Boca Juniors

Kit and badge

The club's original jersey was a white shirt with thin black vertical stripes, later replaced by a light blue shirt and then another striped jersey before the adoption of the definitive blue and gold. Another version claims the first jersey was pink, though this has been questioned by journalists and historians who point to a lack of solid evidence. According to legend, in 1906 Boca played Nottingham de Almagro while both teams wore similar shirts; the match was played to decide which team would keep the shirt, and Boca lost.

The club then decided to adopt the colours of the flag of the first boat to sail into the port at La Boca, which proved to be a Swedish ship named Drottning Sophia, leading to the yellow and blue of the Swedish flag. The first version had a yellow diagonal band, later changed to a horizontal stripe. Over the years, Boca has worn alternate models, including a shirt resembling AC Milan's in a 1963 Copa Libertadores match, a silver jersey for the 1998 Copa Mercosur, and commemorative editions for the club's 100th anniversary.

The most controversial shirt was a pink away jersey for the 2013–14 season, widely rejected by fans; its introduction was delayed, and Nike later produced a fluorescent yellow replacement.

Stadium

The club's first ground was in Dársena Sur of the old Buenos Aires port, vacated in 1907 for failing to meet league requirements. Between 1908 and 1912, the club used three grounds in the Isla Demarchi area. In 1913, the club had no stadium and played home games at other teams' pitches. From 1914 to 1915, the club moved to Wilde in the Avellaneda Partido, but poor attendances forced a return to La Boca.

On 25 May 1916, Boca opened a stadium at Ministro Brin and Senguel streets, playing there until 1924, when the club moved to Brandsen and Del Crucero streets. A new stadium was built there, lasting until 1938, when the club decided to build a concrete venue. Construction of the current stadium began in 1938 under engineer José L. Delpini, and Boca played at Ferro Carril Oeste's stadium until its completion on 25 May 1940. A third level was added in 1953, giving it the nickname La Bombonera.

The fourth side was built vertically with stacked seating areas. La Bombonera currently has a capacity of around 54,000.

Supporters

Boca Juniors is traditionally regarded as the club of Argentina's working class, in contrast to the more upper-class base of rival River Plate. The club claims to be the club of 'half plus one' of Argentina's population, and a 2006 survey placed its following at 40%, the largest share. Boca fans are known as Los Xeneizes, after the Genoese immigrants who founded the team. Rival fans refer to them as Los Bosteros, originally an insult derived from horse manure used in a brick factory on the site of La Bombonera, but Boca fans have embraced the term.

The club's shirt is also called la azul y oro. There is a supporter society known as la número 12 or la doce, meaning the 12th player. In 1975, a film titled La Raulito was made about the life of Mary Esher Duffau, a well-known Boca fan; she died on 30 April 2008, and a minute's silence was observed at a Copa Libertadores match that day. As of 2026, Boca has 282,644 members, ranking second in Argentina and fourth worldwide.

Other sports sections

In addition to men's football, Boca Juniors has a professional basketball team established in 1929, which has won the Liga Nacional de Básquet title five times (1996–97, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2023-24, and 2024-25), five Copa Argentina titles, and three South American Club Championships (2004, 2005, 2006). The basketball team plays at the Estadio Luis Conde, known as La Bombonerita. The club also has amateur sections in bocce, boxing, chess, field hockey, futsal, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, handball, martial arts (judo, karate, taekwondo), swimming, volleyball, weightlifting, and wrestling.

In September 2022, Boca announced a field hockey section for men and women, and in May 2023 inaugurated a hockey field with Vanina Oneto as manager. The men's futsal team competes in the Primera División de Futsal and has won 13 league titles, the second-most after Club Pinocho. The women's futsal team won the inaugural Campeonato de Futsal Femenino in 2004 and again in 2014. The men's volleyball team won the Metropolitan championship in 1991, 1992, and 1996, but was disbanded in 2016 due to lack of sponsors.

Did You Know?

• The club was founded on 3 April 1905 by a group of boys, sons of Italian immigrants from Genoa, meeting at Esteban Baglietto's house.
• Irish immigrant Patrick McCarthy taught the fundamentals of football to future club founders and became Boca's first manager.
• The English newspaper The Observer placed the Superclásico at La Bombonera at the top of its list of '50 sporting things you must do before you die'.