Boca Juniors Reserves and Academy

The Academy

Known as "The Boca Factory", Boca Juniors youth divisions contains teams from under-8 to under-20 level. They participate in Argentina's youth leagues organized by the Argentine Football Association. In 1996 Mauricio Macri (who had been elected president of the club one year later) stated that rather than buy players for huge money only to put too much expectation on them and watch them under-perform, they wanted to create their own stars. Therefore, Boca hired two very influential figures; one was Bernardo Griffa, a leading expert of youth in Argentina who had created a successful scouting network at Newell's Old Boys. The second was Ramón Maddoni, the king of 'baby football' (indoor six-a-side football for 5–12 year olds), who had a long career at Club Parque at the moment of being hired by Boca Juniors.

Since then, Boca's academy has brought through, and also sold, more than 350 homegrown players from all age categories. From the list of the 350 players, more than 130 of the academy graduates would play around the world, including in Argentina, Spain, Italy, England and many others in places ranging from Germany and the Netherlands to China and Israel. More than 35 leagues contain players that were raised and developed by the Boca academy system. The players are taught the same formation (4–3–1–2) from early on to the first-team. This makes fitting into the first-team far easier for a young player. Boca's under-20 team were regular participants in the Under-20 Copa Libertadores and other international youth football tournaments.

Boca Juniors won their first U-20 Copa Libertadores in 2023 after defeating Ecuadorian team Independiente del Valle 2–0 in the final at Estadio La Portada.

Scouting

The scouting system is comprehensive. There is a Boca Juniors scout in every small town and close to every village. Nearly all are ordinary people, such as teachers, butchers or policemen, and the head of the youth system, Jorge Griffa, regularly travel around Argentina when he took over and listened to the watching crowd, hiring the most appropriate as a scout for the area.

Players

Current squad

FIFA World Cup champions

Notable graduates

Note: Player's career in Boca Juniors' senior squad is indicated in brackets:

• ARG Américo Tesoriere (1917–20, 1922–27)
• ARG Ernesto Lazzatti (1934–47)
• ARG Natalio Pescia (1942–56)
• ARG Antonio Rattín (1956–70)
• ARG Ángel Clemente Rojas (1963–71)
• ARG Roberto Mouzo (1971–84)
• ARG Enzo Ferrero (1971–75)
• ARG Hugo Perotti (1977–84)
• ARG Alberto Tarantini (1973–77)
• ARG Osvaldo Potente (1971–75, 1978–80)
• ARG Oscar Ruggeri (1980–85)
• ARG Diego Soñora (1988–95)
• ARG Diego Latorre (1987–92, 1996–98)
• ARG Luis Medero (1992–96)
• ARG Sebastián Battaglia (1998–2003, 2005–13)
• ARG Nicolás Burdisso (1999–2004)
• ARG Clemente Rodríguez (2000–04, 2007, 2010–2013)
• ARG Cristian Chávez (2005–13)
• ARG Javier García (2008–12, 2020–)
• ARG Ricardo Noir (2008–13)
• ARG Juan Forlín (2006–09)
• ARG Josué Ayala (2008–13)
• Haiti Sony Nordé
• ARG Nicolás Colazo (2008–19)
• PAR Jonathan Fabbro (2002–03)
• ARG Carlos Tevez (2001–04, 2015–16, 2018–21)
• ARG Fernando Gago (2004–06, 2013–19)
• ARG Éver Banega (2007)
• ARG Nicolás Gaitán (2008–10)
• ARG Facundo Roncaglia (2007–12)
• ARG Lucas Viatri (2007–14)
• ARG Neri Cardozo (2004–09)
• ARG Emiliano Insúa (2007)
• ARG Fabián Monzón
• ARG Pablo Mouche (2005–12)
• ARG Nicolás Colazo (2007)
• ARG Nicolás Blandi (2010–13)
• ARG Juan Sánchez Miño (2010–14)
• ARG Emanuel Insúa (2012–15)
• ARG Luciano Acosta (2014–16)
• PAR Adrián Cubas (2014–18)
• URU Rodrigo Bentancur (2015–17)
• ARG Agustín Almendra (2018–2023)
• ARG Leonardo Balerdi (2018–19)
• ARG Nicolás Capaldo (2019–21)
• ARG Marcelo Weigandt (2018–24)
• ARG Alan Varela (2020–2023)
• ARG Exequiel Zeballos (2020–)
• ARG Cristian Medina (2020–25)
• ARG Valentín Barco (2013–23) ;Notes

Notable managers

• ARG Bernardo Gandulla (1947–1978)
• ARG Ernesto Grillo (1966–?)
• ARG Jorge Griffa (1995–2003)
• ARG Norberto Madurga

Other former club players that have coached the reserve teams include Rolando Schiavi, Sebastián Battaglia, Hugo Ibarra, and Mauricio Serna.

Facilities

Boca Juniors Training Center

Boca Juniors reserves' main venue is the "Boca Juniors Training Center" (popularly known as "Boca Predio"), a sports complex in the city of Ezeiza, Buenos Aires that was inaugurated in 2017 under the presidency of Daniel Angelici. The complex was built on a land conceded by the Municipality of Ezeiza for sports activities exclusively and with an expiration time of 30 years (that may be renewed for a further 10 years). The club spent AR$60 million on works.

The 60 hectares complex has 12 football fields, locker rooms, gymnasium, kitchen, and other facilities.

Pedro Pompilio Complex

Named after former vicepresident of the club, the complex is the second venue of Boca Juniors academies. It is located on Casa Amarilla lands in La Boca. The venue is also used by the women's football and basketball teams.

''La Candela''

The historic complex for the Boca Juniors academy, La Candela was acquired by the club in 1963 for mn$13 million, being operative until 1991. Nevertheless, Boca Juniors reacquired the complex at a cost of US$12 million in 2011.

Boca Juniors used the complex until December 2016, when the club moved all the reserves' infrastructure to the new Boca Predio in Ezeiza.

Honours

Titles

;Notes

Other titles

;Friendly

• Copa Chivas (1): 2006
• Weifang Cup (2): 2018, 2019
• Torneo Internazionale Under-19 Bellinzona (4): 2000, 2001, 2011, 2012
• U-17 Copa Evo Morales (1): 2022
• Tokyo U-14 International Youth Football Tournament (4): 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017

References

References

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19. The 4 hectares complex located in [[San Justo, Buenos Aires]], had been acquired during the presidency of [[Alberto J. Armando]]. The first squad of the club also trained at ''La Candela'', which entered into disuse under the presidency of [[Mauricio Macri]], when the reserves teams moved their training sessions to Parque Presidente Sarmiento in [[Saavedra, Buenos Aires]]. The complex was finally sold in 2005 to the "Centro de Entrenamiento para Futbolistas de Alto Rendimiento" (CEFAR) for [[US Dollar|US$]]350,000.[https://www.infobae.com/2005/09/30/213692-boca-vende-la-candela/ Boca vende La Candela] at Infobae, 30 Sep 2005
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