Club Atlético Boca Juniors, known also as Boca Juniors or simply Boca, is a popular Argentine sports club, best known for its football team. Its home base is the neighbourhood of La Boca, in Buenos Aires, and their home field is Estadio Alberto J. Armando, better known as (La Bombonera).They are the reigning holders of the Recopa Sudamericana title. Their main rival is River Plate, with whom they contest the Superclásico.
Boca has won a record 18 international titles, equal to A.C. Milan. Their haul includes six Copa Libertadores, four Recopa Sudamericana, three world club titles (Intercontinental Cup), two Copa Sudamericana, one Copa Oro, one Supercopa Sudamericana, and one Supercopa Masters. Domestically, the club has won 23 national championships, second only to River Plate.
The club is a permanent fixture in the IFFHS Club World Ranking top 25, Boca is currently ranked 3rd and has reached the top position of the monthly ranking 6 times (mostly during coach Carlos Bianchi's tenure).Peñas (fan clubs) exist in a number of Argentine cities, and abroad, in countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Spain,[citation needed] Israel and Japan.
Boca Juniors are particularly popular in Japan because of the club's success in recent years at the Intercontinental Cup held in Japan. All over the world, fans are drawn to Boca by the club's international titles, and by the success of Boca players who went on to play in European football such as Hugo Ibarra, Rodolfo Arruabarrena, Diego Cagna, Enzo Ferrero, Roberto Abbondanzieri, Nicolás Burdisso, Fernando Gago, Diego Maradona, Claudio Caniggia, Gabriel Batistuta, Juan Román Riquelme and Carlos Tevez.
Boca have fans throughout Latin America, especially in Colombia and Peru[citation needed], and also in parts of the United States where there has been Latin immigration and where in July 2007, after the club had toured pre-season, it was reported that the club were considering the possibility of creating a Boca Juniors USA team to compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) with in New York City, Miami, Los Angeles and Arizona mentioned as possible locations.Boca Juniors has had a long standing rivalry with River Plate.
The Superclásico is known worldwide as one of world football's fiercest and most important rivalries. It is particularly noted for the passion of the fans, the stands of both teams feature fireworks, coloured confetti, flags and rolls of paper. Both sets of supporters sing passionate songs (often based on popular Argentine rock band tunes) against their rivals, and the stadiums are known to bounce with the simultaneous jumping of the fans. Sometimes the games have been known to end in riots between the hardest supporters of both sides or against the police. The English newspaper The Observer put the Superclásico at the top of their list of 50 sporting things you must do before you die.
The two clubs both have origins in the poor riverside area of Buenos Aires]] known as La Boca. River however moved to the more affluent district of Núñez in the north of the city in 1923.
Boca Juniors and River Plate have played 327 games all time against each other, with Boca winning 121, River 105 and 101 times the games ended in a draw. In the Professional Era the two clubs have played 184 games with Boca winning 68, River 61 and 55 draws.
This intense rivalry has not stopped players from playing for both clubs, most notably Gabriel Batistuta and Claudio Caniggia.Boca's two most successful coaches were Juan Carlos Lorenzo (1976~79, 1987), and Carlos Bianchi, (1998-2002, 2003~04). Toto Lorenzo won five titles with the team, including the Libertadores Cup in 1977 and 1978, the Intercontinental Cup in 1977, and the Metropolitano and Nacional in 1976. Bianchi won nine, including Aperturas in 1998, 2000 and 2003, the 1999 Clausura, the Libertadores Cup in 2000, 2001, and 2003, and the Intercontinental Cup in 2000 and 2003.
On 22 August, 2006, it was announced that Ricardo Lavolpe would take over the post of coach on September 15, replacing Alfio Basile, who has been selected to manage Argentina National Football Team. Lavolpe failed to continue Basile's chain of success, losing the 2006 Apertura championship in spite of a 4 points advantage with only two rounds to go.
Miguel Angel Russo was hired as Lavolpe's replacement. Boca took second place to San Lorenzo de Almagro in the 2007 Clausura tournament, but went on to win the Copa Libertadores with a 5-0 overall rout of Brazilian Grêmio.
Carlos Luis Ischia was hired after Miguel Angel Russo left to go be San Lorenzo de Almagro's Coach. Records:
* Boca Juniors and Milan both hold a world record 18 official international titles.
* Boca Juniors has the most official titles (domestic and international) for an Argentine football club with 40 titles in the professional era (48 including amateur titles).
* Boca Juniors were awarded the title "Campeón de Honor" (Honour Champion) in 1925, due to a highly successful tour through Europe in which the club played Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid and Real Sociedad, as well as German and French teams, with an impressive record of 15 wins, one draw and three defeats. This title was declared official by the Asociación del Fútbol Argentino, thereby increasing the total number of amateur and professional titles to 49 (31 domestic and 18 international titles).
* 40 consecutive Primera División matches unbeaten - an Argentine record: from 5 May 1998 to 2 June 1999, with 29 victories and 11 draws.[42]
* Three times winner of the Intercontinental Cup (now replaced by FIFA Club World Cup), a record tied with Peñarol, Nacional, Milan and Real Madrid.
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