Alfredo Di Stéfano would be many people’s choice as the best footballer of all time. If you’ve never watched him before then watch him now and admire the skills of this goal-scoring maestro.

One cannot avoid considering Alfredo Di Stéfano as one of the very best footballers in history. Any examination of soccer history must look at the development of the game through its finest exponents. Very few players reach a goal ratio in their career of 1 goal every 2 games but we shall see how Di Stéfano averaged an incredible goal every 1.25 games. A very precise calculation makes it an average of a goal every 113 minutes of football played over a playing career spanning 21 years.

Born in Buenos Aires in 1926, Di Stéfano played the first 4 years of his professsional career at River Plate scoring an astonishing 79 goals in 95 games, winning the Primera Division title twice. A brief loan spell at Huracan brought 40 goals in 55 games and a 4 year spell at Millanarios in Colombia yielded a breathtaking 120 goals in 131 games and 3 Colombian championships and one Copa Colombia.

Such a fantastic goal scoring record brought Di Stéfano to the attentions of Barcelona but during a complex legal row, Real Madrid stepped in and Di Stéfano duly signed for Real Madrid in 1953. Forming part of a legendary Real Madrid line up including his strike partner Ferenc Puskás, Di Stéfano went on to score 307 goals in 396 games over an 11 years spell at the club. Incredibly he scored a record 49 goals in 58 games in the European Cup for Real Madrid; a record which stood for 45 years. His goal scoring prowess brought him 8 Spanish Championship medals and 5 European Cup winners medals (in 5 consecutive seasons) and on a personal level he was awarded 2 Ballon D’Ors. It is worth adding that in the 5 European Cup finals he scored a goal in each of the first 4 and a hat-trick in the 5th.

Di Stefano’s playing career ended at the ripe old footballing age of 40, for Espanyol, where he spent 2 years scoring 11 goals in 47 games. He is the 4th highest scoring player in Spanish top division history.

Di Stéfano’s international career was less illustrious but he holds the distinction of having played for 3 different nations, Argentina, Colombia and Spain, though he never got to compete in World Cup Finals for any.

So what attributes did Di Stéfano have to make him an all-time great in the history of football?

Di Stéfano was noted for his fitness- a much rarer quality in those days than now- which gave him a high level of stamina. Whilst best remembered as a goal-scoring centre-forward he was equally adept when called upon to play as a midfielder and defender.

His achievements and goals speak for themselves and without question he would feature in any list of the best football players in history. If he is a player that has fallen under your radar of the best footballers in the history of the game then stand up and take note now and watch a video here of Alfredo Di Stéfano, one of the best players in the history of the beautiful game.