Alfredo Di Stéfano, Spain footballer: Profile, Career, News & Videos

Alfredo Di Stéfano was an Argentine and Spanish professional footballer and manager who played as a forward, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and the greatest Real Madrid player ever. Nicknamed \"Saeta Rubia\" (\"Blond Arrow\"), he played a role in all five of Madrid's European Cup victories during the 1950s and 1960s. He played international football for Argentina and Colombia before becoming a naturalised citizen of Spain and playing for their national team.

Di Stéfano began his career at Argentina's River Plate club at age 17 in 1943. He helped Argentina win the Copa América in 1947. Due to a footballers' strike in Argentina in 1949, Di Stéfano transferred to Millonarios of Bogotá in the Colombian league. He won six league titles during the first 12 years of his career in Argentina and Colombia. Following his signing by Real Madrid, he was an integral part of one of the most successful teams of all time. He scored 216 league goals for Madrid, a club record at the time. His 49 goals in the European Cup was also the highest of any player at the time. Di Stéfano scored in five consecutive European Cup finals for Real Madrid between 1956 and 1960, including a hat-trick in the last. Perhaps the highlight of his time with the club was their 7–3 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in the 1960 final at Hampden Park, a game many consider to be the finest exhibition of club football ever witnessed in Europe. He moved to Espanyol in 1964 and played there until retiring at the age of 40.

Di Stéfano was awarded the Ballon d'Or in 1957 and 1959. He is currently the seventh highest scorer in the history of Spain's top division, and Real Madrid's fourth highest league goalscorer of all time. He is Madrid's joint leading goalscorer in the history of El Clásico, alongside Cristiano Ronaldo. In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Spain by the Royal Spanish Football Federation as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. He was voted fourth, behind Pelé, Diego Maradona, and Johan Cruyff, in a vote organized by France Football magazine which consulted their former Ballon d'Or winners to elect the Football Player of the Century. He was also named at 4th in the list of \"Greatest male players of the century\" by IFFHS. In 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players. In 2008 Di Stéfano was honoured by both UEFA and Real Madrid with a special Presidents' award issued by FIFA at a ceremony in Madrid, where a statue was also unveiled.