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 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. River Plate became known by the nickname, Los Millonarios (The Millionaires), with a supposedly upper-class support base. 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. 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'. On June 23, 1968, in El Monumental, after a 0–0 match between the two teams, 71 fans were killed in a crush at gate 12, with 150 fans left injured. The disaster was the worst incident in the history of Argentine football.

In Their Own Story

The air inside the stadium doesn't just fill; it ignites, thick with a static charge that seems to stop time before the first whistle. On one side, a blinding sea of white in the Bernabéu; on the other, the rhythmic, thunderous roar of the Blaugrana. A veteran captain tightens his armband, eyes locked not just on the ball, but on the history unfolding across the pitch. When the referee blows, silence shatters into a deafening cauldron of noise. An interception sparks a lightning counter-attack; the crowd holds its collective breath as the ball rolls toward the goal line. In this single, suspended second, ninety minutes of tension condense: two giants colliding where every touch, every tackle, and every save can rewrite an entire season's legacy.

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'. 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?

• According to some statistics, River Plate and Boca Juniors command more than 70% of all Argentine football fans between them.
• 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 smells, as well as 'bosteros' ('manure collectors').
• The first official Superclásico was played on August 24, 1913 at Racing Club Stadium, with River winning 2–1.