Boca Juniors Home Shirt 1996/97

Boca Juniors’ 1996/97 season was a turbulent and transitional period marked by high expectations, managerial changes, and underachievement despite a talented squad.

Under Carlos Bilardo, Boca began the 1996 Apertura strongly with stars like Diego Maradona, Claudio Caniggia, Juan Sebastián Verón, and Néstor Fabbri, but internal tensions and inconsistency saw them finish 10th. Bilardo departed soon after.

In the 1997 Clausura, Héctor Veira took over, yet results didn’t improve significantly — Boca finished 9th, despite good performances from emerging players like Martín Palermo and Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who would later define the club’s golden era.

Though trophyless, the 1996/97 season laid the groundwork for Boca’s late-1990s resurgence under Carlos Bianchi.