Boca Juniors and River Plate. Two of the biggest teams in Argentine football will face each other on Sunday, April 21, in a new Superclásico that, as usual, will see the country grind to a halt.

Far from Boca’s iconic La Bombonera or River’s Monumental in Buenos Aires, the match will be held in Córdoba, at the neutral Mario Alberto Kempes stadium, at 3:30 p.m on Sunday.

This time, Boca and River are set to clash in the quarterfinals of the Copa de la Liga, the tournament that takes place in the first half of the Argentine football season. Both teams are looking for bragging rights over their rival and a spot in the next round, with the competition winner getting a direct ticket to the 2025 Copa Libertadores.

A single-game affair, this Superclasico will have no extra time after regulation, and in the event of a tie, a penalty shoot-out will determine the winner.

Here’s everything you need to know to follow Argentina’s most emblematic football clash.

How to watch the Superclásico

Like in all first-division matches, membership owners of both teams will have priority to purchase tickets when they become available. Each team will be allocated around half of the Mario Alberto Kempes’s 57,000 seats.

Usually, Boca and River fill their own +50,000-seat stadiums, so tickets will be hard to come by. Hotels and tour sites offer tickets and experience packages for tourists, although prices can be hefty.

Ticket sales will start on Thursday, through ticket-sales site Deportick.

In order to watch the match at home, you’ll need a cable TV subscription and the additional Pack Fútbol — which grants access to premium channels ESPN Premium and TNT Sports.

Several bars across Buenos Aires will be playing the game on TV. Locos x el Fútbol (Las Heras 2101, Recoleta) is one of the city’s biggest sports bars, with several giant screens and plenty of football-themed decor.

For those hoping for a classic pub experience, Sullivan’s (Jorge Luis Borges 1702, Palermo) offers a wide selection of beers and foods.

For a more typical option, try El Banderín (Guardia Vieja 3601, Almagro), one of Buenos Aires’s traditional bares notables, which opened in 1923 and takes its name from its incredible collection of team flags from all over the world.

Is it safe to attend the Superclasico?

While match-going in Argentina isn’t dangerous, this will be the first Superclásico to allow fans from both teams since the 2018 Copa Libertadores final, so tensions may rise. Fans from away teams have been banned in local tournament matches since 2013. That year, a Lanús fan, Javier Gerez, died from a rubber bullet in the chest shot by anti-riot Police during a clash that erupted when visiting fans were trying to enter the Estudiantes de La Plata stadium. 

As with all mass events, match-goers should stay alert for flare-ups and heated arguments that can occur. Depending on which side of the stands you get tickets to, remember not to wear the other side’s colors to avoid problems.

Why is the Boca-River rivalry so big? 

First played in 1908, every game adds a chapter to the most heated rivalry in the country, with British football magazine FourFourTwo calling it “the biggest derby in the world.”

It all goes back to the dawn of Argentine football when both teams hauled the same turf: the immigrant-populated area of La Boca. The feud later developed into a socio-cultural clash when River moved to the more affluent Belgrano neighborhood. Today, as Boca and River became two of Argentina’s bigger teams, with fans from all economic backgrounds, those differences have pretty much blurred away. But their rivalry remains as intense as ever.