On April 1, 1905, a group of boys that had been part of a football team, "Independencia Sud", met in a bench of Plaza Solís of La Boca with the purpose of establishing a team. They were Esteban Baglietto, Santiago Scarpatti, Santiago Sana, and brothers Juan and Teodoro Farenga. As they didn't reach an agreement, a new meeting was called for the next day. In a new meeting on April 3, they finally agreed and the first committee was established, with Baglietto as president. After several names were proposed, "Boca" (for the neighborhood) was chosen, adding "Juniors" to it after a suggestion by Sana, to highlight to name. The use of English language in football team names was commonplace, as British railway workers had originally introduced football into Argentina.
Plaza Solís, seat of the first meeting, is recognized today as the place where Boca Juniors was established.
Baglietto, Sana and Scarpatti had received football lessons by Patrick "Paddy" McCarthy an Irish footballer and boxer who came to Argentina in 1900 and taught football techniques to the children of immigrants, as an appointed member of the sports municipal committee in Buenos Aires.
Other important founders members include Arturo Penney, Marcelino Vergara, Luis Cerezo, Adolfo Taggio, Giovanelli, Donato Abbatángelo and Bertolini.
The first field of the club was placed on the square block formed by Pedro de Mendoza, Colorado (A. Caffarena today), Sengüel (B. Pérez Galdós) and Gaboto streets in "Dársena Sud", while the headquarters located on Pinzón street (then moved to Suárez street). On April 21, 1905, Boca Juniors played its first match, beating Mariano Moreno 4–0, with goals scored by Juan Farenga (2), José Farenga and Sana. The starting line-up was: Esteban Baglietto (founder and president); José Farenga (founder and treasurer), Santiago Sana, Vicente Oñate, Guillermo Tyler, Luis De Harenne, Alfredo Scarpatti (secretary), Pedro Moltedo (captain), Amadeo Gelsi (vice-president), Alberto Tallent and Juan Farenga (founder). In that match, the team wore a white shirt with black stripes, hand-stitched by Manuela, sister of the Farenga. That shirt was worn in several matches until it was replaced by a light blue one. Nevertheless, some versions state that the first jersey was pink and was worn only for the first two games, although there are no any solid evidence that can prove this.
In August 1905, Boca registered to play in Copa Villalobos, where the team made a poor performance losing most of games. One of its rivals was Club Atlético Independiente. After the frustrating experience in Villalobos, Boca Juniors registered to another ligue, "Liga Central" in 1906, where the team would win its first title, being awarded the "Copa Reformista Trophy". Boca played 18 matches, winning 15 and remaining unbeaten.
In 1907 the club played two matches in Liga Central before switching to "Asociación Porteña de Foot-Ball". Some sources state that Boca wore the blue and gold colors for the first time on August 4, v General Arenales (Boca won 1–0). Those colors came after a suggestion from former club's president (and port worker) Juan Brichetto, taking the colors of the flag of the first ship he allowed to cross on the following morning. As the first ship that crossed the bridge was Swedish, Boca Juniors took those colors. It is believed that it was the 4146-ton freighter "Drottning Sophia", a Swedish vessel sailing from Copenhagen, although other historians say that the Drottning Sophia did not arrive in Buenos Aires in 1907 but in 1905. The ship that gave it colors to Boca Juniors would have probably been the Oskar II of Nordstjernan/Johnson Line, arriving to the port on February 5, 1907. The first design with those colors was blue with a diagonal gold sash.
In Asociación Porteña, Boca reached the final v Araneles, losing the playoff 1–0 after the first match (won by Boca 4–1) was annulled and the second ended in a 3–3 tie. In September, Boca registered in Liga Albión, where one of its rivals was Santa Rosa (predecessor of then arch-rival River Plate). That year, Boca played its first international match, v Uruguayan club Universal from Montevideo, on December 8, 1907. Universal won 1–0.
Boca Juniors played the 1907 Copa Albión final v San Telmo in 1908, winning 4–1 and therefore achieving its second title, being awarded the "Copa Barone Trophy".
From 1908 till 1912 Boca played at Segunda Division of Argentina league. At 1913 they promoted to first division. This was possible when the Asociación Argentina de Fútbol decided to increase the number of teams in the league from 6 to 15.
The first official match between Boca Juniors and arch-rival River Plate, known as Superclásico, was played in the 1913 Primera División championship at Racing Club stadium, being won by River Plate by 2–1. Boca had previously played against River in other unofficial matches, but the exact dates are still under dispute. The most extended version affirms that the first Superclásico ever was played on August 2, 1908, with Boca Juniors being the winner by 2–1, although there are no documents that support the information. Other version state that the first recorded match was played in 1912.
From 1919 till 1924(when they won the championship as unbeaten) they won several major titles.
European tour 1925:
The first match of the tourn was on March 5, 1925, v. Celta de Vigo with an attendance of 25,000 spectators. Antonio Cerrotti opened the score with only 2' played, becoming the first Argentine footballer to score a goal in Europe.[12] During that match, the roof of a near factory collapsed under the weight of several workers that were watching the match. Therefore, the game was suspended for 16 minutes.[13] Boca Juniors won the match by 3–1. Three days after a second game between Boca and Celta was played, and the local team won by the same score.
After the matches v. Celta, Boca Juniors moved to La Coruña to play two games v. the local team, Deportivo de La Coruña, on March 12 and 15 respectively. Boca Juniors won the first game by 3–0 and Tesoriere became the first Argentine goalkeeper to make a save from a penalty kick. Boca also won the second test v. La Coruña by 1–0. After those victories Boca travelled to Madrid where the squad defeated Atlético de Madrid by 2–1 and three days later beat Real Madrid by 1–0.[14] King Alfonso XIII and his son Alfonso, Prince of Asturias were among the spectators at the match. With 10' of the match played, the referee stopped the game to allow players to salute them.
The last match played by Boca Juniors in the city was against Sociedad Gimnástica Española, where Vaccaro was injured, missing the rest of the tour games.
After the games in Madrid, Boca Juniors moved to Bilbao, where the team was beat by Real Unión de Irún by 4–0 and then Athletic Bilbao by 4–2. In the game v. Athletic, the players abandoned the field as a protest for a penalty kick conceded to the local team. Nevertheless, the squad returned shortly after and the game was completed.
The tour on Spain continued in Pamplona where Boca Juniors defeated Osasuna by 1–0, finishing in Barcelona where Boca defeated RCD Espanyol twice (1–0 and 3–0) and a Catalonia combined by 2–0.
Boca had planned to continue the tour on France after the last game in Spain. However, the two consecutive losses to Real Unión and Athletic Bilbao made the French organisers to turn back their decision. As a result, the team went to Munich, Germany.[3][15] In that city Boca played Bayern Munich on May 9, then moving to Berlin where Boca Juniors beat Nord West. Some days later, in Leipzig, Boca achieved its largest victory of the tour when the squad thrashed SpVgg Leipzig 7–0.
Finally, the team finished the tour in Frankfurt where it played two games else. The good results in Germany made the French organisers reconsidered to play a friendly match between a French team and Boca Juniors. Therefore, the team extended the tour playing one game else, when in Paris Boca Juniors defeated a local combined by 4–2 with three goals by Manuel Seoane.
Bonus Cult story:
In the summer of 1999, after helping Mallorca win the domestic Supercup and reach the final of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (already accompanied in the team by former Lanús teammates Ariel Ibagaza and Gustavo Siviero), 30-year-old Roa retired from football in order to take a religious retreat. He was of the mains goalkeeper also at Argentina national team till then. After a year of charitable and religious work spent as a member of his church, his convictions led to his refusal to discuss a new contract with his team because he believed the world was going to end in the near future(2000).
Less than one year later, Roa nicknamed the Lechuga returned to Mallorca, forced to play out the remaining two years of his contract. Never being able to reproduce his previous form, he was relegated to the bench by compatriot Leo Franco.
He retired from Football at 2006.
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