The beginning: Football

The 1902 Belgrano football team

There are records of a football match played by the members of the "Club Inglés de Belgrano" in 1894, where Belgrano Athletic Club was officially founded on 17 August 1896.

Belgrano AC participated in the Primera División from 1896 to 1916. The squad won three league titles in 1899, 1904 and 1908, and also won a number of other tournaments including domestic cup Copa de Honor and international competitions Tie Cup (in 1900) and Copa de Honor Cousenier (1907).

Belgrano Athletic played one of the earliest football rivalries against Belgrano neighbours Alumni, the most successful team of Argentine until its dissolution in 1911. Both teams were so strong that they won all of the thirteen league titles contested between 1899 and 1911 (that was the last year of Alumni football team competing in Argentine league, being officially dissolved in 1913).^[5]

Belgrano AC would achieve a historic victory over River Plate, defeating the Millonario 10–1 in 1912. That was the worst defeat of River Plate in club's history.^[6]

Despite being one of the most notable football teams during the first years of that sport in Argentina, Belgrano was relegated from the Argentine Primera División, along with Quilmes in 1916.^[7]

Belgrano never returned to the first division, and the club later disaffiliated from the Argentine Association, focusing on the practise of other sports, mainly rugby union.

Rugby union

The Belgrano Athletic rugby union team that won its first championship in 1907

Belgrano Athletic rugby union team is one of the most successful teams in the Unión de Rugby de Buenos Aires, having won a total of 10 provincial titles.^[8] In 1899, along with club Buenos Aires, Lomas, Flores^[9] and Rosario AC, Belgrano became a founding member of the "River Plate Rugby Championship", the origin of today's Argentine Rugby Union.^[2]

The first title obtained in rugby union was in 1907, playing 16 matches with 13 victories, 1 drew and only 2 lost. The team scored 233 points and only received 29 at the end of the tournament. That same year the club built the stadium's grandstands (commonly made of woods by the time) with a capacity of 600. In 1909 the Government of Argentina approved the statute (rules) of the club.^[10] Its main rivals are Belgrano district's other big club, Alumni. In 2016, Belgrano won its 11° URBA championship after 48 years without league titles. Belgrano defeated former champion Hindú at the final, played in San Isidro.^[11][12]

Cricket

Belgrano Athletic Cricket Ground

Virrey del Pino
The ground as seen in 2023
Ground information
Location	Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Owner	Belgrano A.C.
Operator	Belgrano A.C.
Tenants	Argentina national cricket team
End names
Incas End Clubhouse End
International information
First T20I	22 February 2023:  Argentina v  Bermuda
Last T20I	4 March 2023:  Argentina v  Cayman Islands
As of 4 March 2023 Source: Cricinfo

The first recorded cricket match held on the clubs cricket ground came when the Northern Suburbs and the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1912.^[13] First-class cricket was first played there in 1927 when Argentina played the Marylebone Cricket Club. Five further first-class matches were played there, the last of which saw Argentina play Sir TEW Brinckman's XI in 1938.^[14] Still in use to the present day, the ground held matches in the South American Championships and the Americas Championships in recent times, as well as hosting matches in the 2009 ICC World Cricket League Division Three.^[13] In February–March 2023, the ground played host to three Twenty20 International matches in the 2023 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier Sub-regional Qualifier.

Records

Uniform evolution

It is believed that the first Belgrano A.C. football squad wore black (or dark grey) and gold shirts, as they were depicted in early team photos. In 1907 the club adopted the Central Argentine Railway corporate colors (red, green and silver) as most of the club members were employees of that company. In 1919 Belgrano A.C. changed its colors again, adopting the brown (specifying "chocolate" tone according to the statute of that time) and gold as the railway had changed its colors shortly before.^[24]

Football 1896–1907 1907–16 [note 1]

Rugby union 1896–1919 1919–present

Notes:

Cricket

• Primera División (41): 1902–03, 1905–06, 1906–07, 1907–08, 1908–09, 1910–11, 1911–12, 1914–15, 1918–19, 1923–24, 1925–26, 1926–27, 1928–29, 1929–30, 1931–32, 1932–33, 1953–54, 1954–55, 1955–56, 1958–59, 1961–62, 1965–66, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1991–92, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2005–06, 2010–11, 2013–14, 2015–16^[28]

Football

Domestic

(Left): the football squad that won the 1908 Primera División title; (right): the rugby team of 1909, posing with their trophies

• Primera División (3): 1899, 1904, 1908^[29]
• Copa de Honor Municipalidad de Buenos Aires (1): 1907
• Segunda División (1): 1902 ^{[note 1]}
• Copa Bullrich (1): 1905

Rugby union

• Torneo de la URBA (11): 1907, 1910, 1914, 1921, 1936, 1940, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1968, 2016

Field hockey

Women's

• Metropolitano Primera División (4): 1942, 1946, 1949, 1974