The dawn of the 1940’s brought great news to Boca Juniors. Their time of playing in tired, old, run down wooden stadiums was over and they finally had a home. Originally named Estadio Boca Juniors, the iconic La Bombonera opened its doors in 1940, named as such due to its unique shape, with a flat stand on one side of the pitch and three steep stands surrounding the rest. The first game in the new stadium was a friendly match against San Lorenzo; suitably, Boca won the game 2-0. However, as the stadium did not have lights installed, the match only lasted 70 minutes.

 

The first official game, however, came shortly after against Newell’s Old Boys. Again, Boca won 2-0 and Ricardo Alarcon scored the first goal at La Bombonera. A second grandstand was added to the north side of the stadium in 1941, which was eventually named after Natalio Pescia, one of the key figures in Boca Juniors history who starred for the club during this era. The new stadium brought with it more successes to add to Boca’s storied history. Like the previous decade, Boca won three national championships, the first coming in 1940, the year La Bombonera was inaugurated. Their 5-2 win over Independiente gave Boca an unattainable lead at the top of the table, and they were crowned champion. Over the course of that season, Boca won 24 games, drew 7 and only lost 3.

 

They also took out the domestic Copa Ibaguen by thrashing Rosario Central 5-1 on their own turf. In 1944, Boca won the league and domestic cup double for the second time, playing the seasons last Primera Division game against Racing at River Plate Stadium because La Bombonera was closed at the time due to hooliganism incidents. The season yielded 19 wins, 8 draws and 3 losses. The Boca Juniors line-up for the match against Racing is considered to be the one of the greatest Boca teams of all time: Vacca, Marante, Valussi, Sosa, Lazzatti, Pescia, Boye, Corcuera, Sarlanga, Varela and Sanchez all featured. Carlos Sosa, Ernesto Lazzatti and Natalio Pescia formed a potent midfield trio that came to be known as “The Gang”, whch dominated Argentinian football for the first half of the decade.

Achievements: Argentine Primera Division – Champions x 3
                         Copa Dr Carlos Ibarguen – Winners x 2
                       Copa de Confraternidad Escobar-Gerona – Winners x1

Star player: Severino Varella 14 September 1913, Montevideo, Uruguay

The Uruguayan Severino Varela was the clubs best striker at the time. He liked to play wearing a white beret, attaining the fitting title of “The Player in the White Beret”. He lived in Uruguay and commuted to Argentina for matches and training. In 1943, the club offered him more money on the proviso that he moved to Argentina where the rest of the team lived, but he refused, stating that he didn’t want to leave his day job. In September 1943, at home, Boca were losing to their rivals River Plate 1-0, when Varela scored with a spectacular diving header from a Lucho Sosa cross. He then scored again, gaining the affection of the fans and a place in history. Thanks to that, Boca won the league championship that season, by one point ahead of River. Boca Juniors spent the following two seasons unbeaten, a record that would remain in place until 1966.