Football off the field: The private lives of players revealed

An exhibition titled "Tercer Tiempo" (Third Half) is challenging conventional portrayals of football by delving into the private lives of players through intimate photography. Hosted at the Libertad Palace, the exhibition features a collection of images, some explicitly nude, that offer a raw and unfiltered look at athletes beyond the roar of the stadium.

Curator Francisco Medail guides visitors through the display, which includes a notable installation of gray lockers. Some doors are ajar, bearing an "+18" warning, inviting viewers to peer through tiny openings to witness scenes of footballers in vulnerable states, sometimes nude and speaking to the press. Photographer Pepe Fernández's work from Paris in the 1970s and early 1980s captures players with "less worked" bodies, "all hairy and without tattoos," contrasting with today's athletes.

Silvio Zuccheri's photographs, primarily of players from River, Boca, and Independiente in the late 1970s and early 1980s, are also featured. Zuccheri's work for the magazine El Gráfico provided an unusual intimacy with players, allowing him to capture candid moments in locker rooms after matches. The exhibition text notes that journalists' access to these spaces was once natural, enabling players to recount their games while still agitated.

The exhibition also touches upon the evolution of media access, referencing the 1993 incident where Carlos “Colorado” Mac Allister inadvertently appeared nude during a live television broadcast from a locker room. Medail explains that "Third Half" moves beyond the game itself, focusing on the "sociability that sport produces" and offering a rare glimpse into the daily routines, training sessions, and living conditions of footballers.