Former Tigres coach Roberto Dante Siboldi has filed a lawsuit against the Liga MX team's board for falsely accusing his assistant coach Miguel de Jesús Fuente of selling insider information to rivals Monterrey and consequently not renewing his contract as head coach.
Siboldi joined Tigres on April 10, 2023, and led the team to the Clausura trophy, the Copa Campeones, and the Campeón de Campeones title that year before officially departing on June 4, 2024. In announcing his dismissal, the team did not provide a public explanation, but several media outlets in Mexico reported that Tigres leaked information about De Jesús Fuente's alleged fraudulent actions.
Siboldi revealed that he met with club president Mauricio Culebro and executive vice president Mauricio Doehner for a meeting two days before his departure. Tigres executives said assistant coach De Jesus Fuente “betrayed” the team by providing Monterey with crucial tactical information ahead of the Clausura 2024 quarterfinal match, which Tigres lost 3-2 on aggregate.
According to the former coach, Culebro and Doehner claimed to have conclusive evidence of the situation, including audio, videos and photos, but they were unable to show anything to the former head coach.
“They told me I was a victim, [I quote his words]”I was told that I was just collateral damage. I was asked to think carefully about how I wanted to leave the club, since my departure or departure was definitive, to return the next day and be given a dignified exit so that I would be as unstained as possible,” Siboldi said in a statement on Monday.
“Miguel Fuentes was playing the villain, but the villain of a fabricated and implanted story. The crucial question at home was: did you see it? Were you shown any proof? My answer was 'no.'”
Siboldi also revealed that both Culebro and Doehner interrogated De Jesus Fuente for more than an hour and took away his personal cell phone, before the assistant coach denied all allegations.
In response to De Jesús Fuentes's response, Siboldi asked the members of the board of directors for physical evidence and proof of said actions by his assistant, to which they responded with “black and white, blurry and practically illegible copies of the alleged chats.”
To gain clarity, the former coach turned to the legal system to seek answers that Tigres has been unable to provide. Siboldi filed a Prejudicial Conciliation, a type of legal action in Mexico to resolve disputes without going to court.
“I was forced to go to other legal instances to get a response and after more than a month of meetings with their lawyers there is no intention of making amends,” Siboldi added in his statement. “These executives do not have the decency to admit that they were the creators of this slander; they remained silent out of convenience, lack of empathy, professionalism, human quality, management capacity, and the saddest thing is that their foolishness and arrogance are weighed before accepting the serious error and damage that was committed.”
Tigres has not yet commented publicly on the matter.
