Nickname: Millonarios
Club fun facts: the nickname comes from their record transfer (in 1932…) of Bernabé Ferreyra. Fans of archrivals Boca Juniors like to call them Las Gallinas (the chicken), because they always fail on important moments. Although those Boca fans will be quiet since 2018, when both teams met for the final of the Copa Libertadores and River Plate won with 3-1 after extra time. A match played in Madrid by the way, after River ‘fans’ (the infamous barra brava called Los Borrachos del Tablon) attacked the player bus of Boca before the return leg.
Funnily enough, River Plate was founded in the La Boca neighborhood. Its first two grounds were even there. In those days, early 20th century, their famous La Banda-shirt was introduced: white, with a diagnoal red stripe. It was absent between 1909-1932, but since then it is their kit. In my humble opinion the most beautiful of at least Argentina.
River Plate moved into the new El Monumental in 1938, which was then a horseshoe-shaped stadium because of lack of funds. The gap was partially closed in 1958 and completely finished in 1978 for the World Cup.
Official site: https://www.cariverplate.com.ar/en
Stadium: Mas Monumental
Capacity: 84.567
Stadium specifics: the site of the infamous World Cup 1978 final, the biggest stadium of Argentina and the location of many stadium concerts (Coldplay, Taylor Swift, amongst many). After a recent renovation it has become a better football stadium by removing the unused athletics track around the pitch: the oval shape of the stadium has been complemented with stands closer to the pitch, which was lowered 1.8 metres just for this purpose. There was no money for a new roof though.
The stadium has three rings and four stands. The Belgrano (west side) and San Martin (east, main) stand only have seats. The Sivori (north) and Centenario (south) stand have terraces on the first two rings. All pictures were taken from the Sivori stand, and not during a River Plate game but during the 2024 final of the Copa Libertadores between Botafogo and Atletico Mineiro.
The stadium is at the end of a leafy residential area. For a detailed access plan, see this map.
How to get there: the Ciudad Universitaria train station (30 minutes from Retiro) is on the northern side of the stadium. Alternatively, there are buses along the Avenida de Libertador. Four blocks further is Nunez train station, which takes 15 minutes to Retiro.
Tickets: almost every home game of River Plate sells out. Sometimes you can still become a member and have a decent chance of tickets, otherwise go to local agencies.
