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Club Atletico River Plate
Club Atletico River Plate, known also as River Plate or simply River, is an Argentine sports club best known for its football team, established in 1901. Its home base is the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Nunez, and it plays at the Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti. It's the 9th soccer club in the All-Time Club World Ranking and the 1st in America, according to the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS)
The club was also regarded 6 times as the best soccer club in the world in the monthly Club World Ranking of IFFHS
"River Plate" is sometimes used as the English name for the Rio de la Plata, the river on which Buenos Aires sits. It is believed that, in the club's early days, one of the founders (Martinez) observed sailors playing impromptu football games in the port of Buenos Aires next to crates marked "The River Plate", hence the club name.
River has always been one of the most important teams of South America. They have combined to win 37 official tournaments which includes 32 Argentine League titles, 2 Copa Libertadores, and a World title in 1986. In 1986 River Plate fans had the distinction of watching River win the league title, Copa Libertadores, Interamerican Cup, Intercontinental Cup, as well as Argentina's triumph in the 1986 FIFA World Cup.
History
Club Atletico River Plate was founded on May 25, 1901, close to the La Boca neighborhood (later the home of fierce rivals Club Atletico Boca Juniors). The club moved first to Palermo and then to Nunez on the northern side of the city in 1923.
In the early 1930s, River acquired Bernabe Ferreyra from Tigre for a then unheard of sum, and paid mostly in gold. The club became known as Los Millonarios ("The Millionaires").
In the 1940s Alfredo Di Stefano and 1950s Eduardo Omar Sivori played for River before moving on to become stars in Europe - Sivori for Juventus and Di Stefano for Real Madrid. Some River players, including Di Stefano, had stints in the Colombian El dorado "pirate" league, which was not recognised by FIFA, when it was the world's wealthiest.
River's attractive, offensive playing style earned the side of the early 1940s the nickname La Maquina ("The Machine"). The names of the team's five forwards are well known to most Argentine fans. La Maquina is often considered as the predecessor of Holland's total football which took the 1974 World Cup by storm, reaching the final where they lost to Germany.
Between 1952 and 1957, River won five out of six league titles, before an 18-year drought ensued. River returned to form in 1975 and then had a string of championship titles under coach Angel Labruna with players like Ubaldo Fillol, Daniel Passarella and Norberto Alonso.
In 1983, Enzo Francescoli was transferred from Uruguayan side Montevideo Wanderers to take Alonso's place. He had two stints with River, achieving international renown, and became known as "The Prince". In 1986, just after Francescoli's transfer to Racing Club Paris in France, River won their first Libertadores Cup. A new generation of home-grown players, led by Claudio Caniggia, went on to achieve success both with River and abroad.
River Plate have won 32 Argentine professional championships, as well as the Intercontinental Cup in 1986 and the Copa Libertadores (twice) in 1986 and 1996, both times beating the same club in the final, America de Cali. They also won the Copa Interamericana in 1987, beating LD Alajuelense from Costa Rica and the Supercopa in 1997. River was the first team in Argentina to simultaneously win an international title (Supercopa) and a First Division Championship (Torneo Apertura 1997). This series of successes led the club to first place in the IFFHS ranking for six consecutive months, the first Argentine club to do so. They are also the only Argentine club ranked as the best World team in a season (1997-1998).
In 1999, a special edition of the Argentine sports magazine "El Grafico" named River Plate as "Champions Of The Century" ("Campeon Del Siglo"), noting the clubs achievements, especially their then 28 Argentine championships against Boca Juniors' 19 and Independiente's 13 (all figures as of 1999). And, the following year, in a FIFA sponsored vote River were voted the best Argentine team of the 20 Century .
Superclasico
Main article: Superclasico
Club Atletico River Plate and Club Atletico Boca Juniors are the two largest football clubs in Argentina, with more than half the country's football fans supporting the clubs. Due to the rivalry between them, the Boca Juniors vs River Plate Superclasico derby match was listed by the BBC as one of the most famous derbies in the world.. And also as one of the Fifty sporting things you must do before you die by The Observer newspaper. .
Club nicknames
River fans and the press are fond of the nickname Los Millonarios. This name derives from the 1930s after some expensive transfers of players from other clubs, including Bernabe Ferreyra from Tigre in 1932. Between 1979 and 1981, the River squad was reputed to be amongst the most expensive in the world.
Fans of rival clubs call River Gallinas . This nickname was born after the final of the Copa Libertadores in 1966 against Uruguayan team Penarol. River were ahead 2-0 but ended up losing the game 4-2, during the infamous title drought that lasted from 1957 to 1975, a period that included 11 second places in the Argentine league.
Due to the red band in their shirt, it is also common to refer to River as El Equipo de la Banda Roja (the team with the red band) or simply La Banda (which also means "the band" -both as in "gang" and "musical group").
Some famous River teams earned nicknames, notably La Maquina (the machine), the team that astonished Argentine football between 1941 and 1945.
In 1996 and 1997, during a run of title wins , River were sometimes called La Maquinita ("The Little Machine") by the press. That team featured Francescoli and younger players such as Juan Pablo Sorin, Hernan Crespo, Ariel Ortega, Marcelo Salas and Marcelo Gallardo.
Stadium
See main article Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti
El Monumental is River's home stadium in the Nunez neighborhood of Buenos Aires. With a capacity of 65,645, the stadium is also used in matches for the Argentina national football team.
Current squad
As of February 11 2008
(Captain)
Squad Changes for Clausura 2008
In
Sebastian Abreu Transfered from Tigres
Gustavo Cabral from Racing Club
Rodrigo Archubi signed from Olympiacos F.C.
Titles
Amateur Championships
Second Division: 1
1908
First Division: 1
1920
Professional Championships
First Division: (32)1932
1936
1937
1941
1942
1945
1947
1952
1953
1955
1956
1957
1975 Metropolitano
1975 Nacional
1977 Metropolitano
1979 Metropolitano
1979 Nacional
1980 Metropolitano
1981 Nacional
1985-86
1989-90
1991 Apertura
1993 Apertura
1994 Apertura
1996 Apertura
1997 Clausura
1997 Apertura
1999 Apertura
2000 Clausura
2002 Clausura
2003 Clausura
2004 Clausura
International Titles
International Conmebol Titles
Copa Libertadores: 2'''
1986, 1996
Supercopa (Champions of America's Cup): 1
1997
Intercontinental Cup: 1
1986
Copa Interamericana: 1
1987
Other International non-Conmebol Titles
;Argentina-Uruguay Tournaments (AFA-AUF)
Cup Tie Competition: 1
1914
Rio de la Plata Tournament (Dr. Ricardo C. Aldao Cup): 6 (5)
Played between the Champions of Argentina and Uruguay. Discontinued since 1955.
1936, 1937, 1941, 1945, 1947, 1955 (Second leg not played. Title was not officially proclaimed.)
Notable former players
see also
Note: The Players marked '(c)' have also coached the team
Early Days and La Maquina
1950s, 1960s and 1970s
1980s and early 1990s
Late 1990s to date
Other sports
River Plate also has a basketball team playing in the amateur Buenos Aires league. It played 10 seasons in the Liga Nacional de Basquetbol between 1985-1993 and 2004-06, reaching the finals in 1988 and obtaining 2nd place in 2004 and 2005 editions of Copa Argentina, but in July 2006 the club got expelled by the League because of a debt in player's salaries. River Plate also has professional male and female volleyball teams in regional and national competitions, male and female handball teams among the best in regional and national competitions and a female field hockey team that made its debut in Buenos Aires' top division in 2007.
See also
List of football clubs in Argentina
External links
La Pagina Millonaria - Unofficial site
RiveresMundial.com.ar Fan site
Unofficial website, only soccer
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Club Atletico River Plate
