Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata was founded on June 3, 1887, as "Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima", initially with fencing as its main activity, as its name in Spanish indicated. Association football (the sport for which the club is mostly known) was added at the beginning of the 20th century.

In 1915, Gimnasia y Esgrima was promoted to the first division after becoming champions of the División Intermedia, the second division of Argentine football league system by then. That same year the club also won the Copa Bullrich.

Later, in 1929, the club would become champions of Primera División, its first title in the top division. Once in the professional era, Gimnasia became champions of the Segunda División in 1944, 1947 and 1952 and won the Copa Centenario de la AFA in 1994. Additionally, the squad has been a runner-up in the Primera División on five occasions and runner-up of 2017-18 Copa Argentina.Gimnasia: Historia de una Pasión, by Héctor Collivadino. Publisher: Editorial Deportiva Bonaerense & Diario El Día (2005) - Final Tables Argentina Second Level 1935-2007 at RSSSF The club has remained at the top level of Argentine football for 96 seasons, giving it with Huracán the eighth longest participation at this level.

Beginning At the beginning of the 20th century Gimnasia was taking part, among with other institutions as Facultad de Medicina, Porteño, Belgrano AC and River Plate, in the third division of Argentina. The club also had a team competing in the junior category (under 17-year-old).

In 1905, Gimnasia had to left the field located in 13 and 71 street, so the club decided to suspend all football activities, focusing on social activities. This caused that many members left the club to form their own institution, which was named "Estudiantes de La Plata". In 1912, a group of football players who were in conflict with Estudiantes de La Plata joined Club Independencia. This club merged with Gimnasia y Esgrima in 1914, restarting the practise of football.

Promotion and debut in Primera

After leaving football for a few years, the club restarted the practise of the sport in 1912. Three years later the squad promoted to the first division after defeating Honor y Patria by 3–1, on December 15, 1915.

Some of the players that achieved promotion were Emilio Fernández, Diómedes Bernasconi, Luis Basérico, Ricardo Naón, Roberto Felices, Edmundo Ferreiroa, H. Negri, Angelo Bottaro, Ricardo Gazcón, José Torres Amaral, Manuel Alvarez, Horacio Sancet, José Iglesias, Ernesto Guruciaga, Ignacio Bulla, Pedro Schiaffino, Sebastián Galesio, Clemente Lastra, Sebastián Mansilla, Delfín Derves, Antonio Gismano, Jorge Garbarino, Laureano Spósito Arrieta and Oreste Rutta.

The same year Gimnasia also won the Copa de Competencia Adolfo J. Bullrich and the División Intermedia league championship.

On April 27, 1916, Gimnasia faced Estudiantes for the first time. The match was played at Estudiantes field, the Estadio Jorge Luis Hirschi, being won by Gimnasia y Esgrima by 1–0.

On April 27, 1924, the club inaugurated the stadium located in the intersection of the 60th avenue and 118th street, later named Estadio Juan Carmelo Zerillo. Gimnasia y Esgrima remained a record-15 months unbeaten there (from its first official meeting until July, 1925). This year achieves the second place, behind San Lorenzo, with 15 victories, 7 ties and 1 defeat.

First title in Primera and European tour

In 1929 Gimnasia y Esgrima won its first Primera División title, after a campaign that finished with 14 victories and 3 defeats. The squad got 28 points in 17 matches played, with some highlights victories over Estudiantes (4–1) and River Plate (1–0). The championship final was played on 9 February 1930 at old River Plate stadium (located on Alvear and Tagle), where Gimnasia defeated Boca Juniors 2–1, winning the title. The line-up was: Scarpone; Di Giano, Delovo; Ruscitti, Santillán, Belli; Curell, Varallo, Maleanni, Díaz, Morgada.Argentina 1929 at RSSSF

Between December 1930 and April 1931, Gimnasia, which later would be known as "El Expreso" (in English, "The Express"), toured Europe and Brazil. Gimnasia became the first Argentine club outside Greater Buenos Aires to compete in Europe, and the first ever to play in Portugal, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Italy.

The tour began on December 8, 1930, and the team disputed a total of 27 matches in four months, something unusual for that time.

Gimnasia played two matches in Brazil, the first of them against the Vasco da Gama, which ended tied at one goal. Four days later Gimnasia was defeated by a "Carioca" combined team by 4–0. Another important fact about those matches was that Gimnasia played in stadiums with night lights, service not yet implemented on Argentina by that time.

After the games in Brazilian lands, the team went to Spain on board a ship "Asturias". Gimnasia y Esgrima played its first match in Spain facing Real Madrid, winning by 3-2 and becoming the first team in the country to beat Real Madrid as visitor. The next day, Spanish press entitled: "The Argentine players seem to have been born to play football". The line-up vs Real Madrid was Pottazo, Barrio, De Lobo, Conti, Chalu, Belli, Sandoval, Arrillaga, Díaz, De Mario, Morgada.

On January 6, Gimnasia played FC Barcelona at its stadium, achieving another notable victory by 2-1 over the "Azulgrana".

Tour match details Date Rival Country toured Score December 13, 1930Vasco da Gama Brazil1-1 December 17, 1930 Carioca Combined Brazil0-4 January 1, 1931Real Madrid Spain3-2 January 6, 1931Barcelona Spain2-1 January 11, 1931 Marino FC Spain3-1 January 15, 1931Real Victoria Spain2-1 January 18, 1931Real Victoria Spain1-1 January 23, 1931 Marino FC Spain4-0 January 25, 1931Real Victoria Spain0-2 January 31, 1931Red Star France0-2 February 2, 1931Bermen Germany3-6 February 8, 1931Sportverein 1860 Germany1-1 February 15, 1931Sportverein 1860 Germany4-0 February 21, 1931Polizer Sport Germany4-2 February 22, 1931Vereim Fur Fortuna Germany0-0 February 28, 1931 Düsseldorf Combined Germany2-1 March 1, 1931Tennis Borussia Berlin Germany1-2 March 4, 1931Vereim Fur Fortuna Germany3-1 March 8, 1931AC Sparta Praha Czech Republic3-1 March 12, 1931WAC Rapid (Viena) Austria1-2 March 15, 1931Ambrosiana Italy3-3 March 19, 1931Napoli Italy2-2 March 25, 1931Barcelona Spain0-3 March 29, 1931Benfica Portugal1-0 April 14, 1931Vasco Da Gama Brazil2-2 April 16, 1931Corinthians Brazil0-0 April 23, 1931Palestra (San Pablo) Brazil1-2

"El Expreso"

During the 1933 Argentine championship, Gimnasia y Esgrima made a great campaign with a team that achieved large victories at the beginning of the tournament. Gimnasia thrashed Vélez Sarsfield (4–0), Boca Juniors (5–2), Talleres (BA) (5–2), Tigre (7–1) and Chacarita Juniors (5–1) amongst other rivals. The newspaper Crítica nicknamed the team "El Expreso" (The Express) comparing it with a locomotive that "Can't be stopped by neither anything nor anyone". Gimnasia finished the first round placed 1st. During the second round, with 9 fixtures remaining, Gimnasia played Boca Juniors at La Bombonera. With a partial advantage of Gimnasia by 2-1, the referee awarded a penalty kick to Boca Juniors after a nonexistent foul. Short later, Boca scored another goal in evident offside position, finally winning the match by 3–2.

Two fixtures later Gimnasia had to play San Lorenzo de Almagro. During the match, referee Alberto Rojo Miró favoured so blatantly San Lorenzo that the Gimnasia players refused to continue playing, starting a "went on strike." They sat on the field, while San Lorenzo scored unopposedly, before the referee ended the game with a 7–1 outcome. The 1933 team ended in the fourth place (San Lorenzo was the champion) with a record of 21 victories, 4 draws and 9 defeats.

The Expreso is still regarded by the media and fans as one of the finest Gimnasia teams ever. The top scorer was Arturo "El Torito" Naón with 33 goals."Al Expreso no lo dejaron salir campeón" by Alejandro Fabbri, Perfil.com, 12 March 2013

Irregular performances (1934-1960)

In 1934, Gimnasia finished in ninth place after securing 14 wins, 10 draws and 15 defeats, with Arturo Naón as top scorer with his 25 goals. The following year, the team finished in the number 13 position, where the highlights were the victories River Plate (6–4), Platense (8–2) and champion Boca Juniors (1–0).

During the decade of the 40s, Gimnasia had erratic performances, which cost the team to be relegated to the Segunda División several times. In 1943 Gimnasia made a bad campaign, finishing last and therefore being relegated. The following year, Gimnasia had 31 victories, 4 draws and 5 defeats, achieving its first title in Segunda and promoting to the top division.Argentina Second Level 1944 on rsssf.org Nevertheless, the newly promoted squad finished the 1945 Primera championship in the last place being relegated for the second time within three seasons.

Gimnasia remained in the Primera B during the first two seasons (1946 and 1947). In 1947, the team was crowned champion after 25 wins, 7 draws and 6 defeats and returned to the first division, with playmaker Antonio Sastre (who had returned from Sao Paulo as the most renowned player of the team. In 1948 Gimnasia y Esgrima made a bad campaign again, which comes last in the table of positions, but the team remained in Primera so there were no relegation that season. The following two years, Gimnasia made modest campaigns.

In 1951, the Gimnasia's first team finished last in Leaderboard and fell off category again. In 1952 it was crowned champion of the second division and returned to first division. During the remaining years of the decade (1953–1960), Gimnasia disputed all the championships of first division finishing most of the times by the middle of the table of positions.

Minor titles

In 1960 Gimnasia y Esgrima contested the "Copa Gobernador de la Provincia de Buenos Aires Dr. Oscar Alende", a friendly competition organized by arch-rival Estudiantes. Cups' name honored Governor of Buenos Aires Province, Oscar Alende. Apart from both teams from La Plata, the cup was contested by Uruguayan Peñarol and Nacional.

Gimnasia won both matches against the Uruguayan teams: 5–2 to Nacional and 1–0 to Peñarol, while Estudiantes lost its respective games for 0–1 and 2–5.

In the last fixture Gimnasia faced Estudiantes, with the match finished 2–2. This way on February 13 of 1960 Gimnasia were crowned champion of the Gobernador Alende Cup, in the stadium of its classic rival located on 57 and 1 streets.

The Wolf of 1962

In 1962, Gimnasia finished third in the Primera División tournament with 16 wins, 6 draws and 6 defeats. This was a good campaign team platense that after a patchy start, managed to remain unbeaten for 15 dates (between the 9th day of the first round and 10th in the second round) with 9 consecutive wins (including the 15th day of the first and the 9th round of the second), to lead the championship dates to before its completion.

The team was led by Uruguayan Enrique Fernández Viola until the match with Estudiantes, who lost by 0:1 in a local, so he left his charge. Eliseo Prado assumed the interim leadership until Adolfo Pedernera took over the team. Pedernera lasted in charge until three dates before the end of the tournament and the post was occupied by an interim Infante.

The scorer of the team was Alfredo "Tanque" Rojas with 17 goals, followed by Bayo Diego with 10 goals. Gimnasia managed to score 47 goals, and received 28 goals, leaving a positive balance of 19 goals.