kim said:
If anyone could advise as to the following it would be greatly appreciated:
1. Is it possible to buy a season ticket for River Plate or Boca and how?
2. If Boca or River are playing on a Sunday, what day will the tickets go on sale and can you only buy them from the stadium?
Many thanks, have searched the forums and can not find this specific information.
1 River Plate
The proper term for a season ticket in Argentine football is an "abono". It'll get you your own designated seat in the stadium, usually located in the best sector of the stadium. The downside is that they're pretty expensive (hundreds of dollars per season).
There is a cheaper alternative: become a member (socio) of the club. This way you won't have a
designated seat, but you do get access to the standing section (popular) or seated section (platea). So in reality there isn't a big difference. The costs are way lower though (about 160 PESO a year).
To get registered as a member you need to go to the stadium on a weekday (during office hours) to the "registro de socios". Bring your passport, about 200 pesos for the costs) and a 2 peso note which you pay to enter the club perimeter (you'll get a refund once you leave the terrain).
Once you're at the registro, make very clear that you want to become a
socio adherente. This is a special type of membership for people that live further than 100km from the stadium. This gives you about 60% discount on the monthly membership fee.
So don't register with your address in BA, but with the address in your country of origin. The rules state that you have to obtain a recommendation from another river plate socio to become a member yourself. But if you explain that you're a foreigner and this demand clearly cannot be met, they won't make a problem of it (at least they didn't in my case).
Then they tell you to pay for the membership card (it's in the same room) and to advance the first 8 months of membership, which will be about 120-160 pesos) and some 20 pesos for the card itself.
After that you'll get a receipt, and they'll call your name for your photo to be taken. After that they activate you card and will hand it over to you. The whole process costed me about 30 minutes.
Boca
As far as I know Boca isn't taking any socios at the moment and there's a waiting list for season tickets (abonos).
2
Tickets for Boca and River games usually go on sale from about 3-4 days before the match takes place, and tickets can be obtained at the stadium. Of course there are many tourist agencies that can get you tickets, but you'll pay an inflated price (usually about 5-6 times the value of the original ticket). Another option is to try to get a ticket from the numerous touts in the vicinity of the stadium on matchday, but beware of counterfit and rediculous prices. You shouldn't pay more than 30 peso for a popular or 100-150 pesos for a platea.
