Nickname: Xeneizes
Club fun facts: the nickname stems from ‘zeneixi’, the local dialect of people from Genoa in Italy. The club founders were born there, hence the adopted Xeneize name.
The club has more than 320.000 members and is the most popular one in the country. Wherever you go you will see blue shirts with a horizontal yellow bar on the breast. The entire neighborhood of La Boca around the stadium seems to be painted in club colors. Most of them show the number 10 and a picture of Diego Maradona: he was bought in 1981 from Argentinos Juniors and was sold onwards to Barcelona a year later. He returned at the end of his career, from 1995 to 1997.
The stadium nickname Bombonera (chocolate box) comes from its architect, who compared the design to chocolate boxes. The strange ‘main’ stand has only been there since 1996: before, there were only some VIP boxes and an obelisk, also because lack of space.
Official site: https://www.bocajuniors.com.ar/?lang=en
Stadium: Alberto Jose Armando (La Bombonera)
Capacity: 54.000
Stadium specifics: probably the most famous stadium in the world. Partly because of its location bang in the middle of a neighborhood, partly because of the strange small main stand. The arena has three tiers. Most of them are actually seats, only the Zona Norte (where the famous La 12 barra bravas stand) and the Zona Sur have two tiers of terraces.
Reaching the stadium is not easy: for the northern end (gates 11-14) the best way is through Palos street, where other facilities of the club are. Gates 15-20 (western stand) should be reached from Irala. The south stand (gates 7-8) from the south part of Iberlucea, and the southwestern corner (gates 1-5) from Brandsen. The surrounding area is a maze, so come early if you can. The terraces fill up very early as well, in sharp contrast to other stadiums in Argentina.
The stands are steep as hell. I stood on the 2nd tier of the northern section, right in the La 12 area. It gets very very crowded there, try to stick to the sides and walk down as low as possible. If you want to have more peace of mind, get a seat. The biggest fan disaster of Argentina also took place in La Bombonera: in 1968 gate 12 (Puerta 12) remained closed after the game. 71 supporters (average age: 19) were crushed to death. The cause has never been found.
How to get there: if possible, just walk there from San Telmo or from the Paseo Colon. It is a nice 30 minute walk. Getting close with a car is not possible. There is also a host of buses driving along the Avenida Almte Brown, on the eastern side of the stadium, four blocks away. But check where your entrance is, or you might be forced to take a huge detour.
Tickets: the million dollar question. The club nowadays only sells to socios, so you need contacts or ticket agencies. Expect hefty prices, for my 15 dollar standing ticket I paid 115 dollars. In cash.
