Boca has gone eight games without a win in Brazil, but its record there is the envy of every visitor

Eight games. That's how many matches Boca Juniors have gone without a win on Brazilian soil, a streak that began right after their last victory there, back in 2020. Now, with a Copa Sudamericana quarterfinal against Sao Paulo on the horizon, the Xeneize have a chance to snap that drought in a country that, paradoxically, has shown them an uncommon kind of historic affection for a visiting side.

Because beyond the recent stumbles, the deeper numbers tell a different story. Boca is the foreign club with the most wins inside Brazil in the history of CONMEBOL tournaments: 10 victories, one more than River, who sit second on that list with 9. And if you look at full series rather than isolated matches, things look even better for Boca: of 26 ties played against Brazilian opponents, they won 18. That's a 69 percent success rate, including a perfect 5 for 5 in the quarterfinals, the very stage they now face against Sao Paulo.

What the Sudamericana has left behind in Brazil

Boca's history with this competition on Brazilian soil began in 2004, the very edition they went on to win. That year, in the semifinals, they thrashed Internacional 4-2 and then drew 0-0 in Porto Alegre to seal their spot in the final. A year later they faced the same opponent again, this time in the quarterfinals, and repeated the formula: they lost 1-0 away from home but turned it around with a resounding 4-1 win at La Bombonera.

The most recent history, however, hasn't been kind. In the 2024 edition, they lost 4-2 to Fortaleza in the group stage and were later eliminated in the round of 16 by Cruzeiro, falling 1-0 and failing to overturn it in a penalty shootout. Those are the wounds Miguel Angel Russo's team will look to heal in this new matchup.

Adding up every continental competition, Boca's record against Brazilian teams spans 110 matches, with 41 wins, 37 draws and 32 losses. Tucked inside that history are some of the most memorable nights of the club's recent past: Juan Roman Riquelme's performance against Palmeiras in the 2001 semifinal, or another standout display against Gremio in the 2007 final. Before all of that, back in 1977, Boca had been crowned continental champion for the first time against none other than Gremio, the very team they now face in the Libertadores.

The Carlos Bianchi era was also defined by wins over Brazilian sides: in 2000 he won the Libertadores after beating Palmeiras on penalties, and in 2001 he knocked out Vasco da Gama in the quarterfinals and Palmeiras again in the semifinals, in a shootout where Oscar Cordoba was the standout. In 2003 he lifted the title again, eliminating Paysandu and Santos, the club of a still-teenage Robinho, along the way.

More recently, 2018 brought a double dose: Cruzeiro fell in the quarterfinals and Palmeiras in the semifinals. Eliminations against Paranaense (2019) and Inter (2020) followed, though in between there were also painful penalty-shootout losses to Atletico Mineiro and Corinthians, along with the final defeat to Fluminense in 2023, after having rolled past Palmeiras in the semifinals.

With all that history behind them, Boca arrive at this matchup with Sao Paulo knowing that Brazil, deep down, has never really been such unfriendly territory for the Xeneize. Now it's just a matter of proving it again, on the field.