Former Tigres manager Roberto Dante Siboldi launched legal action against the Liga MX team’s board of directors for falsely accusing his assistant coach Miguel de Jesus Fuente of selling privileged information to rivals Monterrey and consequently for not to renewing his contract as head coach.
Siboldi joined Tigres on April 10, 2023, and that year led the team to the Clausura trophy, Campeones Cup and Campeon de Campeones before officially departing on June 4 of 2024. Upon announcing his dismissal, the team failed to publicly provide an explanation, but multiple news outlets in Mexico reported that Tigres leaked the information of De Jesus Fuente’s alleged fraudulent actions.
Siboldi has since revealed he joined club president Mauricio Culebro and executive vice president Mauricio Doehner for a meeting two days prior to his departure. The Tigres executives said assistant coach De Jesus Fuente “betrayed” the team by providing Monterey with crucial tactical information ahead of the 2024 Clausura quarterfinal match, which Tigres lost 3-2 on aggregate.
According to the former coach, Culebro and Doehner alleged to have conclusive evidence of the situation, which included audio, videos and photos, but failed to show the former head coach anything.
“They told me that I was a victim, [I quote his words], that I was only collateral damage. They asked me to think carefully about how I wanted to leave the club, since my separation or leave was definitive, to return the next day and they would give me a decent exit to stain me as little as possible,” Siboldi said in a statement on Monday.
“Miguel Fuentes was being the villain, but the villain of an invented and implanted story. The crucial question at home was: did you see it? Did they show you any evidence? My answer was ‘no.'”
Siboldi also revealed both Culebro and Doehner interrogated De Jesus Fuente for more than an hour and removed his personal cell phone, before the assistant coach denied all accusations.
Due to the response from De Jesus Fuentes, Siboldi went on to request physical proof and evidence of said actions by his assistant from the board members. He was met with “black and white, blurred and practically illegible copies of the alleged chats.”
In order to obtain clarity, the former coach resorted to the legal system to seek certain answers that Tigres has been unable to provide. Siboldi filed a Prejudicial Conciliation, a type of legal claim in Mexico to resolve disputes without going to court.
“I was forced to go to other legal instances to have a response and after more than a month of meetings with their lawyers there are no intentions to amend,” Siboldi added in his statement. “These managers do not have the decency to admit that they were the creators of this slander; they were silent for convenience, lack of empathy, professionalism, human quality, management capacity, and the saddest thing, you weigh their foolishness and arrogance before accepting the serious mistake and damage that was committed.”
Tigres have yet to make a public statement on the matter.