Di Stéfano

Full Name:

Alfredo di Stéfano Laulhé

Born:

4 July 1926

Death:

24 December 2005

Life in Soccer:

He is most associated with Real Madrid and was instrumental in their domination of the Europen Champion's Cup during the 1950s, a period in which the club won the trophy in five consecutive seasons from 1956. Di Stéfano played international football mostly for Spain , but he also played for Argentina and Columbia.

Di Stéfano, nicknamed "Saeta rubia" ("blond arrow") was a powerful forward with great stamina, tactical versatility, and vision, who could also play almost anywhere on the picth.He is currently the 4th Highest scorer in the history of Spain's top divison and Real Madrid's 2nd highest league goalscorer of all time, with 216 goals in 282 league matches between 1953 and 1964.

Di Stéfano played with three different national teams during his career: he played six times with the Argentine national team, four times with Colombia (not recognized by FIFA) and 31 times with the Spanish national team. However, he never played in the World Cup finals.

Alfredo Di Stéfano currently resides in Spain. On 5 November 2000 he was named President of Honour of Real Madrid.On 24 December 2005, 79-year-old di Stéfano suffered a heart attack, but made a full recovery.On 9 May 2006, TheAlfredo Di Stefano Stadium was inaugurated at the City of Real Madrid, where
Real Madrid usually trains. The inaugural match was between Real Madrid an Stade de Reims, a rematch of the Eurocup final won by Real Madrid in 1956.