River Plate v Boca Juniors (1972)
Jay | 13 June 2026
River Plate recently revealed their official and long-awaited 125th-anniversary kit from adidas. Alongside effectively plain grey shorts and red-and-white-topped grey socks, the collared shirt sees the focus of the look being placed on the iconic and timeless red sash's contrast with the white base. Los Millonarios in their purest form.
While differences can be noted, the principles were also applied to the Buenos Aires side's attire in the first 1972 Superclasico (12th March): white, collared shirt only embellished with that sash, plain white shorts and red-and-white-hooped socks. And those same principles could be seen to be applied to Boca Juniors in this titanic clash between famous inter-city foes. El Xeneize, at first glance, were wearing their blue shirts with a gold horizontal band, gold shorts and blue socks with gold tops.
So where's the chronological mismatch in looks? Both kits look understated and in keeping with the styles of the fourth fifth of the last century - the earlier part of that period, truth be told.
But when we take a closer look, there's a little more going on.
River's shorts, if anything, could be a decade older, in cut and (lack of) decoration. The same can't be said about Boca's equivalents.
Because Boca's shorts weren't actually gold. They were gold on the front, but the reverse had a blue fill, and if that wasn't enough, they had three white stripes dividing these two contrasting chromaticities.
You know who those stripes belonged to and this was an early example of the German supplier pushing their branding into the world of football. Stripes as trim — generally one or two rather than three — had been seen on shorts before, but while adidas would gain exposure through having their calling card on tracksuits at the upcoming European Championship, for example, it wouldn't be until the 1974 World Cup that ubiquity would set in.
So a nod to the near future, and perhaps a nod to the future still yet to come today. I can't think of many pairs of half-and-half football shorts — there, of course, are the sets the 'Danish Dynamite' Denmark side abandoned before Mexico '86 and Barcelona's controversial examples of 2021-22 - and certainly none with different backs to fronts.
'Team USA' wore basketball shorts with white fronts and navy backs in exhibition games before the London 2012 Olympics, but these were dispensed with prior to the tournament proper, presumably due to regulations forbidding them. Which makes the Boca Juniors shorts all the more surprising, as they continued to be worn for at least another couple of years, with an "adidas" wordmark patch and numbers being added.
So that 1972 Superclasico — a 4-0 victory for Boca, with two goals from Ramón Héctor Ponce, two from Hugo Curioni, and a sending off for overcelebration — involved looking back and forward, and we don't know how far in the case of the latter. Off the top of my head, Liverpool, in 2002-03, had a goalkeeper shirt with a black front and a grey back, and one with a yellow front and a navy back, and Esporte Clube Bahia had a Superman-themed outfield release last year, with a blue front and a red back (to denote the Man of Steel's cape), but I can't think of a pair of shorts in the last 54 years that have followed Boca's lead.
When adidas returned as suppliers to Boca Juniors in 2020, I had hope. While I could understand a reboot being out of the question for matchwear — how should one submit such kit colours when the focus is invariably the front view? — I did think there may be some kind of tribute in trainingwear or leisurewear. Alas, not as yet, but I should keep the faith.