Boca Juniors, of Maradona fame, is the most well known club and also the most supported, with a little more than half the fans in Argentina supporting them according to polls. Second biggest and most successful in the championship is River Plate with 33 championships so far. These teams are big rivals and their matches against each other are referred to as the Superclassico. Because of the way the competition is set up with basically two half championships and two champions per year, they meet each other quite a few times every season and if you get the chance to visit one of these matches, it's well worth it. Boca Juniors also has a nice little museum and stadium tour if you want to visit without all the hectic that goes on during matches.
Apart from the two aforementioned clubs, there are three more teams that together make up the so-called "big five". Any taxi driver you meet in Buenos Aires will likely support one of these five clubs, so knowing them will help you immensely with your first conversation from the airport to the city. The other three are Independiente, Racing and finally the club I am morally obliged to support because my girlfriend hails from the team's original Boedo neighborhood: San Lorenzo. San Lorenzo are also the club of Hollywood actor and cool guy Viggo Mortensen who grew up nearby as well, so I am in good company at least.
Even though the big five command most of the spectators and income, the last few years have not been very kind to them with relatively small teams like Lanus, Velez Sarsfield and this year Banfield winning championships. Specially River is having a terrible season so far with even relegation a possibility. With even a club like Boca having an annual budget that does not exceed US$ 25 million, most talented players leave Argentina for Europe at a young age, which does not always help the local level of play.
The enthusiasm of the fans however more than makes up for it and watching almost any match in the Argentine first division is a pleasure not to be missed, even if your not a die-hard football fan. Though most of the matches are relatively friendly, Argentina has it's fanatical factions of supporters as well, so if you have no experience with European football matches, and its rivalries, it might be wise to either accompany a local you know to the stadium or go with one of the many tour operators that organize visits to matches.
Some of the local hooligan groups, known as Barras Bravas, have long been used as private enforcers by football club presidents to ensure re-election and for private business interests and therefore often have considerable influence and power. Newspapers have reported for instance that the Kirchner government offered a few hundred of them free trips to the World Championships in South Africa this year in exchange for their political support in the stands during matches and the Argentine Football Association has supposedly offered the same deal in exchange for less violence and support of their board of directors.
If a new government would manage to solve these problems is unclear, as the likely main opponent to Los Kirchner in the coming presidential elections will be current BA mayor Macri. His office before becoming mayor? You guessed it: club president of Boca Juniors
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