Mercedes

Doctor Manuel Lanchenhein set up Club Social in Mercedes, Buenos Aires province, in 1875, and for decades the place was exactly what its name said — a social club, with no football section to speak of. That came later, in 1922, when Club Deportivo Mercedes formed to give the town's footballers somewhere to play. The two bodies merged in 1935 into Club Social y Deportivo Mercedes, and that merger is the club still playing today. Between 1980 and 1986 it merged again, this time with Del Progreso, competing as Mercedes del Progreso before splitting back into its own identity once that arrangement ended.

The 1875 founding date makes it the oldest football club still active in Argentina, and El Decano de América, the Dean of America, is the nickname that follows the club rather than any trophy. AFA recognition took far longer to arrive than the club itself — Mercedes was only admitted to the Argentine Football Association structure in April 2022, entering at Primera D, the fifth tier, before working up to a first appearance in Primera C in 2024. In those official divisions there is no championship to point to yet.

What the club does have is the Liga Mercedina de Fútbol, the regional league outside AFA's pyramid, where the black-and-white shirts — Blanquinegro — have been champions repeatedly, most recently in 2019. The derby that matters in town is the Clásico Mercedino against Club Atlético Estudiantes, with Vélez Sarsfield's Mercedes club also drawn into the rivalry. Home games are played at the Estadio de la Liga Mercedina, known locally as Estadio Cándido Espina after a former league president.