10 Best Bars to Watch the Game in Buenos Aires

Locos x el Futbol in Recoleta is the city's biggest dedicated football bar and the obvious choice for a Boca-River Superclasico. Multiple HD and 4K monitors and giant screens cover the room, and the football-themed walls and a crowd that came to roar give it the closest feel to being inside the stadium. It carries the Argentine league and the major international tournaments, so any marquee match has a home here. On derby day the room turns into one loud, partisan wall of noise.

A few steps from the Obelisco, Triumph is built for the big occasion, whether that is a Superclasico, the Copa America, or a Champions League night. Numerous giant screens fill the room and the draught list is one of the better ones in the center, which makes it a natural meeting point for a mixed crowd watching a major tournament. The central location pulls both locals and visitors, so it has a buzzier, more international feel than the neighborhood football bars.

El Banderin is a protected bar notable that opened in Almagro in 1923, its walls lined with 500 club pennants from around the world. It is the place to watch a match the local way, in a room thick with football history rather than a wall of modern screens. The crowd is neighborhood regulars, the coffee and the fernet are traditional, and the whole feel is closer to a living museum of Argentine football than a sports bar. For atmosphere and authenticity, nothing matches it.

La Guitarrita is a traditional Buenos Aires pizzeria founded in 1963 by two Argentine football figures, and its Caballito branch sets up a huge screen that makes it a local favorite for a Superclasico or a Copa America match. The draw is the very Argentine combination of pizza, beer, and football under one roof, with a family-and-friends crowd rather than a tourist scene. With 17 branches across the city, it is an easy default, but the Caballito room is the one set up for the big match.

Billed as the first Irish pub in Palermo, Sullivan's sits a block from Plaza Serrano and runs eight screens that carry football all year, from the Argentine league to the European competitions. It pairs the matches with a wide beer list and classic pub food, which makes it an easy, sociable place to land for a game in the heart of Palermo's nightlife. The mix of locals and visitors gives it a friendly, international feel without losing the football focus.

The Gibraltar is the San Telmo institution that English-speaking football fans name first for European matches, reliably showing the Premier League, Europa League, Champions League, and the Euros. The classic British-pub setting, the strong beer selection, and a crowd of expats and travelers make it the room for a fan who follows a club in England or on the continent. It is a proper pub the rest of the week too, so a match here rolls easily into a long evening in San Telmo.

El Alamo, long known as Shoeless Joe's, is the city's enduring American sports bar and one of the most reliable rooms for an NFL or NBA game, plus international rugby and soccer. The Palermo Viejo dive-bar setting fills with English-speaking students and expats through the NFL and NBA playoff seasons, when game day turns the room into a little corner of the States. When your team kicks off at an odd hour for Buenos Aires, this is the dependable answer.

Casa Bar in Recoleta is a reliable spot to catch the NFL and other international sport, with a crowd of expats and English speakers that fills the room during the playoff stretches. It pairs screens with a live-music program, so a late American kickoff can roll straight into a band without changing venues. The setting is more lounge than dive, which makes it a comfortable pick when you want the game and a proper night out around it.

Sugar is a Palermo expat favorite that turns into one of the better NFL and NBA rooms in the city during playoff season, when the bar fills with English-speaking students and travelers. It is loud, social, and built more for the party than for the purist, but it puts the game on the screens and gathers the kind of crowd that wants to watch American sport together. For a Super Bowl or a playoff night far from home, it delivers the atmosphere.

Run by two American expats, Chicken Bros streams the games on a giant projector alongside a couple of flat screens, which makes it a small but dependable room for an NFL or NBA night. The American ownership means the schedule follows the US sports calendar, and the projector gives the marquee game real scale in a compact space. It is the spot for a fan who wants their home league on a big wall without the crowd of the bigger Palermo bars.