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BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Glossary of terms relevant to the Argentine "Superclasico" between Boca Juniors and River Plate to be played at the Bombonera on Sunday (1900 GMT):
* Superclasico: Name for the biggest derby in Argentine football which has numerous "clasicos", the next biggest in Buenos Aires being Independiente against Racing Club in the suburb of Avellaneda. There is also the La Plata derby between Estudiantes and Gimnasia y Esgrima and the Rosario derby between Newell's Old Boys and Rosario Central.
* Xeneixes: Boca's nickname, meaning Genovese in dialect because of the large number of immigrants from the northern Italian port city of Genoa who settled in La Boca.
* Millonarios: River's nickname from 1931 because of their lavish spending. In the first year of professional football in Argentina River paid 10,000 pesos, a huge sum at the time, for winger Carlos Peucelle.
After finishing third in the 1931 championship, River spent 105,000 pesos strengthening their squad, paying Tigre a then world record 35,000 for striker Bernabe Ferreyra, and winning the title in 1932 with Ferreyra as top scorer with 42 goals.
* Bombonera: Boca's stadium, called the Chocolate Box because of its shape.
* La Boca (the mouth): A poor district of Buenos Aires at the mouth of the Riachuelo river that flows into the Rio de la Plata (River Plate), where both teams were founded, River in 1901 and Boca 1905.
* Bosteros: Rivals' nickname for Boca from the word bosta, meaning dung. La Boca used to be prone to flooding when the Sudestada, southeastery wind, whipped up the Rio de La Plata and the excrement that flowed out of the sewers came back onto the streets. Late River playmaker and coach Angel Labruna would walk onto the pitch at La Bombonera holding his nose.
* Gallinas: Meaning chickens is the nickname used for River by their rivals since 1966. River lost 4-2 to Uruguay's Penarol in the Libertadores Cup final that year after leading 2-0.
In their next league match they played at Banfield, whose fans threw a chicken onto the pitch. The nickname was reinforced at the next "Superclasico" at River's Monumental stadium when the home team lost and the newspaper Cronica ran a headline "This chicken run is closed for lack of eggs (guts)".
(Writing by Rex Gowar in Buenos Aires; editing by Patrick Johnston; to query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
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* Superclasico: Name for the biggest derby in Argentine football which has numerous "clasicos", the next biggest in Buenos Aires being Independiente against Racing Club in the suburb of Avellaneda. There is also the La Plata derby between Estudiantes and Gimnasia y Esgrima and the Rosario derby between Newell's Old Boys and Rosario Central.
* Xeneixes: Boca's nickname, meaning Genovese in dialect because of the large number of immigrants from the northern Italian port city of Genoa who settled in La Boca.
* Millonarios: River's nickname from 1931 because of their lavish spending. In the first year of professional football in Argentina River paid 10,000 pesos, a huge sum at the time, for winger Carlos Peucelle.
After finishing third in the 1931 championship, River spent 105,000 pesos strengthening their squad, paying Tigre a then world record 35,000 for striker Bernabe Ferreyra, and winning the title in 1932 with Ferreyra as top scorer with 42 goals.
* Bombonera: Boca's stadium, called the Chocolate Box because of its shape.
* La Boca (the mouth): A poor district of Buenos Aires at the mouth of the Riachuelo river that flows into the Rio de la Plata (River Plate), where both teams were founded, River in 1901 and Boca 1905.
* Bosteros: Rivals' nickname for Boca from the word bosta, meaning dung. La Boca used to be prone to flooding when the Sudestada, southeastery wind, whipped up the Rio de La Plata and the excrement that flowed out of the sewers came back onto the streets. Late River playmaker and coach Angel Labruna would walk onto the pitch at La Bombonera holding his nose.
* Gallinas: Meaning chickens is the nickname used for River by their rivals since 1966. River lost 4-2 to Uruguay's Penarol in the Libertadores Cup final that year after leading 2-0.
In their next league match they played at Banfield, whose fans threw a chicken onto the pitch. The nickname was reinforced at the next "Superclasico" at River's Monumental stadium when the home team lost and the newspaper Cronica ran a headline "This chicken run is closed for lack of eggs (guts)".
(Writing by Rex Gowar in Buenos Aires; editing by Patrick Johnston; to query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
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