven goals and five assists.
Those years abroad gave Chumacero a profile beyond Bolivia’s borders. His latest words, delivered after facing the club that launched his career, have therefore turned one contested league fixture into a wider question about trust in the competition itself.
