Matías Daniel Lammens Nuñez (born 5 April 1980) is an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

businessman and politician, who served as the country's Minister of Tourism and Sports from 2019 to 2023, in the cabinet of President

Alberto Fernández Alberto Ángel Fernández (; born 2 April 1959) is an Argentine politician, lawyer, and academic who served as President of Argentina from 2019 to 2023. He was also the Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers from 2003 to 2008. His tenure as Cabin ...

. Since 2023, he has been a member of the

Buenos Aires City Legislature The Buenos Aires City Legislature (, commonly known as the ) is the legislative power of the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is housed in the Buenos Aires City Legislature Palace, Legislature Palace (), an archite ...

. From 2012 to 2019 he was chairman of

Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro is an Argentine professional sports club based in the Boedo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its football team, which plays in the Primera División, the first tier of the Argentine foot ...

, a

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

based

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

best known for its football team, which plays in the Primera División, the first tier of the

Argentine football league system The Argentine football league system include tournaments organised by the Argentine Football Association. Clubs affiliated to the body compete in the tournaments, which are split into categories or divisions. Rules establish a system of promot ...

, and is considered one of the " big five" of Argentine football. With Lammens at its helm, the club won its first ever

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

. In

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, Lammens was the

Frente de Todos The Frente de Todos (translated as "Everyone's Front") was a centre-left political coalition of political parties in Argentina formed to support President Alberto Fernández and Vice President Cristina Kirchner. Fernández won the 2019 gen ...

candidate for

Chief of Government In the executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a gro ...

of Buenos Aires, competing against

PRO Pro is an abbreviation meaning "professional". Pro, PRO or variants thereof might also refer to: People * Miguel Pro (1891–1927), Mexican priest * Pro Hart (1928–2006), Australian painter * Mlungisi Mdluli (born 1980), South African ret ...

incumbent

Horacio Rodríguez Larreta Horacio Rodríguez-Larreta (; born 29 October 1965) is an Argentine economist, politician and the former Chief of Government of the City of Buenos Aires. Larreta was re-elected in 2019 with almost 56% of the votes, becoming the first candidate ...

. Lammens lost against Larreta in the first round, attaining a little over 35% of the vote.

Early life and education

Matías Daniel Lammens Núñez was born on 5 April 1980 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was educated at the prestigious

Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires (''National School of Buenos Aires'') is a public high school in Buenos Aires, Argentina, affiliated to the University of Buenos Aires. In the tradition of the European ''gymnasium'' it provides a free educatio ...

, graduating in 1998. Lammens has stated it was in the Colegio Nacional that he first became interested in politics. He studied law at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

and later studied political economy at the

Torcuato di Tella University The Torcuato Di Tella University () is a non-profit private university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Founded in 1991, the university focused primarily on social sciences. The undergraduate majors available are economics, business economics, digital ...

. His business career started when he set up a kiosk in 2003; he later founded Ñuque Mapu SRL, a Buenos Airesbased company dedicated to the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages, chiefly wine.

Involvement in San Lorenzo

A lifelong supporter of the club, Lammens's involvement in the board of directors of

Club Atlético San Lorenzo Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro is an Argentine professional sports club based in the Boedo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its association football, football team, which plays in the Argentine Primera División, Primer ...

began in early 2012 through his close relationship with club associate and TV presenter

Marcelo Tinelli Marcelo Hugo Tinelli (born 1 April 1960) is an Argentine television and radio host, media producer and businessman, best known as the host of the TV show '' Showmatch'' broadcast on Argentina's El Trece. One of the most famous supporters of sp ...

, whom he met in a family reunion. Alongside Tinelli he formed the San Lorenzo Siglo XXI association, and upon the resignation of Carlos Abdo from the club's presidency in August 2012, he was appointed interim chairman, becoming the youngest person to hold the post at 32. He later ran for the chairmanship with Tinelli in the ticket as vice chairman, and won with over 80% of the popular vote. The club was in a dire situation at the time of Lammens's takeover, highly indebted and with a large operative deficit, and in the midst of a club workers' strike due to the former presidency's inability to pay their wages. The club's football team's position in the Primera División was threatened by a row of bad results, a situation that wouldn't be reversed until 2013. The Lammens-Tinelli leadership proved effective in reducing the club's financial woes, and the 2013 Torneo Inicial victory was hailed as a turnaround for San Lorenzo under its new directive board. Lammens later presented

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

(a fan and follower of the club) with a replica of the coup. Later, in 2014, San Lorenzo won the

for the first time in the club's history. Lammens is also credited with lobbying the

into ceding a space in the

Boedo Boedo is a working-class ''barrio'' or neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The neighborhood and one of its principal streets were named after Mariano Boedo, a leading figure in the Argentine independence. It is the home of San Lorenzo de Al ...

neighbourhood (historic home of San Lorenzo) to build the club's new home stadium. In October 2014 Lammens rejected an offer by the Azerbaijani government to sponsor the club, citing Azerbaijan's poor human rights record and the occupation of

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh (, ; ) is a region in Azerbaijan, covering the southeastern stretch of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range. Part of the greater region of Karabakh, it spans the area between Lower Karabakh and Syunik Province, Syunik. Its ter ...

; the move drew praise from Argentina's sizeable Armenian community.

Political career

Buenos Aires mayoral run

In June 2019, Lammens stated his intention of running for

(mayor) of Buenos Aires in that year's election as part of a broad front in opposition to the

Republican Proposal Republican Proposal (), usually referred to by its abbreviation PRO, is a political party in Argentina. PRO was formed as an electoral alliance in 2005, but was transformed into a national party in 2010. It is the major component of the Juntos ...

-led government, composed of progressive and centre-left parties and leaders, saying that "

Kirchnerism Kirchnerism ( ) is an Argentine political movement based on ideals formed by the supporters of spouses Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who consecutively served as Presidents of Argentina. Although considered a branch of Pero ...

is not enough in the City". He confirmed his pre-candidacy (ahead of the simultaneous and mandatory open primaries) on 19 June 2019, as part of the

, the

peronist Peronism, also known as justicialism, is an Argentine ideology and movement based on the ideas, doctrine and legacy of Juan Perón (1895–1974). It has been an influential movement in 20th- and 21st-century Argentine politics. Since 1946, Pe ...

coalition that endorsed the presidential candidacy of

and

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner Cristina is a female given name, and it is also a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Cristina (daughter of Edward the Exile), 11th-century English princess *Cristina (singer), Cristina Monet-Palaci (1956–2020), American s ...

. His mayoral ticket was completed by journalist and writer Gisela Marziotta, who ran as vice-chief of government. His campaign was focused on

Mauricio Macri Mauricio Macri (; born 8 February 1959) is an Argentine businessman and politician who served as President of Argentina from 2015 to 2019. He has been the leader of the Republican Proposal (PRO) party since its founding in 2005. He previously ...

's perceived economic mismanagements in the national government, and the incumbent

's association with the president and his party. At the election on 27 October 2019, Lammens received a 687.026 votes – or 35% – losing in the first round against Rodríguez Larreta's 55.9%. Despite the wide loss margin, Lammens's share of the votes represents the best electoral result for an opposition party in Buenos Aires City since Mauricio Macri's victory in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Ministry of Tourism and Sports

On 10 December 2019, Lammens was appointed by incoming president

as minister of the newly restored Ministry of Tourism and Sports, succeeding Gustavo Santos and Diógenes de Urquiza, respectively the secretaries of Tourism and of Sports in Mauricio Macri's cabinet. Sports-wise, Lammens stated his intention of focusing on neighbourhood clubs. Lammens's appointment as Tourism and Sports minister coincided with the beginning of the

COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina The COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). As of , a total of people were confirmed to have been infected, and people were ...

. The Fernández administration chose to close down nearly all sports venues, and the closing of the country's external and internal borders effectively shut down tourism for the duration of the

lockdown A lockdown () is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison protocol that us ...

measures. As part of the ministry's salvagement measures, Lammens launched an emergency investment fund, infrastructure boosts, and the PreViaje programme, wherein the government committed to repaying up to 50% of all travel expenses for internal tourists in the 2020–2021 summer season. Over 500.000 people signed up for the programme, according to government figures. The programme was renewed ahead of the 2021–2022 summer season as well. Since 2021, he has been a member of the Broad Front (FG), and presently serves in its national board.

Personal life

Lammens is married to sociologist Mariana Gené, with whom he has two daughters; they live in the

neighbourhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

, in Buenos Aires. He defines himself as

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...

, and is in favor of the legalization of abortion in Argentina.

Electoral history

Executive

Legislative

References

External links

*
Official website of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lammens, Matías 1980 births Living people Businesspeople from Buenos Aires Broad Front (Argentina) politicians Argentine football chairmen and investors L Alberto Fernández administration cabinet members University of Buenos Aires alumni Torcuato di Tella University alumni Ministers of tourism of Argentina Members of the Buenos Aires City Legislature