Club Atlético Boca Juniors (CABJ) () is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional football team which, since its debut in Primera División in 1913, has always played in the top division.
The team has won 74 official titles, the most by any Argentine club. National titles won by Boca Juniors include 35 Primera División championships, Boca Juniors also owns an honorary title awarded by the Argentine Football Association for their successful tour of Europe in 1925.
Internationally, Boca Juniors has won 22 major titles, with 18 organised by CONMEBOL and the rest organised jointly by the Argentine and Uruguayan Associations. Consequently, Boca is ranked third in the world in terms of number of complete international titles, after Real Madrid (34) and Egyptian side Al Ahly (26). Boca Juniors' international achievements also include one Tie Cup, one Copa de Honor Cousenier, and two Copa Escobar-Gerona, organized jointly by AFA and AUF together. Their success usually has the Boca Juniors ranked among the IFFHS's Club World Ranking Top 25, which they have reached the top position in six times (mostly during the coaching tenure of Carlos Bianchi). Boca was named by the IFFHS as the top South American club of the first decade of the 21st century (2001–2010). It was designated by FIFA as the joint twelfth-best Club of the Century, in December 2000, occupying the same place as Liverpool of England.
Boca Juniors has a fierce rivalry with River Plate, and matches between them are known as the Superclásico. It is the most heated rivalry in Argentina and one of the biggest in the world, as the clubs are the two most popular in the country. As of January 2023, Boca Juniors ranked first among the clubs with the most members in Argentina, with 315,879.
History
thumb|left|230px|The first recorded photo of Boca Juniors taken in 1906, after winning the Liga Central championship
On 3 April 1905, a group of boys, who were the sons of Italian immigrants (more specifically from Genoa), met in order to find a club. The house where the meeting was arranged was Esteban Baglietto's and the other four people who attended were Alfredo Scarpatti, Santiago Sana and brothers Juan Farenga and Teodoro Farenga .
Other important founding members include Arturo Penney, Marcelino Vergara, Luis Cerezo, Adolfo Taggio, Giovanelli, Donato Abbatángelo, and Bertolini.
In 1913, Boca was promoted to Primera División after some previous failed attempts. This was possible when the Argentine Association decided to increase the number of teams in the league from 6 to 15.
In 1925, Boca made its first trip to Europe to play in Spain, Germany and France. The squad played a total of 19 games, winning 15 of them. For that reason Boca was declared "Campeón de Honor" (Champion of Honour) by the Association.
During successive years, Boca consolidated as one of the most popular teams of Argentina, with a huge number of fans not only in the country but worldwide.
Kit and badge
thumb|300px|Some jerseys worn in the 1990s–2000s also in exhibition
According to the club's official site, the original jersey colour was a white shirt with thin black vertical stripes, being then replaced by a light blue shirt and then another striped jersey before adopting the definitive blue and gold.
Legend has it that in 1906, Boca played Nottingham de Almagro. Both teams wore such similar shirts that the match was played to decide which team would get to keep it. Boca lost, and decided to adopt the colors of the flag of the first boat to sail into the port at La Boca. This proved to be a Swedish ship, therefore the yellow and blue of the Swedish flag were adopted as the new team colours. Reportedly, it was the dockworker Juan Bricchetto who saw the ship, which was named Drottning Sophia. The first version had a yellow diagonal band, which was later changed to a horizontal stripe. When Nike became official kit provider in 1996, the first model by the company introduced two thin white stripes surrounding the gold band, causing some controversy. The brand also introduced a silver jersey designed exclusively for the 1998 Copa Mercosur. For the 100th anniversary of the club, Nike launched commemorative editions of several models worn by the club since its foundation, including a version of the 1907 shirt with the diagonal sash, which was worn in two matches during the 2005 Torneo de Verano (Summer Championship). Other models were a black and white striped jersey (similar to Juventus FC) and a purple model, worn in the 2012 and 2013 "Torneos de Verano", respectively.
Nevertheless, no shirt caused more controversy than the pink model released as the away jersey for the 2013–14 season, which was widely rejected by the fans. Because of that, the introduction of this model (to be initially worn v. Rosario Central) was delayed until the last fixture when Boca played Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP). As a replacement for the pink model, Nike designed a fluorescent yellow shirt launched that same season.
In 2016, the club wore a black jersey for the first time in its history, originally launched as the third kit. Although the President of the club, Daniel Angelici, had stated that the black kit would never be worn, the kit debuted in a match v. Tigre, only four days after the announcement.
Adidas is the club's current kit supplier since January 2020. The agreement (which will remain in force until 2029) was signed for US $10,069,000 plus 40% in royalties per year for the club.
Kit evolution
Uniforms worn by the team through its history:
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;Notes
Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors
{| class="wikitable sortable"
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!Period
!Kit Manufacturer
!Shirt Sponsors
|-
|1980–83|| rowspan=6|Adidas || –
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|1983|| Vinos Maravilla
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|1984|| Dekalb
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|1985–89||Fate
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|1989–92||Fiat
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|1992–93||rowspan=2|Parmalat
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|1993–95||rowspan=2|Olan
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| 1996 ||rowspan=3| Quilmes
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| 1996 || Topper
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|1996–01||rowspan=11|Nike
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|2001–03||Pepsi
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|2003–04||Pepsi & Goodyear
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|2004–05|| Red Megatone & Goodyear
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|2006|| Megatone & Goodyear
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|2007–09|| Megatone & UNICEF
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|2009–11||LG & Total
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|2012–14||BBVA & Total
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|2014–16||BBVA & Citroën
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|2016–18||BBVA & Huawei
|-
|2018–19|| rowspan="2" |Qatar Airways & Axion Energy
|-
|2020–21||rowspan=4|Adidas
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|2021–22||Qatar Airways
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|2022–23||None
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|2023–||Betsson & DirecTV
|}
;Notes
Badge
The club has had five different designs for its badge during its history, although its outline has remained unchanged through most of its history.
The first known emblem dates from 1911, appearing on the club's letterhead papers. In October 1932, the club stated that one star would be added to the badge for each Primera División title won.
In 1996, the Ronald Shakespear Studio introduced a new badge (with the horizontal band suppressed) as part of a visual identity for the club. The new Boca Juniors image also featured new typography and style.
<gallery>
File:Boca escudo 1911.png|1911–14
File:Boca escudo 1915.png|1915–32
File:Boca jrs logo 1920.png|1925–26
File:Boca jrs logo 1970.png|1932–96
File:Boca juniors.png|1996–present
</gallery>
;Notes
Stadium
thumb|200px|Official grandstand of [[Estadio Ministro Brin y Senguel, where Boca Juniors played from 1916 to 1924]]
thumb|200px|The Boca Juniors stadium in Brandsen and Del Crucero, inaugurated in 1924. It was later demolished to build La Bombonera, in the same place
Boca Juniors used several locations before settling on their current ground on Brandsen. Club's first ground was in Dársena Sur of the old Buenos Aires port (currently Puerto Madero) but it was vacated in 1907 as it failed to meet the minimum league requirements. Boca Juniors then used three grounds in the Isla Demarchi area between 1908 and 1912. In the first year in the Primera Division (1913) the club hadn't an own stadium and played the home games in the pitches of the other teams, likely in Estudiantes de Buenos Aires in Palermo (on Figueroa Alcorta y Dorrego), but also in Avellaneda (first official derby against the River). Between 1914 and 1915, the club moved away from La Boca for the second time in its history (beyond the 1913), moving to Wilde in the Avellaneda Partido of the Greater Buenos Aires but a relatively poor season and poor attendances in 1915 forced the club to move back to La Boca.
On 25 May 1916, Boca Juniors opened its new stadium at the intersection of Ministro Brin and Senguel streets, playing there until 1924 when the club moved to Brandsen and Del Crucero (Del Valle Iberlucea nowadays) streets, to build a new stadium there, which lasted until 1938 when the club decided to build a totally new venue, made of concrete grandstand instead of wood.
Building of Boca Juniors' current stadium began in 1938, under the supervision of Engineer José L. Delpini. Boca played its home matches in Ferro Carril Oeste's Estadio Ricardo Etcheverry in Caballito until it was completed on 25 May 1940. The stand opposite the Casa Amarilla railway platforms remained mostly undeveloped until 1996, when it was upgraded with new balconies and quite expensive VIP boxes. Three sides of the Bombonera are thus made up of traditional sloping stadium stands, but the fourth side was built vertically, with several seating areas stacked one on top of the other, the only way that makes it stand into the club premises.
La Bombonera is known for vibrating when Boca fans (La 12) jump in rhythm; in particular, the unique vertical side will sway slightly, leading to the phrase, "La Bombonera no tiembla. Late" (The Bombonera does not tremble. It beats)
La Bombonera currently has a capacity of around 54,000. The club's popularity make tickets hard to come by, especially for the Superclásico game against River Plate. There are further improvements planned for the stadium, including measures to ease crowd congestion, use of new technology and improved corporate facilities.
Apart from the venues listed, Boca Juniors also played its home games at Estudiantes de Buenos Aires's stadium (in 1913, then located on Figueroa Alcorta Avenue) and Ferro Carril Oeste stadium (1938–40, while La Bombonera was under construction).
In 2023 while running for the president's role of the club, Jorge Reale famously unveiled plans and designs of a new state-of-the-art roofed stadium that would house 112,000 spectators, 444 VIP boxes and 4,000 parking spaces. The plan was ceased in the following year after the incumbent president, Juan Roman Riquelme, a popular figure among fans due to his footballing heroics as a player, won the presidential election.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ List of Boca Juniors venues
|-
!width=200px| Field / Venue
!width=100px| District
!width=100px| Period
|-
| Dársena Sud || La Boca || 1905–07
|-
| Isla Demarchi || Puerto Madero || 1908–12
|-
| Wilde