The La Plata derby is one of the most fiercely contested derbies in Argentine football. It is played between local clubs Estudiantes and Gimnasia. The first official derby took place as part of the Asociación Argentina de Football First Division Championship on August 27, 1916. On that occasion, Gimnasia won 1–0 over Estudiantes, with an owngoal by Ludovico Pastor. Already in the professionalism, the first official match between Estudiantes y Gimnasia was played on June 14, 1931 and ended drawn at 1-1. The game took place at Gimnasia's Stadium, for the 4th. date of the championship of that year. The largest victory in a derby was on October 15, 2006, when Estudiantes defeated Gimnasia by 7-0 in the 11th fixture of Torneo Apertura. According to several studies related to social research in football, La Plata is one of the few cities in the country where the local clubs surpass Boca Juniors and River Plate in number of supporters. The other cities are Rosario, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Rafaela and San Miguel de Tucumán.
History
Since they met for the first time in official First Division tournaments organized by the Argentine Football Association in 1931, they played 144 matches: Estudiantes won 58, with 232 goals, Gimnasia, 45, with 199 goals and tied 57 times. Being local Estudiantes, they played in 81 opportunities: Estudiantes won 38 games, tied 26 and lost 17, with 135 goals for and 90 against. With Gimnasia as local they disputed 77 matches: Gimnasia earned 28 victories, 29 draws and 20 defeats, 106 goals for and 91 against. In total, between amateurism and professionalism, for official tournaments in the First Division and non-regular cups, they played against each other in 162 matches with 65 victories of Estudiantes, 50 of Gimnasia and 64 draws. On October 15, 2006 Estudiantes inflicted the heaviest derby defeat in the history of the fixture by winning 7-0. Estudiantes accumulated a streak of 7 games without being defeaedt by Gimnasia, with 6 wins and 1 tie. Also, did not lose any derby since these are held in the Estadio Ciudad de La Plata.
Statistics
Data amateurism and other national tournaments scheduled from . ''¹²³ Gimnasia was awarded the victory by the abandonment of the players of Estudiantes.
On July 1, 1917 Estudiates won the derby match for the first time by a score of 3-0.
On September 13, 1930 Estudiantes won the last amateur game between the clubs by a score of 4-1.
On March 13, 1932 Estudiantes won 6-1 to record their biggest win in the derby, a record that stood for 74 years.
On November 17, 1940 Estudiantes recorded a 4-1 away win.
On September 5, 1948 Estudiantes equalled their record win, beating Gimnasia 6-1.
On August 5, 1967 Estudiantes won 3-0 to end a run of three consecutive 0-0 draws in league fixtures between the clubs.
On June 7, 1968 Estudiantes won 6-1 away to record the biggest ever away win in the derby.
On November 27, 1971 Estudiantes won 5-1.
On October 15, 2006 Estudiantes inflicted the heaviest derby defeat in the history of the fixture, winning 7-0.
On December 13, 2006 Estudiantes beat Boca Juniors in a championship playoff game, winning the title despite the efforts of some Gimnasia fans who had threatened their own team into losing against Boca, in order to damage Estudiantes chances of winning the title.
Estudiantes won five consecutive league derbies starting 15 October 2006. As of the beginning of the 2009 Clausura championship, this streak is still ongoing.
