Gaviões da Fiel received members of La 12 at its headquarters in Bom Retiro on Tuesday before Boca Juniors faced São Paulo in the Copa Sul-Americana quarterfinals at the Morumbis. The gathering came just hours before kickoff, turning a night built around rivalry into one that also carried a message of respect.
Alexandre Domenico posted images of the reception on Instagram, including Rafael Di Zeo in one of the pictures. The timing is what makes the scene stand out: São Paulo Vs Boca was already drawing attention as a knockout match set for 21h30 de Brasília, yet the fan groups chose the eve of that game to show they were keeping a separate conversation going.
That conversation has been building for months. In early August, members of the organized groups met in Argentina, where the contacts widened further around matchdays involving Corinthians, Boca Juniors and Rosario Central. Since then, the relationship between Gaviões and La 12 has moved beyond a single visit and into repeated exchanges, including moments when members of Gaviões were in the stands alongside La 12 during Boca Juniors matches.
The Gaviões da Fiel said the meeting was about dialogue, exchange of experiences, respect among fans and peaceful coexistence in South American football, with a focus on the fight against racism, discrimination and prejudice. That message sat in sharp contrast to the setting: a Copa Sul-Americana quarterfinal between Boca Juniors and São Paulo, the kind of fixture that usually leaves little room for anything but the scoreline.
This was not the only time Gaviões opened its doors to visiting supporters this year. It has also received fans of Cerro Porteño, Millonarios and Peñarol in other matches, and in the case of Peñarol the exchange ran both ways, with Gaviões later received in Uruguay. The pattern suggests a deliberate effort to make these contacts part of the club culture rather than a one-off gesture.
There is also a harder edge beneath the welcome. Corinthians and Boca Juniors have crossed paths many times, with seven draws, three Argentine wins and two Brazilian wins in the record, including decisive meetings in 2012, 2022, 1991 and 2013, plus other games in the 2000 Copa Mercosul. That history makes the reception at Bom Retiro more striking, because it showed organized fans choosing civility on a day when the football itself still promised confrontation at the Morumbis.
For now, the clearest unanswered detail is how many members of La 12 were actually welcomed at the Gaviões headquarters. What is not in doubt is that, before the teams walked out for São Paulo Vs Boca, their most visible supporters had already staged a very different kind of contest.
