A new report excludes amateur tournaments and modifies official counts, generating controversy once again between Millonarios and Xeneizes
The same rule was applied to local cups: River is credited with 10 out of 11 domestic trophies (the 1914 Copa de Competencia Jockey Club is excluded), while Boca only 6 out of the 17 that appear in AFA records and those of the Historical Football Revisionism organization.
On the international stage, FIFA's assessment does include Boca's 6 Copa Libertadores, along with 3 Intercontinental Cups, 4 Recopa Sudamericanas, and 2 Copa Sudamericanas. For River, it records 4 Libertadores, 3 Recopas, the 1986 Intercontinental, and the 2014 Sudamericana, among others.
This adjustment recalls another controversy that erupted a year ago, when FIFA had excluded Boca's Intercontinental Cups against Real Madrid (2000) and Milan (2003) on the grounds that "in the years 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004 the competition was not held", and recorded Corinthians as the 2000 champion. Finally, it corrected its mistake and incorporated those titles along with those of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, and Porto that had been left out.
At the end of March 2025, FIFA published a list with all the official titles of River and Boca, including both amateur and professional eras, which seemed to settle the historic debate in Argentina. However, a new general report on the 32 participants of the Club World Cup reopened the discussion.
In this latest report, the world football governing body only included championships from the professional era. This way, Boca is listed with 29 First Division titles instead of the 35 previously recorded, since the tournaments from 1919/20, 1920/21, 1923/24, 1924/25, 1926/27, and 1930/31 were omitted.
River, meanwhile, appears with 37 recognized professional leagues, although in March FIFA stated: "River is the most successful club in Argentina, with 38 First Division titles", by adding the 1920/21 tournament.
