FIFA Clarifies Boca and River’s Official Titles Ahead of Club World Cup

Ahead of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, the world’s governing football body released an official breakdown of each participating team’s honors. Among them are Boca Juniors and River Plate, Argentina’s two most iconic clubs. But the post did more than promote the tournament — it addressed one of the country’s longest-running football debates: how many top-flight league titles each club officially holds.

According to data published through FIFA’s official channels, Boca Juniors are credited with 35 league championships, beginning with their 1920 title, while River Plate have 38 — 37 from the professional era and one from the amateur period, also in 1920. This reflects FIFA’s unified criteria, counting all top-division titles as part of a continuous history regardless of era, a position that has long divided fans, historians, and club officials in Argentina.

Many still argue that amateur-era titles should be considered separately. Critics point out that, before the professionalization of the sport in 1931, the league structure lacked consistency: competitions were often poorly organized, not all major clubs participated, and parallel associations sometimes operated simultaneously. These differences, they say, make it unfair to equate amateur titles with those won in the modern professional era.

The report also highlights each club’s international record. Boca leads with 22 international trophies, including six Copa Libertadores and three Intercontinental Cups. River follows with 18 international titles, including four Libertadores and one Intercontinental. Another notable detail is FIFA’s classification of River as “based in Belgrano,” rather than the traditionally cited neighborhood of Núñez — a nod to official city boundaries.

By compiling and publishing these statistics, FIFA offers a definitive institutional reference point. While the debate may continue among fans, the organization has drawn a clear statistical line from its position at the top of world football.