Superclásico

Origins and background

The two clubs 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 actually 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 was played on August 24, 1913, 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". 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 violent factions on both sides or with the police.

Boca fans refer to River supporters as "gallinas" ("chickens") claiming the lack of guts of River players. Despite the fact that their club traces back its roots to La Boca, 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 not easy I can tell you. One side looks on you as a traitor and the other doesn't really trust you. You need time to adapt and a lot of character to win people over." Some players have gone so far as to state that they would not play for the other club such as River's Uruguayan player Enzo Francescoli while Diego Maradona during his time playing for Argentinos Juniors, refused to even consider a move to El Monumental, stating that his dream was to play for Boca.

Recently, on March 21 in the Clausura 2010 tournament, the two teams started playing in La Bombonera. In the ninth minute of play, the match was suspended because of heavy rainfall in Buenos Aires. The pitch was practically flooded, but in spite of this, referee Héctor Baldassi stated that the match could be played. In the course of the match, the two teams were unable to keep possession because the ball became repeatedly bogged down. The match restarted on Thursday, March 25, 2010, and was played with two halves of 41 minutes. This was the first Superclásico suspended in history.

In January 2013, El Superclásico became a topic of diplomatic discussion when the United States Embassy in Buenos Aires; Argentina released a video entitled, Fiebre del Superclásico. In the video, American diplomats from different sections of the Embassy (including the Deputy Chief of Mission and Ambassador) debate the question of "Boca or River?" by trading a series of common jokes and barbs from the Boca–River rivalry. In its first week, the video garnered nearly 50,000 views on YouTube.

Puerta 12 tragedy

On June 23, 1968, in El Monumental, after a 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 football related incident in the history of Argentine football and the majority of the dead were teenagers and young adults; the average age of the victims was 19. There are various claims as to what exactly happened that day. Some claim that the disaster happened after Boca Juniors fans threw burning River flags from the upper tiers of the stadium, causing a stampede of their own fans in the lower tier.

Others claim that it happened after River fans arrived at the Boca section, causing the stampede of the visiting fans. Yet others claim that gate 12 was locked, or would not open at the time, and that the fans at the back did not hear the ones at the front telling them to stop coming in. William Kent, River's former president, claimed that the police were the culprits, as they began repressing Boca fans after they had thrown urine at them from the stands. Some witnesses claim that the turnstiles to the exit were blocked by a huge iron pole.

After three years of investigation, a government inquiry found no one guilty, much to the disappointment of the families of the victims. Since the tragedy, the gates at El Monumental have been identified by letters instead of numbers.

At the end of the 1968 season, the 68 football clubs in the Argentine Football Association collected 100,000 pesos for the families of the deceased.

Head-to-head record

Updated to 13 March 2017

(*) 17 matches which ended in a tie were decided by penalty shoot-outs. River won 10 definitions and Boca won on 7 occasions (14 were in friendly matches, 1 in international tournaments, 1 in national cups and 1 in a Primera División match).

Primera División matches

Includes only matches in the Primera División since their first official game in 1913.

(*) Boca Juniors played as the home team at River Plate stadium.
(**) River Plate knocked out Boca Juniors of Copa Libertadores

Copa Libertadores

These are only matches in the Copa Libertadores, club name in bold indicate win. The score is given at full-time, in the goals columns the goal scorer and time when goal was scored is noted.

Other international cups

These are only matches in other international cups. The club name in bold indicates a win. The score is given at full-time, in the goals columns the goal scorer and time when goal was scored is noted.

National cups

These are only matches in national cup competitions. The club name in bold indicates a win. The score is given at full-time, in the goals columns the goal scorer and time when goal was scored is noted.

Unofficial matches

This is a list of unofficial matches. The club name in bold indicates a win. The score is given at full-time, in the goals columns the goal scorer and time when goal was scored is noted.

(*) Game was suspended 15 minutes into the second half.

Players who have played for both clubs

List of 100 players who have played for Boca Juniors and River Plate

Players who played for one club in youth career and for rival club in senior career