The little-known club from Mendoza that is outclassing Boca and River

While many Argentines are gearing up for another Superclásico on Sunday between football giants Boca Juniors and River Plate, a little-known football club from Mendoza province is getting all the accolades after achieving something historic.  Independiente Rivadavia’s 2-1 win over Fluminense on Wednesday in a Copa Libertadores group-stage matchup saw them join the exclusive list of teams that have won against Brazilian teams at the mythical Maracanã Stadium —  a rite of passage of sorts that only five Argentine teams have ever pulled off.  The win also saw them take the lead in Group C of the Copa Libertadores. But it goes beyond that. The Leprosos — as the club and its fans are affectionately known — are the defending Copa Argentina champions, taking their first title in a national-level official tournament in 2025 after defeating River in the semis and Argentinos Juniors in the final. Independiente Rivadavia is also in solid command of the 2026 Torneo Apertura Group B with 29 points — more than any of the Argentine big five have tallied. They also lead the Annual Table, which sets them on pace to win the Campeón de Liga. However, going from a virtually unknown team to the top of the Argentine football pyramid was not a short path or one without controversy. From regional to national Founded in 1913 as Club Atlético Independiente in Mendoza, a province in eastern Argentina that sits on the Andés mountain range and is famed as the cradle of Malbec wine, the club took its current name in 1919, after merging with Club Sportivo Rivadavia.  While it was always a big team in the province, leading Gimnasia y Esgrima (Mendoza), Godoy Cruz and San Martín (Mendoza) as the most decorated team in the Mendoza Football League, it rarely made an impact on the national stage.  It competed in only six National Championship events between 1968 and 1982. That all changed in 2005, when media businessman Daniel Vila became club president. Under his tenure, the club made the jump to the Argentine Second Division in 2007, before his departure in 2012.  A decade later, he became president once again, seeing Independiente Rivadavia get promoted to the Primera División after defeating Almirante Brown in the final held in Córdoba. ‘A big drive to improve’ Alfredo Berti was the other key man behind the Leprosos’ rise to prominence. Known as El Loco, the crazy one, he had three stints at the helm of the club.  In 2017, he saved it from relegation and left the club on the verge of promotion. He delivered on the promise in 2023, leaving again shortly after the final against Almirante Brown. In August 2024, he started his longest and (so far) current stint as head coach, leading the club to the Copa Argentina title a year later. “When we got here, the team was fighting to avoid relegation, and honestly, we’ve put in a lot of work over the past two years,” said Berti after the win at the Maracanã on Wednesday.  “All the players have shown a lot of perseverance, and that makes us feel really good because we’ve built everything from the ground up.” Berti insisted he sees “a big drive to improve, to get better” in his players, so he thinks “the team hasn’t reached its full potential yet.”  “Seeing these players grow, training them every day, brings a lot of satisfaction,” he said. The controversy However, the rise to the top of Argentine football hasn’t been without its troubles for Independiente Rivadavia.  In July, 2024, the club announced the signing of former Boca Juniors Colombian star Sebastián Villa. The move generated a lot of media buzz, an internal rift and a strong public backlash in Mendoza and across Argentina. Villa had recently received a two-year prison suspended sentence for gender-based violence against his ex-partner, Daniela Cortés, and was under investigation for sexual assault against another former partner.  At the time, the Ni Una Menos feminist collective in Mendoza issued a statement condemning the move, saying it “underestimated the severity of gender-based violence” and “sent the wrong message to the community.” It asked the club to reconsider. Independiente Rivadavia kept Villa, who has since proved a success at the club, scoring 10 goals and assisting 21 more in 73 games. However, the club president later admitted that “not even [his] wife and kids” wanted the player to play for the club.