Superclásico

Lore & Background

The two clubs Boca and River Plate both have origins in La Boca, the working class dockland area of Buenos Aires, with River being founded in 1901 and Boca in 1905. River, however, moved to the affluent district of Núñez in the north of the city in 1925. Since then, Boca Juniors has been known as the club of Argentina's working class or the people's club, with many Boca fans coming from the local Italian immigrant community. Boca fans are known as 'Xeneizes' ('Genoese'). By contrast, River Plate became known by the nickname, Los Millonarios (The Millionaires), with a supposedly upper-class support base. Both clubs, however, have supporters from all social classes. The first official match of the rivalry, the 1913 Superclásico, was played on August 24, 1913 at Racing Club Stadium, with River winning 2–1. 7,000 spectators attended the match, and goals were scored by Cándido García and Antonio Ameal Pereyra (River) and Marcos Meyer (Boca). The Superclásico is particularly noted for the passion of the fans, with what the BBC describe as 'a sea of colourful flowing banners, screams and roars, chanting, dancing and never-ending fireworks'. Both sets of supporters sing passionate chants aimed at their rivals, often based on popular Argentine rock band tunes. Each stadium, Boca's La Bombonera and River's El Monumental are known to bounce with the simultaneous jumping of the fans. At times, the matches have been known to end in fights between the 'barra brava' (violent factions) of both sides or with the police. Boca fans refer to River supporters as 'gallinas' ('chickens') claiming the lack of guts of River players. River fans refer to their Boca rivals as 'los chanchitos' ('little pigs') because they claim their stadium, located in the less affluent La Boca area, smells most of the time, as well as 'bosteros' ('manure collectors'), a reference to the smell of a polluted river in La Boca. Another infamous slur, coined in the late 1990s over remarks of Boca's forward Diego Latorre, is to brand Boca Juniors as 'The Cabaret', due to the alleged aspiration of some players to steal the limelight. The rivalry between the two clubs can also affect players, particularly those who are transferred between the two clubs. Cataldo Spitale was the first to make the change, when he left Boca to sign for River in 1933. Oscar Ruggeri, who moved to River from Boca in 1985 said, 'It's

In Their Own Story

Before the first whistle blows, La Bombonera doesn't just fill; it convulses. The air vibrates with a deafening wall of blue and gold chants that physically presses against the red-and-white sea on the opposite side. As players emerge from the tunnel, their eyes locked in silent defiance, the outside world dissolves. For ninety minutes, there is no politics, no economy, only the pitch, the ball, and an eternal struggle for supremacy between two halves of a city that refuses to be whole.

Reader's Guide

The Superclásico is known worldwide as one of the fiercest and most important derbies. In April 2004, the English newspaper The Observer put the Superclásico at the top of their list of '50 sporting things you must do before you die', saying that 'Derby day in Buenos Aires makes the Old Firm game look like a primary school kick-about', and in 2016 the British football magazine FourFourTwo considered it the 'biggest derby in the world'. That same year The Daily Telegraph ranked this match as the 'biggest club rivalry in world football', and the Daily Mirror placed it number one in the top 50 football derbies in the world, above El Clásico between Barcelona and Real Madrid, in 2017.

Did You Know?

• The term 'Clásico' originated in Argentina, particularly with this match up, and was later exported to other countries such as Spain and Mexico.
• According to some statistics, River Plate and Boca Juniors command more than 70% of all Argentine football fans between them.
• The first official Superclásico was played on August 24, 1913 at Racing Club Stadium, with River winning 2–1.
• On June 23, 1968, 71 fans were killed in a crush at gate 12 of El Monumental after a 0–0 match, the worst incident in Argentine football history.
• In 2010, a Superclásico was suspended for the first time in history due to heavy rainfall, restarting four days later.