The white shirt with the red diagonal sash is one of the most recognisable in the world. In Argentina they simply call it "la Banda", the sash. It is the shirt of River Plate, the most decorated club in the country. Its story begins with a port, a few wooden crates and a carnival ribbon.

Born in La Boca

According to the club's official history, River Plate was founded on 25 May 1901. It was born in La Boca, the port district of Buenos Aires, which later became the home of its great rival, Boca Juniors. Some historians argue that the real founding year was 1904, but the club celebrates 1901.

River came from the merger of two small neighbourhood teams, Santa Rosa and La Rosales. Many of the young founders were the sons of Italian and Spanish immigrants. The first president was Leopoldo Bard.

A name written on crates

The new club's name was put to a vote, with candidates such as "Forward" and "Juventud Boquense". The winner was "River Plate", thanks to an idea from Pedro Martínez.

At the port of Buenos Aires, Martínez had seen workers playing football during their break. Next to them were crates marked "The River Plate", the English name of the Río de la Plata, the city's great river. He liked it, proposed it, and the name stuck forever.

From the white shirt to the carnival sash

River's first shirt was all white. But many teams wore shirts like that, and River wanted something that stood out.

This is where the legend comes in. One carnival night, members of the club took a red silk ribbon from a parade float. They laid it diagonally across the white shirt and fixed it with pins. They liked the result so much that within a few months the red sash had become the club's trademark.

Since then, the "Banda Roja" has never left the shirt. It also gave the club one of its nicknames, "La Banda".

From La Boca to the Monumental

River left La Boca in 1923 and moved to the north of the city. In the 1930s it made such expensive signings that its fans earned the nickname "Millonarios", the millionaires. In 1938 it opened the Monumental, still the largest stadium in Argentina.

In the 1940s the sashed shirt became legendary thanks to "La Máquina", "the Machine". It was the forward line of Muñoz, Moreno, Pedernera, Labruna and Loustau, one of the most famous teams in football history.

The shirt of legends

Some of the greatest players of all time have passed through River: Alfredo Di Stéfano, Ángel Labruna, Enzo Francescoli and, more recently, Julián Álvarez and Enzo Fernández.

Its sash also inspired other clubs. The best-known case is Rayo Vallecano, which in 1949 added a red diagonal sash to its shirt out of admiration for River.

125 years with the sash

The shirt changes its details every season, but never its essence. For the club's 125th anniversary, the new 2026/27 shirt has the red sash with black trim, a reference to crests River used in the early 20th century.

A piece of Argentine football

The River Plate shirt is a story in itself: a name from crates, a ribbon from a carnival and more than a century of glory. That is why it is one of the most sought-after shirts among collectors, especially the retro editions.

See our River Plate jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: the stands of the Monumental in Buenos Aires – Stefano Vigorelli, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.