Seventy-four people were killed and 150 other injured in a stampede at a football match between Boca Juniors and Club Atlético River Plate in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The Tragedy of Gate 12
The Tragedy of Gate 12 was a fatal human stampede that occurred on June 23, 1968, at the River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Over 70 people, all of them Boca Juniors fans with an average age of 19, were crushed to death, and more than 200 others were injured as they attempted to leave the stadium following a match between River Plate and their arch-rivals Boca Juniors. The official death toll was 71, although some witnesses suggested the number was closer to 200. This event is considered the worst disaster in Argentine sports history.
Boca Juniors
Club Atlético Boca Juniors is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the Argentine Primera División. The team has won 74 official titles, the most by any Argentine club. National titles won by Boca Juniors include 35 Primera División championships, and 17 domestic cups. Boca Juniors also owns an honorary title awarded by the Argentine Football Association for their successful tour of Europe in 1925.
Club Atlético River Plate
Club Atlético River Plate is an Argentine professional sports club based in the Belgrano neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Founded in 1901, the club is named after the English name for the city's estuary, Río de la Plata. River's home stadium, Monumental, is the largest in South America. River had the highest average home attendance of any association football club in the world in 2023 with 84,567. With more than 350,000 members at the end of 2023, River is one of the largest sports clubs by membership. River Plate is also considered one of the Big Five of Argentine football, along with Independiente, San Lorenzo, Boca Juniors, and Racing Club.
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− global city, according to the GaWC 2024 ranking. The city proper has a population of 3.1 million and its urban area 16.7 million, making it the twentieth largest metropolitan area in the world.