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Carlos: The Electrician Who Quit His Job to Watch Boca at the Club World Cup
Carlos wasn’t born in Argentina. He didn’t grow up in a house where club football was a big deal. But that didn’t stop him from falling in love with Boca Juniors—a love that started in a small town in Venezuela and has only grown stronger since he moved to the United States. So when he heard that Boca was coming to play in the U.S., he didn’t think twice.
“If you give me permission or not, I’m going anyway. That’s what I told my boss.”
Carlos had a flight booked for Saturday, but the excitement got the best of him. “I got hyped, like you guys say,” he laughs. He hit the road with a friend on Friday and drove over 10 hours from Atlanta, just to be there a day early. “I couldn’t wait any longer to see this.”
A jersey born from sacrifice
His love for Boca started with Gabriel Batistuta, watching him play in the 1998 World Cup and later for Boca. His household didn’t watch club games, so he’d sneak off to a friend’s place to catch them.
Getting his first Boca jersey was a mission. In Venezuela, football shirts were rare—especially Boca ones. But his mom took a three-hour bus ride to a mall just to find one. “It was hard to get. But she did it for me. It was the only place that had it.”
Now an adult with a steady job, Carlos wanted to give back to the community. In just one week, he and his group made 350 custom Boca jerseys to hand out to fellow fans across the U.S.
“I paid for the first 100. Then more people joined—200, 300… until we said, ‘Alright, stop, that’s enough!’”
A jersey for every moment in life
Carlos doesn’t just wear Boca colors on matchdays. When he bought his first house in the U.S., his lawyer told him to dress “elegantly” for the contract signing. His response?
“I showed up in my white Boca jersey. It’s the most elegant thing I own.”
Now, he has one goal left: visit La Bombonera. He hasn’t been yet, but he already feels part of something bigger.
“I’ve met so many Boca fans here who’ve invited me. I wasn’t born in Argentina, but they tell me, ‘You’re one of us. You’re Boca.’
And I believe it.
I’m one more. Half plus one.”