Racing Fires Vojvoda After Copa Argentina Exit to Boca

Go up 2-0 and end up losing. That, almost cruelly, sums up what happened to Racing Club against Boca in the quarterfinals of the 2026 Copa Argentina, and that match ended up being the final verdict on Juan Pablo Vojvoda's time in Avellaneda.

According to a report Monday from Tomas Davila on ESPN F12, the coach is set to be removed from his position at the helm of the first team. The 3-2 loss to Boca, after Racing had gone up 2-0, was the last straw in a cycle that had already been struggling for weeks.

It's not as if there hadn't been warning signs before. After the loss to Huracan in the domestic league, it looked like Vojvoda might be on his way out. Still, the club leadership, with Diego Milito at the front, decided to back him and gave him another shot. That trust ran out completely with the Cup elimination, especially given how it happened: blowing a two-goal lead against the archrival stings in a different way.

Davila laid out the whole situation on the program hosted by Mariano Closs, explaining that Racing's board plans to inform the coach of the decision in a meeting expected imminently. The hard number is that Vojvoda oversaw just 13 official matches since taking over on June 22, replacing Gustavo Costas.

A short cycle with weak numbers

Of those 13 matches, he won 4, drew 2 and lost 7, with 18 goals scored and 20 allowed. The win percentage came out to 36 percent, a number that goes a long way toward explaining why patience ran out. In the 2026 Torneo Clausura, the start was rough: a win over Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata in the opening round, followed by two draws (against Rosario Central and Boca) and then six straight losses, which left the team in last place with 5 points. In the most recent round, Racing managed to beat Sarmiento, but the club remains second to last in Group B, with 8 points.

His other two wins came, fittingly, in the Copa Argentina, against Defensa y Justicia and Belgrano de Cordoba. That competition was actually one of the few remaining goals left for Racing this season: winning the tournament would have delivered not just a trophy, but also a direct berth into next year's Copa Libertadores. With the loss to Boca in the quarterfinals, that path is now closed off.

There's already a name for the interim role: Sebastian "Chirola" Romero will take charge of the team, with the plan for him to stay in the job through December. He'll be joined on the coaching staff by assistant Luciano Aued.

Vojvoda, who had previously coached Newell's, Defensa y Justicia, Talleres, Huracan, Union La Calera, Fortaleza and Santos, had signed a contract with Racing through June 2027. The deal, however, will not even make it to its first full year.