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50 free Alfredo Di Stéfano trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Alfredo Di Stéfano trivia quiz follows the Blond Arrow from a Buenos Aires street team to the greatest Real Madrid player of all. The easy questions are ones any football fan could answer: his nickname, the club he is synonymous with, how many European Cups he won in a row, and the famous 7–3 final in Glasgow. The harder end is for football historians: the fastest goal in Argentine league history, the strike that sent him to Bogotá's Ballet Azul, the FIFA mediator who tried to split him between Madrid and Barcelona, the Ballon d'Or he lost by three votes to Stanley Matthews, his hat-trick on debut for Spain, the three national teams he represented, the guerrillas who kidnapped him in Caracas in 1963, his 22 La Liga hat-tricks, the Espanyol swansong at 39, the titles he won as a coach with Boca and Valencia, the Cup Winners' Cup final lost to Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen, and the one-off Super Ballon d'Or of 1989. Puskás, Gento, Kopa, Rial and Santiago Bernabéu get questions too. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries for the player, his clubs and his finals before publishing, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. If you enjoy this one, try our Real Madrid, Ferenc Puskás and European Cup quizzes next.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What was Alfredo Di Stéfano's famous nickname?
Saeta Rubia
It means Blond Arrow and was coined by journalist Roberto Neuberger.
Q 02In which Buenos Aires neighbourhood was Di Stéfano born in 1926?
Barracas
His father, also Alfredo, had played for River Plate as a defender.
Q 03Which Argentine club did Di Stéfano join at 17 in 1943?
River Plate
He debuted for the first team, known as La Máquina, in 1945.
Q 04Which club took Di Stéfano on loan in 1946, where he scored the fastest goal in Argentine league history?
Huracán
The goal against River Plate came after about ten seconds.
Q 05Who was Di Stéfano's boyhood football idol?
Arsenio Erico
Erico was a Paraguayan striker.
Q 06How many goals made Di Stéfano top scorer of the 1947 Argentine championship?
27
He missed time that year for compulsory conscription.
Q 07Which international tournament did Di Stéfano win with Argentina in 1947?
Copa América
He made his debut that December against Bolivia in Ecuador.
Q 08In what unusual position did Di Stéfano briefly play in a 1949 Buenos Aires derby?
Goalkeeper
He replaced Amadeo Carrizo for a few minutes and kept a clean sheet.
Q 09Why did Di Stéfano leave Argentina for Colombia in 1949?
A footballers' strike
The strike lasted eight months and pushed Argentina's best players abroad.
Q 10Which Bogotá club did Di Stéfano join in 1949?
Millonarios
The Colombian league's lucrative pirate era was known as El Dorado.
Q 11What was the nickname of the famous Bogotá team of Di Stéfano, Pedernera and Rossi?
Ballet Azul
They won the 1949 title, beating Deportivo Cali in the final.
Q 12Which Real Madrid anniversary tournament in 1952 first showed Di Stéfano to Santiago Bernabéu?
Bodas de Oro
The Colombians beat Real 4–2 with a Di Stéfano brace and won the tournament.
Q 13Which club agreed a deal with his old Argentine club for Di Stéfano before Real Madrid stepped in?
Barcelona
FIFA mediator Armando Muñoz Calero proposed splitting him between the two clubs season by season.
Q 21How did Di Stéfano mark his Spain debut in January 1957?
A hat-trick against the Netherlands
Spain won 5–1 in Madrid.
Q 22How many national teams did Di Stéfano play for?
Three
Argentina, Colombia and Spain, though the Colombia XI was not FIFA-sanctioned.
Q 23Why did FIFA ban Di Stéfano from playing for Argentina before the 1954 World Cup qualifiers?
He had appeared for the Colombia XI
Argentina pulled out of qualifying anyway.
Q 14What was FIFA mediator Muñoz Calero's compromise on the transfer?
Alternate seasons between the two clubs
Barcelona then sold Madrid its half-share; the Catalan president resigned.
Q 15How many goals did Di Stéfano score in his first Clásico, in October 1953?
Two
Barcelona had sold its share of him only hours earlier; Real won 5–0.
Q 16How many times was Di Stéfano La Liga's top scorer?
Five
His last Pichichi came in 1958–59 with 23 goals.
Q 17Whom did Real Madrid beat 4–3 in the first European Cup final in 1956?
Reims
Real had trailed before Di Stéfano drove a comeback in Paris.
Q 18To whom did Di Stéfano lose the first Ballon d'Or in 1956 by three votes?
Stanley Matthews
He won it himself twice later in the decade.
Q 19In which two years did Di Stéfano win the Ballon d'Or?
1957 and 1959
In 1959 he beat teammate Raymond Kopa and Juventus's John Charles.
Q 20Why could Raymond Kopa not play for Real Madrid until October 1956?
Di Stéfano had to be naturalised first
La Liga's foreigner limit meant Di Stéfano's Spanish citizenship freed a place.
Q 24How many World Cup finals matches did Di Stéfano play in his career?
None
He qualified with Spain for 1962 at 35 but did not play in Chile.
Q 25Which Brazilian 1958 World Cup winner joined Real Madrid in 1959–60 and clashed with Di Stéfano?
Didi
Rumours said Didi asked for his release in the summer of 1960.
Q 26What was the score when Real Madrid beat Eintracht Frankfurt in the 1960 European Cup final?
7–3
It is still the most goals ever scored in a European Cup final.
Q 27How many goals did Di Stéfano and Puskás score respectively in the 1960 final?
Three and four
Both scored hat-tricks in a game called one of the finest ever played.
Q 28Where was the 1960 European Cup final played?
Hampden Park
More than 127,000 people watched in Glasgow.
Q 29What was the aggregate score when Real Madrid were first knocked out of the European Cup in 1960–61?
4–3
Their great rivals from Catalonia did it after a controversial second leg.
Q 30Which team beat Real 5–3 in the 1962 European Cup final, the first Di Stéfano failed to score in?
Benfica
Eusébio inspired the Lisbon side; Puskás scored all three Madrid goals.