The country's 20 top-tier clubs rake in £172m a year from ticket sales, television rights, sponsors and player swaps but high spending leaves them with a paltry collective profit of £15m which barely scratches the surface of their £234m debts.

'This is a crisis, not only for soccer but for the whole country,' said Juan Carlos Gonzalez, vice president of the Velez Sarsfield club. 'The fans who used to pay and maintain the sport just don't do so any more.'

Hard times in the South American nation - saddled with two-and-a-half years of economic stagnation - have battered teams with depressed ticket sales and dwindling club membership, management says.

But some of those who fear their favourite teams could collapse say greedy and inept team officials are to blame for their woes.

'The crisis is rooted in the fact there are fewer and fewer fans as well as a lack of spectators due to economic and security problems,' said Roberto Jacobi, financial chief for championship leaders River Plate.

'People don't go to games because they're scared and because they don't have the money.'

In 1980 River Plate boasted 80,000 fans who paid monthly dues to support the team. That number has now fallen to 32,000, Jacobi said, and ticket sales have dropped 50 per cent.

Now River Plate, archrivals Boca Juniors and fellow top-division team Racing account for £64m of the sport's total debt, said an Argentine Soccer Association (AFA) official who requested anonymity. Those debts leave many teams struggling just to stay afloat.

'Eighty percent of the clubs are not able to make any sort of payments,' he said.

Along with top-quality beef and the tango, one of Argentina's most successful exports has been the many soccer players sold to foreign teams, mostly in Europe. River Plate has topped player sales in recent years in an effort to deal with its £34m in debts. Much of the debt could have been avoided, critics say.

Argentine former World Cup captain Diego Maradona accused team executives of illegally pocketing profits from such transfers. 'There's always some pecking from the directors that goes on along the way,' Maradona said shortly after midfielder Pablo Aimar was sold to Spain's Valencia for £14m.

But team officials say such charges oversimplify the costs involved in trading players.

'We have to sell (players) because of all our debts but often it's said that a player was sold for £14m but the club doesn't keep £14m because per centages need to be paid to the athlete and the AFA and the intermediaries,' Jacobi said.

Team officials say they also dedicate a good part of their budget to keeping happy the players they want to retain.

Deloitte and Touche auditors say 63 percent of club spending goes on payments and rewards for players and technical staff - a figure that makes up 62 percent of team debts.

'We spend between £13m and £14m every year to keep our players with us,' Jacobi said.

In a bid to ward off collapse, the AFA has altered its statutes to allow private investors to manage the clubs for a set period of time. Only two clubs have tried it: Second Division Quilmes and Racing are administered privately.

The two have received fresh investment and promises to pay off debts, while the private managers will share any future profits. But elsewhere business has been hesitant to invest in the debt-ridden teams.

'While soccer generates resources and profits there is a big separation between the capital market and sports organisations. They are two different worlds,' said Victor Lamberti of Deloitte.

Agricol de Bianchetti, the AFA legal adviser, said one viable solution could be private management of the teams.

'It's not about whether or not to privatise. In this case the quality of management for the clubs needs to be improved,' De Bianchetti said, adding that the first step should be to oblige team directors to take fiscal responsibility for the operations they steer.