Independiente Rivadavia

Independiente Rivadavia

Full name	Club Sportivo Independiente Rivadavia
Nicknames	Azul Azul del Parque Caudillos del Parque Lepra
Founded	24 January 1913 (1913-01-24)
Ground	Estadio Bautista Gargantini
Capacity	24,000
Chairman	Daniel Vila[1]
Manager	Alfredo Berti[2]
League	Primera División
2024	11th
Website	independienterivadavia.com.ar
Home colours Away colours

Club Sportivo Independiente Rivadavia (mostly known simply as Independiente Rivadavia) is a football club from Mendoza, Argentina. The team currently plays in the Argentine Primera División, the first major league in the Argentine Football league system.

Independiente Rivadavia played in the Argentine Primera in 1968, 1973, 1977, 1979–80 and 1982, when the team reached the quarter-finals of the National Championship. That year Independiente was eliminated in the play-offs by the team that would later reach the Championship, Ferro Carril Oeste.

The origins of the club can be traced to 1902, when predecessor "Club Belgrano" was established in a bakery owned by Luis Burotto and his sons. In 1911 the club was severely punished by Federación Mendocina de Football (which ruled football in Mendoza Province at that time). After two years of hiatus so the banned was still into force, a group of members decided to break with the federation to form a new club. Therefore on 24 January 1913 they established "Club Atlético Independiente", with Pedro Castro elected as the first president of the club. The institution also changed to original Belgrano colors (dark green), adopting a shirt with red, white, and green vertical stripes so they earned the tricolores nickname.^[3]

Independiente Rivadavia won eight consecutive regional championships between 1913 and 1920.^[4] The club was one of the founding members of "Liga Mendocina de Fútbol", established 1921.^[3] Independiente would become the most winning team in Mendoza, with a total of 25 titles won.^[4]

On January 4, 1919 and following an idea by entrepreneur and politician Bautista Gargantini (1891–1985), the club merged with "Club Sportivo Rivadavia" so the new entity adopted the name "Club Sportivo Independiente Rivadavia". Gargantini was also the first president after the merger and the person who proposed blue as the shirt color, which has remained until present days.^[3]

In 1920, the club organized a benefit match for the Carlos Washington Lencinas Infectious Diseases Hospital, which was also attended by leprosy patients. Because of that match, the club earned the nickname leprosos (lepper), although there are other versions about the nickname.^[3]

Independiente Rivadavia took part in six Nacional championship, the regionalised competition of Primera División. The team competed in the 1968, 1973, 1977, 1979, 1980, and 1982 editions, being 1982 the only time Independiente Rivadavia qualified to quarterfinals, when they were eliminated by then champions Ferro Carril Oeste.^[5]

In 2023, Independiente Rivadavia promoted to the top division of Argentina, Liga Profesional, for the first time in their history after winning the 2023 Primera Nacional championship when they defeated Almirante Brown 2–0 in the final.^[6]

On November 5, 2025, Independiente Rivadavia won their first title in Primera División, the 2025 Copa Argentina, after defeating Argentinos Juniors 5–3 on penalties (the match had ended 2–2 on regular time). The title earned the squad qualification for the 2026 Copa Libertadores.^[7] The championship was widely celebrated in Mendoza, where the Independiente Rivadavia players were welcomed by a huge crowd of club supporters.^[8]

As of 5 March 2026^[9]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF  URU Leonard Costa 3 DF  ARG Juan Elordi (on loan from Racing Club) 5 MF  ARG Tomás Bottari 6 DF  ARG Santiago Cena 7 FW  ARG Victorio Ramis 8 MF  ARG Leonel Bucca 9 FW  PAR Álex Arce 10 MF  ARG Matías Fernández 11 MF  ARG Gonzalo Ríos 12 GK  ARG Ramiro Macagno (on loan from Levadiakos) 13 DF  ARG Alejo Osella 14 DF  ARG Luciano Gómez (on loan from Argentinos Juniors) 15 DF  ARG Nahuel Arena (on loan from Macará) 17 FW  ARG Bautista Dadín (on loan from River Plate) 19 FW  ARG Rodrigo Atencio (on loan from Sport Recife)

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 FW  ARG Alessandro Riep (on loan from Audax Italiano) 21 GK  ARG Emmanuel Gómez Riga (on loan from Alvarado) 22 FW  COL Sebastián Villa (captain) 23 MF  ARG Tomás Muro 25 MF  PAR José Florentín 27 MF  ARG Diego Crego 30 GK  ARG Nicolás Bolcato 32 MF  ARG Kevin Vázquez (on loan from Vélez Sarsfield) 34 MF  ARG Stefano Moreyra 36 DF  ARG Ezequiel Bonifacio 40 DF  PAR Iván Villalba 42 DF  ARG Sheyko Studer 43 FW  ARG Fabrizio Sartori 77 MF  ARG Luis Sequeira (on loan from Talleres)

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 41 GK  ARG Fernando Bravo 45 FW  ARG Luciano Sábato 47 MF  ARG Facundo Ortiz 49 DF  ARG Luciano Suárez 51 DF  ARG Amaro Maya 52 MF  ARG Sebastian Muñoz 53 FW  ARG Joaquin Ibañez 54 MF  ARG Tomas Arias 55 DF  ARG Matías Salvo 56 FW  ARG Tobías Ganduglia 57 DF  ARG Agustín Domínguez

No. Pos. Nation Player 58 MF  ARG Benjamín Olivarez 59 GK  ARG Kevin Pagliaroli 60 MF  ARG Lautaro Torres 62 MF  ARG Alex Aguado 63 FW  ARG Axel Leiva 64 DF  ARG Román Ruiz 65 FW  ARG Agustín Rognoni 66 MF  ARG Julian Reyna 67 DF  ARG Alexander Lucero 68 MF  ARG Thiago Sosa

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 4 DF  ARG Mauro Peinipil (at Colón until 31 December 2026) 17 FW  PAR Iván Valdez (at Nacional until 31 December 2026)

Position	Staff
Head coach	Alfredo Berti
Assistant coach	Martín Spuch
Assistant coach	Santiago Flores
Fitness coach	Leandro Retamoza
Fitness coach	Ramiro Luguercio
Goalkeeping coach	Diego Próspero
Physiotherapist	Javier López
Doctor	Federico Carmona

The first uniform adopted by Independiente Rivadavia was a shirt with red, white, and green vertical strips. When the club merged with Club Sportivo Rivadavia and after an initiative by Bautista Gargantini, it switched to a dark blue shirt, which would become the definitive colors of the institution.^[3]

1913–19

1920–present

• Copa Argentina (1): 2025
• Primera Nacional (1): 2023
• Torneo Argentino A (2): 1998-99, 2006–07

• Federación Mendocina de Football (4): 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916
• Unión Mendocina de Football (4): 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920
• Copa Competencia 1917-1921 (4): 1917, 1918, 1919 1920
• Primera A de Liga Mendocina (25): 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1936, 1938, 1940, 1945, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1967, 1970, 1972, 1976, 1978, 1992-93, 1993-94, 2007 (formativa), 2010
• Primera B de Liga Mendocina (1):: 1998
• Copa Competencia (5): 1924, 1925, 1926, 1929, 1932

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Club Sportivo Independiente Rivadavia.

• Official website