Who are the best players in Boca Juniors history? Arguably the biggest team outside Europe, the Argentine club is the most popular football club in the country.
Boca Juniors has a storied past as a talent factory with its star youth academy and an extended lineage of legendary stars. These are the top ten players to ever play for the club:
10. Antonio Roma
Antonio Roma is Boca Juniors’ greatest ever goalkeeper and played a starring role in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1969 he went 783 minutes without conceding a goal.
A key figure in Boca’s success in his time, he featured in 323 matches for the club. His consistently strong goalkeeping earned him icon status among Los Xeneizes fans.
9. Ruben Sune
One of the greatest captains and best Boca Juniors players history, Ruben Sune played multiple spells for the club, a common theme with many players especially those who make the move to European football.
Sune starred in 377 games for the club and scored 36 times. He also played a pivotal role in helping the club secure back-to-back Copa Libertadores title in 1977 and 1978.
8. Roberto Mouza
A Boca Juniors youth product, Roberto Mouza was remarkable at centre-back across 426 games for the club and was renowned for his defensive skills and his versatility.
Mouza played a pivotal role in Boca’s success as a cornerstone at the back. As a leader on the field he helped guide the club secure back-to-back Copa Libertadores in 1977 and 1978.
7. Fernando Gago
One of the best Boca Juniors players ever and another famed product of the clubs youth academy after joining as a six-year old, Fernando Gago was deployed as a deep-lying midfielder and could build up play and break up attacks with ease.
Gago would move to Real Madrid and played with some of their greats* including Raul, Karim Benzema and Sergio Ramos. Across two spells at Boca he featured in 193 games for the club through ten seasons.
6. Martín Palermo
Arriving from Estudiantes de La Plata in 1997, Martín Palermo scored many goals for Boca Juniors helping guide the club to multiple titles including two Copa Libertadores titles.
One of Boca’s most charismatic and best ever strikers, he spent 11 seasons at the club with a five-season spell in Spain between two separate stints. He made a total of 404 appearances scoring 236 goals along the way.
5. Hugo Ibarra
Versatile defender Hugo Ibarra joined Boca from Colón in 1998 and after three seasons, earned a move Porto. While at the club he was loaned to Monaco where he lost the 2004 Champions League Final to his parent club.
Ibarra featured in 234 league games and played a key role in four Copa Libertadores title wins. Due to his work ethic, resilience and his brilliance from the back he’s considered the greatest right back in Boca Juniors history.
4. Roberto Cabañas
Paraguayan Roberto Cabañas had an incredible goal-scoring ability and was one of the best South American forwards of the 1980s and 90s. He even played alongside Pele with the New York Cosmos.
Despite only spending two seasons at the club and not reaching the level of superstardom he showed promise of in his earlier years, he still had a massive impact at Boca and became a fan favorite.
3. Carlos Tevez
Carlos Tevez headlines the best products from Boca Juniors youth academy, known as “The Boca Factory”. After joining the academy in 1997 he earned his first senior call up in 2001 and five years later would start a successful stint in Eirope.
Connected with the club from early after growing up in Fuerte Apache, Tevez enjoyed three stints at the club playing 279 games and scoring. A Boca Juniors cult hero, Tevez was a legitimate world-class striker plying his trade in the Primera División and played the game with a passion bordering insanity.
2. Juan Román Riquelme
A quintessential playmaker, Riquelme started his senior career at Boca in 1996 and quickly became the heart and soul of the club across two spells. His exceptional passing, vision, and ability earned him a move to Barcelona in 2002.
Riquleme was able to dictate the tempo of games with the superstar midfielder playing 388 games and scoring 92 goals for Boca. He went on to win three Copa Libertadores titles and became club president in 2023.
1. Diego Maradona
Diego Maradona to many is the greatest football player in history, and the indisputably the best Boca Juniors play ever. He lit up La Bombonera and inspired an entire generation both in Argentina and abroad.
Before he made a name for himself at Barcelona and Napoli, he enjoyed a spell at Boca before finishing his career at the club. In all he scored 35 goals for the club in 71 games and became a god for all Los Xeneizes.