Talk:Alfredo Di Stéfano

Di Stefano wining World Soccer player of the year
In the wikipedia article for the World Soccer player of the year award, in the discussion section, they say the award was introduced in 1982 and in the article they are listing only from 1982 on. How could Alfredo Di Stefano win that award before 1982 then? Which is the source for that information? In the World Soccer webpage they also list the award from 1982. I noticed there are wikipedia articles here for Omar Sivori, Eusebio, Kempes, Garrincha, Puskas listing wining the world soccer award too before 1982, which makes things more confusing

Signing with Real Madrid
A reader Diago from London sent the following correction to the e-mail help list.

''The article edited in your wonderful webpage brings some false information on the time Di Stefano signed for Real Madrid over Barcelona. While some politic hate over Barcelona is the reason given, Di Stefano himself explains in his own biography "Gracias, Vieja" (Thanks, Old Lady - referred to the ball). He had a contract with River Plate but Argentinean players went on a strike over the contracts with the league clubs. He was at the time playing for Millonarios in Columbia and his contract with River expired. Barcelona agreed a fee with River and kept Di Stefano in Barcelona for some months while trying to unblock the problem. Real Madrid agreed the transfer from Millonarios. Di Stefano, at the time, couldn't be bothered where to play as long as he did play. When Real Madrid sorted the transfer, Barcelona claimed the player was his and the Government suggested sharing him between the clubs. Barcelona refused. And the rest is history''

I have suggested that he add the information himself. Capitalistroadster 09:32, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

The information provided regarding Di Stefano's transfer to Real Madrid is ludicrously biased, and uses as sources 1) an xtratime football forum (??) and a barcelona supporter's fanpage. Is this supposed to be taken seriously? &mdash;The preceding unsigned comment was added by Sufjanav (talk • contribs) 11:31, 7 December 2005.
 * The 3rd source is "Soccernet". I guess that you aren't complaining about that one. If you have contradicting sources or proof that this is wrong, then please change the article. Sebastian Kessel Talk 21:04, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

It would seem to me that the first two "sources" completely delegitimize the 3rd, whatever it may be.

This article is strongly biased. We'll take care of it in the next days. Please do not try to modificate its information without a proper source. I will use History books for it, and I expect a more reliable source than a few football forums. Thank you. Spooki 21:53, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

When a Di Stefano article dedicates more words to the controversy about his signing rather than his performances as football player you rapidly realize something is wrong. We should merely stick to facts and avoid press rumours and all sort of pamphletary comments. Cheers. Spooki Talk 14:14, 25 November 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.58.220.228 (talk)

"History of Soccer: The Beautiful Game" also contains information that is contradictory to this page. It states that Di Stefano's first match as a member of Real Madrid came in a 5-0 victory against Barcelona which is considered one of the single defining moments in Spanish football. The page says that he played poorly in his first few games but this film states that he scored a hat-trick in this game. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.169.71.226 (talk) 06:05, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks to this page for clearing off some myths about Franco´s regime supporting Real Madrid in the forties and fifties and playing a vital and anti-Barcelonista role in the DiStefano affaire. Despite some historical and hysterical Barcelona´s victimism the single truth is that DiStefano´s signing for Real Madrid was due to internal disputes in Barcelona´s management board and mainly to the player poor performances in the three friendly games he played while in Barcelona. In the early fifties Barcelona enjoyed strong support from Francoism in the form of some of the best Hungarians players (Kubala, Kocsis and Czibor) being given the Spanish nationality along with generous subsides to film anti-communist propaganda (Los ases eligen la libertad) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.109.39.50 (talk) 10:01, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

'under the pressure of Franco's governement' : what the hell does this mean. I have heard Di Stefano explaining the history of his transfer to Real Madrid and some documentation of the 50's. I can say the following things : 1 - Di Stefano was transfered to Barcelona by River Plate 2 - Di Stefano was transfered to Real Madrid by Millonarios 3 - It was decided by the football federation he must play in both teams (one year Barcelona, one year Real Madrid and so on) 4 - Finally Barcelona ressigned to the player that was acquired by Madrid (paying some money to barcelona)

Franco had nothing to do in this story. In fact, RMadrid was a minor club at that time, far away from Barcelona, Bilbao and Atletico Madrid. The thing is there was a discussion about Di Stefano between barcelona and madrid. Finally, Barcelona did not want to count with di stefano as Kubala came back from injury. They even tried to transfer di stefano to juventus.

All other considerations are not far away from reality, they are simply lies. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.49.205.83 (talk) 22:15, 9 July 2009 (UTC)

The section about Di Stefano move to Real Madrid is highly innacurate, incomplete and entirely based in a single source, the book Jimmy Burns: Barca, a people's passion a book written by a self confessed Barça fan which cites its information straight from the Barcelona FC website and several Barcelona fan forums. In the book Mr. Burns makes no efforts whatsoever to interview any Real Madrid officials or Mr. Di Stefano himself in regards to this matter. It is incomplete because entirely skips "The Lima Agreement" the main cause for the dispute and the confusion with the players rights, names erroneously Millonarios as the club contacted by Barcelona originally when it was in fact River Plate to which Barcelona paid 2 million pesetas as downpayment of a total 4 million agreed upon, as it figures in Spanish mercantile records, which Mr. Burns failed to research and which can be obtained from the RFEF archives with relative ease

Nationality
The article says he "played international football for Argentina, Colombia, and Spain", but doesn't explain the circumstancees of this. Did he hold triple nationality; change nationality at some point in his life; etc.? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Delirium (talk • contribs).


 * He holds both Argentine and Spanish nationalities. The circumstances in which he played for Colombia are not clear to me, perhaps the FIFA had no strong policies about players changing colours (many Argentines also played for Italy during the 30s and 40s). He did have some problems to play for Spain though, that prevented him from playing in the 1954 FIFA World Cup. Mariano (t/c) 07:55, 15 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Colombia wasn´t a member of FIFA at the time wich probably had someting to do with it. Sebisthlm 13:46, 31 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Well, the case of the Argentines playing for Italy during the 30s and 40s is different. That happened because they were oriundi, which simply means they had an Italian descent (just like a lot of people in Argentina and in several Southern American countries). I guess they all had double nationality because of their common Italian Argentine ancestry. Anyway what you said is correct, FIFA had no strong policies about players changing colours at the time. For example, that's why many Italian Argentine players played both for Argentina and Italy (Raimundo Orsi, Luis Monti, Omar Sivori, etc), which is just impossible nowadays. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.51.172.183 (talk) 18:09, 3 January 2013 (UTC)

"Greatest" claim
I amended the sentence to what the reference states. The IFHOF doesn't seem to have much recognition or authority though.

i think there is a wrong information about his goals with Millonarios it is not corect that they are 267 goals i think it is much less

"widely regarded by FIFA and worldwide as the greatest player of all time."

And then 4 "sources, 1 of which is a random youtube video, 1 is a speculative article, 1 which lists him as #4 way behind Pele, 1 which lists him as not top 10. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.32.80.55 (talk) 19:30, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

Correct punctuation in article title
The title of this article should be Alfredo di Stéfano not Alfredo Di Stéfano - a minor differnce I know but the aim of Wikipedia is to be accurate - can sombody change this? --Timetrial (talk) 18:08, 19 February 2008 (UTC)


 * See addition to below. I don't see any reason why "di" should be correct as in opposite to "Di". Quite to the contrary. Oalexander-En (talk) 09:33, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Doubts: Millonarios Game and Goal Totals
Something seems off with the number of games played and/or goals scored for his stint at Millonarios (Colombia). Nearly 300 games in 4 some years seems far too high -- that's almost as many games as he played during 11 years in Spain. I just don't see how this could be possible. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.239.111.75 (talk) 18:49, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Nickname
''"Di Stéfano, nicknamed Saeta rubia ("Blond arrow"), "

How could they call this player blond? From the picture it seems evidently a more or less darkhaired (and browneyed) (predominantly) Spanish person. There might have been some slight bleaching indeed, but then still it is dark hair, quite different from blond. It also seems very unlikely, that it is a real blond, who was dyed darker. Maybe insiders know all about this, so that one of them can tell, whether in this article a remark can be made about the uncorrectness of the nickname; (on condition there are also renown sources about it, of course). VKing (talk) 23:06, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

He was blond. He even was the protagonist in a movie called "saeta rubia" (blonded arrow)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049705/ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.225.58.124 (talk) 21:48, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Di Stefano
The correct form is "Di Stefano". Di Stefano is a typical Italian surname. Alfredo Di Stefano, by his paternal line, is of Italian origins. His paternal family comes from Nicolosi  See also: Brian Glanville, Soccer; a history of the game: its players, and its strategy‎, 1968, p. 154 --Godahartus (talk) 11:52, 7 February 2010 (UTC)
 * While, by his maternal line, Alfredo Di Stefano should be of French ancestors, Laulhé seems to be a French surname, but i didn't find any references. --Godahartus (talk) 12:11, 7 February 2010 (UTC)

In all respectable works of reference Alfredo Di Stéfano is referred to with a capital "D" in the "Di". Eg., in El Gráfico, the authoritative Argentina football publication as weall as the websites of his former clubs CA River Plate, CD Los Millonarios and Real Madrid. If there are no major arguments that to the contrary, I suggest the page will be moved to "Alfredo Di Stéfano". Oalexander-En (talk) 09:31, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Appearances and Goals Discrepancies
Senior club appearances and goals for domestic league only (top of page), does not correspond with club career statistics. In fact some of the appearances and goals under club career statistics, which counts all appearances and goals, are lower than those under the domestic league only statistics. There’s obviously an error somewhere. I suspect it is in the club career statistics section as there is a + symbol after some of the figures possibly indicating a lack of accuracy.--Fast fast (talk) 22:02, 14 April 2012 (UTC)

To correct that, please !!! 151.75.89.4 (talk) 22:20, 12 May 2012 (UTC)

I think the problem lies with the information box on the top of the page, as that is usually the case with old ex-footballers. I have a hard time believing that Di Stefano played 55 league games during the one season he was on loan at Huracán. ForcaFCBarcelona (talk) 13:24, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Name
The article is titled Alfredo Di Stéfano, it opens with Alfredo di Stéfano which is also in the infobox. Which is correct? Is there a difference between the case of "Di" in Castillian and Argentine Spanish? &#39;&#39;&#39;tAD&#39;&#39;&#39; (talk) 16:00, 7 July 2014 (UTC)


 * The name is like Alfredo himself of Italian origin, therefore with capitalised "Di". See also this picture. Answered?  115.69.63.229 (talk) 04:23, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

Six games or seven?
The International playing career section begins by saying that he played six games for Argentina, then later says that he scored six goals in seven games for Argentina in the 1947 South American Championship. So which was it, six or seven? 86.44.193.89 (talk) 22:44, 9 July 2014 (UTC)

European Goals Record
This goals record has been passed several times now, most recently by Cristiano Ronaldo in the semi-final against Bayern Munich last year, but the article lacks proper citations for this. I'm still learning how to add citations correctly, but if anyone else wants to, the information can be found at http://www.worldfootball.net/alltime_goalgetter/champions-league/tore/1/ Max xxx (talk) 10:41, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

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Plaudits and accolades
I have identified that the source used to backup the claim "Former players such as Pelé, Eusébio, Luis Suárez, Sandro Mazzola or John Charles described Di Stefano as "the most complete footballer in the history of the game"" was introduced over 5 years ago. There seems to be a degree of this throughout the article, so will work through to ensure the content is written in the appropriate voice. Koncorde (talk) 12:47, 16 September 2016 (UTC)

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Colombian career
Regarding whether or not he played for "Colombia". The record states that he played for a national team raised in Colombia during a time when the Colombian football federation was under sanctions from FIFA for signing players that already had contracts. While this means that Colombia's matches during this period are considered unofficial by FIFA this does not change what they were regardless of selection criteria etc. Prior to changes made to the rules, many players switched and played national matches for the league association that they played in, rather than any legal nationality that they held (changes were made at the 33rd FIFA Congress in Santiago, Chile, in 1962). To that point, here are some selective reliable sources on the matter:
 * The Guardian "It wasn't just Italy who took full advantage of the laws. In the 1940s, Alfredo Di Stéfano represented not only his native Argentina, but also Colombia and Spain. After making his name in Argentina, a players' strike prompted a move to Colombia's renegade Di Mayor league, which was out of Fifa's jurisdiction, meaning no transfer fees and massive salaries. Eventually the Colombian national team called him up for international duty, although his four caps were deemed unofficial because of the Colombian FA's falling-out with Fifa. From Millionarios, Di Stéfano switched to Real Madrid, where he collected five European Cups, the Intercontinental Cup and, finally, a trip to the 1962 World Cup with Spain."
 * The Guardian "While he was still eligible to play for Argentina, their football federation withdrew from the 1950 and 1954 World Cups. In 1949, at Millonarios, he played four games for Colombia, though they were not recognised by Fifa. He took Spanish nationality in 1956, but his adopted country failed to qualify for the 1958 World Cup, and after helping them reach the finals in Chile four years later, at the age of 35, he was injured and did not play in the tournament, or again for Spain."
 * The BBC "He won six caps for Argentina and played four times for Colombia during a spell in that country's league. However, his Colombia caps are not officially recognised by Fifa. In 1954 Fifa said he could not play for Spain, but reversed that decision in 1957 after he gained citizenship and he went on to win 31 caps, scoring 23 goals."
 * FourFourTwo, the article text is less relevant, but the video provvided is from a rest of the world vs England game in 1963. At 0:23 of the video the commentator states "Di Stefano, he's played for three countries."
 * Marca "Di Stefano played at international level for three nations but never appeared at the World Cup. He won six caps for home country Argentina and played four times for Colombia during a spell in the country's league. However his Colombia caps are not officially recognised by Fifa."
 * The Irish Times "He won six caps for Argentina and played four times for Colombia during a spell in that country’s league. However, his Colombia caps are not officially recognised by Fifa. Fifa said in 1954 he could not play for Spain but reversed that decision in 1957 after he gained citizenship and he went on to win 31 caps, scoring 23 goals."
 * ESPN "Alfredo Di Stefano might have spent almost all of his adult life outside Argentina, and he might have played four games for Colombia -- not part of FIFA at the time -- and 31 for Spain versus the six caps he won for the land of his birth and upbringing, but Argentines have never forgotten him."

Less authoritative:
 * The BleacherReport # 1 "Di Stefano impressed so much that the Colombian National team were considering calling him up. Being outside FIFA regulations, this was allowed, and Di Stefano eventually played four times for them. He failed to score for them, but made his presence felt."
 * The BleacherReport #2 "Di Stéfano represented three nations during his career, playing for Argentina, Colombia, and Spain...While exiled in Columbia, the Colombian FA asked Di Stéfano to play for their national side, Di Stefano obliged, so Colombia became his second international team, for only four matches...In 1954, having played for Argentina and Colombia, Di Stéfano was ruled by FIFA to be ineligible to appear for Spain, a decision not reversed until 1957, when Di Stéfano was 31."'
 * Goal.com (Spanish version) "Given his high performance with Millonarios, Di Stéfano was summoned to the Colombian National Team, with which he played 10 games, although there is a dispute about how many were official, because at the time, FIFA had sanctioned the DIMAYOR, for what many say that it was only about 4 matches."

Unknown reliability, but appears notable:
 * FirstTouchOnline "Eligible for the Colombian national team given that the nation was not recognised by FIFA, Di Stefano played four times for the country,"

Other sources: ITV, Heavy.com, Japan Times, The Telegraph and I have no doubt many many more that all say the same thing. Koncorde (talk) 10:12, 6 July 2019 (UTC)

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His father, first generation?
It says Alfredo's father was a first generation italian-argentine, yet the actual immigrant was Alfredo's grandfather, so wouldn't that make Alfredo's dad actually second generation? 186.185.161.169 (talk) 13:29, 22 May 2023 (UTC)