In 1959, the Ballon d’Or was awarded to Alfredo Di Stéfano for a second time in only the fourth edition of the competition.
The Argentine-born forward joined Real Madrid from River Plate in 1953 for around £20,000.
Di Stefano was already a bonafide star of the European game, having brought immense success to the Spanish side, both domestically and on the continent.
With the signing of Hungarian attacker Ferenc Puskás in the summer of 1958 as his striking ally, Los Blancos boasted perhaps the most lethal attacking partnership of the era.
Now the prolific Argentinian would prove once again that he stood amongst the deadliest forwards in World football.
La saeta rubia. Alfredo Di Stefano. The Blonde Arrow.
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An Icon Of 50’s Football
“It was a journalist from El Grafico who started calling me that (the Blonde Arrow)” Di Stefano explained when questioned on the origins of his nickname. “Because I was blonde and very fast!’
Even before his Ballon d’Or winning year, Di Stefano had already built a majestic reputation over a five-year stay at the Bernabeu so far. The striker helped the club win four La Liga titles and three European Cups in that period.
However, the 1958/59 campaign was untypically fruitless as Madrid missed out on La Liga and failed to secure any other domestic cup.
Real ended runners-up behind Barcelona with Di Stefano still finishing as the league’s top scorer for the fifth and final time by netting on 23 occasions.
He claimed the prestigious Pichichi Trophy, awarded by the Spanish sports newspaper Marca to the top goalscorer of each La Liga season, winning the prize for the past four seasons!
Despite domestic woes, his latest campaign was destined to bring another unforgettable European Cup triumph.
Four In A Row
In 1959, Real Madrid won their fourth consecutive
European Cup, a feat that as yet is unmatched by any other club in the competition’s illustrious history.
Di Stefano scored eight goals during the cup run including four vs Austria’s Wiener Sport-Club and a brace in their two-legged semi-final against Atletico Madrid. He then netted his side’s second goal vs Reims in the final as Real won 2-0.
The forward ended his time in the Spanish capital with 308 goals in 393 matches – fourth on Real Madrid’s all-time top scorer list behind Raul, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo.
He also scored six goals in five caps for adopted nation Spain during the calendar year.
Di Stefano finished on the Ballon d’Or ‘podium’ a total of three times, a runner-up in 1956 then twice as a winner in 1957 and 1959.
He was a true legend of the sport, named as part of the ‘World Team of the 20th Century’ in 1998 along with FIFA’s 100 in 2004 and also 2013’s ‘World Soccer Greatest XI of all time.’
Perhaps one of Di Stefano’s crowning achievements was the ‘Super Ballon d’Or’ he lay claim to in 1989.
It was created by French magazine France Football to honour the best football player of the previous three decades.
A fitting tribute to an unquestionable legend who dominated European football in 1959.
1959 Ballon d’Or Top 20
| Rank | Name | Club(s) | Nationality | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alfredo Di Stéfano | Spain Real Madrid | Spain | 80 |
| 2 | Raymond Kopa | Spain Real Madrid, France Reims | France | 42 |
| 3 | John Charles | Italy Juventus | Wales | 24 |
| 4 | Luis Suárez | Spain Barcelona | Spain | 22 |
| 5 | Agne Simonsson | Sweden Örgryte IS | Sweden | 20 |
| 6 | Lajos Tichy | Hungary Budapest Honvéd | Hungary | 18 |
| 7 | Ferenc Puskás | Spain Real Madrid | Hungary | 16 |
| 8 | Francisco Gento | Spain Real Madrid | Spain | 12 |
| 9 | Helmut Rahn | West Germany Rot-Weiss Essen, West Germany 1. FC Köln | West Germany | 11 |
| 10 | Horst Szymaniak | West Germany Wuppertaler SV, West Germany Karlsruher SC | West Germany | 8 |
| 11 | Lev Yashin | Soviet Union Dynamo Moscow | Soviet Union | 7 |
| 12 | Yuriy Voynov | Soviet Union Dynamo Kyiv | Soviet Union | 5 |
| 13 | Dezső Bundzsák | Hungary Vasas, Hungary Tatabánya | Hungary | 4 |
| Gyula Grosics | Hungary Tatabánya | Hungary | ||
| Ivan Kolev | Bulgaria CDNA Sofia | Bulgaria | ||
| Nils Liedholm | Italy Milan | Sweden | ||
| 17 | Titus Buberník | Czechoslovakia ČH Bratislava | Czechoslovakia | 3 |
| Just Fontaine | France Reims | France | ||
| Georgi Naydenov | Bulgaria CDNA Sofia | Bulgaria | ||
| 20 | Flórián Albert | Hungary Ferencváros | Hungary | 2 |
| Uwe Seeler | West Germany Hamburger SV | West Germany | ||
| Joan Segarra | Spain Barcelona | Spain |
Trivia
With Real Madrid, Alfredo Di Stéfano won another four La Liga titles before leaving the club in 1964.
Raymond Kopa died in 2017. A year later France Football devised the Kopa Trophy in his honour, awarded to the best young football player in a calendar year. The first recipient was fellow Frenchman Kylian Mbappé
In his autobiography, Sir Bobby Robson described John Charles as “incomparable” and classed him among the all-time footballing greats such as Pelé, Diego Maradona and George Best.
