Club Atlético Independiente has success at the Argentine football level, but they are widely known for their international titles and appearances, being nicknamed Rey de Copas (King of Cups) by the media and his fans. The first international cup they took part was the 1917 Tie Cup, which they lost to Uruguayan team Montevideo Wanderers. In term of international honours, Independiente has won a total of twenty one official titles, with 18 of them organised by CONMEBOL which makes Independiente the most winning team in this category, together with Boca Juniors. Among those international CONMEBOL titles Independiente has a record seven Copa Libertadores, two Intercontinental Cups, two Copa Sudamericana and one Recopa Sudamericana. International titles also include two Copa Aldao, organised by AFA and AUF together.
Independiente is alongside River Plate and Internacional the only teams to win all four of the current CONMEBOL competitions; Libertadores, Sudamericana, Recopa and the Suruga Bank Championship, which they won in 2018.
Although being far behind Boca Juniors and River Plate in terms of popularity, Independiente was voted by the IFFHS as the 2nd best club in South America in the 20th century, and best team in Argentina.
First half of the 20th century
Independiente began to play friendly games against teams from the neighbouring regions in Uruguay only four years after its foundation. On 25 August 1909, Independiente tied with the now defunct Uruguayan team Bristol in Avellaneda, while still being a lower division team in Argentina. The next friendly international games took place in 1912.
vs. Bristol, 0−0 (1909); first international match
vs. Universal, 3−0 (1912); first international trophy
vs. River Plate, 0−2 (1912); first match outside Argentina
In 1917, Independiente won the national Copa de Competencia Jockey Club, thus earning qualification to the 1917 Tie Cup Final, one of the first official international cups organized between the Argentine Football Association and the Uruguayan Football Association. One year later, the team would qualify again for an international cup.
Independiente would have qualified to the Copa Aldao after winning the 1922 and 1926 Argentine championships (the first ones in its history), but the competition was on hiatus around that years. However, Independiente found participation in other anecdotal football matches.
vs. Third Lanark, 2−1 (1923); first match against a European team
vs. Peñarol, 2−2 (1928); inaugural match of Independiente's Estadio Almirante Cordero, the first concrete stadium in South America vs. Barcelona, 4−1 (1928); first match against a European champion vs. Hakoah All-Stars, 0−0 (1930); first match against a North American team
Both editions in which Independiente took participation at the Copa Aldao resulted in the first official international victories for the red team. In addition to this, Independiente should have participated in a 1948 edition as 1948 Argentine Primera División champions, but it was never done since the Uruguayan Primera División of that year was cancelled.
Rioplatense cups progressively stopped being contested regularly since 1940 after the Copa Aldao of that year was abandoned, so friendly football was, again, the only mean to participate at international stage. The Copa Libertadores was founded in 1960.
vs. Atlante, 3−3 (1948); first match outside South America
vs. Real Madrid, 6−0 (1953); first match in Europe
Copa Libertadores
Independiente is the most successful team in the competition with 7 titles, with 4 of them in a row between 1972 and 1975. A total of 7 finals were played by Independiente, winning all of them. El Rojo was also the first Argentine team to win the competition.
Copa Interamericana
Independiente is the most successful team in the competition, with 3 titles out of 3 appearances.
A combination of factors such as the lack of financial incentives, large trip costs and lack of proper organizing, led the Copa Interamericana to face irregular scheduling and different formats. For instance, Independiente did not contest the 1973 edition, since the 1973 CONCACAF Champions' Cup was practically abandoned and, in all three editions disputed by the red team, they weren't able to host a match in Argentina when being the "home" team.
Lunar New Year Cup
Invitation to this HKFA-organized competition was earned by virtue of being the most recent Intercontinental Cup champions.
Supercopa Libertadores
Independiente is the most successful team in the competition, together with Cruzeiro, due to them being the only ones to win it twice.