Eduardo Domínguez heads into Sudamericana final with a dead-even record against Boca

Some opponents show up so often in a coach's career that they become part of his identity. That is exactly the case for Eduardo Domínguez with Boca. Now fate has set up the biggest chapter yet: he will face them in a 2026 Copa Sudamericana final, this time leading a club that is not just non-Argentine, but Brazilian: Atlético Mineiro.

The number that best captures this story is the sheer balance Domínguez has built up against the Xeneize. Across stints at Huracán, Colón, Independiente and Estudiantes, he has faced Boca 15 times, and the results are almost mathematically symmetrical: five wins, five draws and five losses. Rarely does a head to head record split so evenly.

Within that balance, one draw carries extra weight. It came in the 2024 Copa de la Liga semifinal, when his Estudiantes side drew both legs against Boca, only to be eliminated on penalties. Boca went on to win the title in the decisive match, so that 1-1 from April 30, 2024 goes down in the stats as a draw, even though in practice it meant a painful elimination for Estudiantes.

If there is one club with which Domínguez truly got the better of these matchups against Boca, it is Estudiantes. Not only is it the team he has faced Boca with the most (ten games total), it is also the one with which he posted his best record: five wins, three draws and just two losses. It was with Estudiantes that a career record which had once been even or even unfavorable finally tipped fully in his favor.

Going match by match, it all starts on May 8, 2016, with a 0-0 between Huracán and Boca, followed by his run with Colón: a 1-2 loss in a friendly, two road defeats (2-0 and 3-1) and another loss in 2021 (1-0). With Independiente came a 2-2 draw in February 2022. Then begins the long sequence with Estudiantes, which includes a bit of everything: a 1-0 win at the Bombonera in April 2023, a 2-3 elimination in the Copa Argentina that November, a scoreless draw, wins like the 1-0 from April 2024 and the 2-1 from January 2026, the aforementioned draws, and a few losses too, such as the 2-0 from April 2025 and the 1-2 from last November.

What stands out is that, despite so many meetings, Domínguez had never faced Boca at the helm of a non-Argentine team, until now. That changes completely with Atlético Mineiro, and it does so at the worst possible moment to be figuring things out on the fly: a continental final. The head to head record will stay right there, even, as a silent witness to everything that came before it, but the match ahead starts from zero for both sides.