23 September 1953 - The Beginning Of A Beautiful Friendship

On 23 September 1953, center forward Alfredo di Stéfano debuted for Real Madrid in a friendly against AS Nancy. The French side won 4-2.

Nicknamed "the Blond Arrow," Di Stéfano is considered to be one of the greatest footballers in history. He was born in Buenos Aires on 4 July 1926 and signed his first professional contract in 1944 with River Plate. He stayed with River Plate until 1948, including a brief loan spell with Hurucán. In 1948, as the result of players' strike in Argentina, he moved to Colombian side Los Millonarios.

In 1952, Millonarios were invited to Madrid to play in a tournament celebrating Real Madrid's 50th anniversary, which the Bogotá club won. Di Stéfano impressed the scouts in attendance and initially signed with Barcelona, but issues arose over his contract rights. Real president Santiago Bernabéu took advantage of the delay and convinced di Stéfano to sign instead with the Meringues. The incident aggravated the already-strained relations between the two Spanish giants.

Di Stéfano, who had already won both accolades and silverware with River Plate and Millonarios, reached greater heights with Real, including eight La Liga titles (1954-55, 1957-58, 1961-64) and five consecutive European Cup trophies (1956-60). He also won the Ballon d'Or in 1957 and 1959.

At the international level, di Stéfano played for three different sides--Argentina (four appearances), Colombia (six), and Spain (31), but never played in the World Cup.

He left Real after the 1963-64 season, accumulating 418 goals in 510 matches for the Spanish club. He retired from playing in 1966 after two seasons with Espanyol.

19 September 1948 - The Colombian Capital Classic

On 19 September 1948, Santa Fe defeated local rivals Millonarios 5-3 in the first official Bogotá derby, El Clásico Capitalino. (The coin toss for that match is shown to the right, with Sante Fe's captain on the right and Millonarios' captain on the left).

Millonarios was founded in 1946, though it traces its history back to 1937 through two earlier versions of the club. The name "Millonarios" had originally been a nickname given to the club for its heavy spending to bring in foreign players. Santa Fe was founded in 1941 in a Bogotá café and was named after the street on which the café was located.

The clubs first met in a local league match in 1942, when Millonarios were known as Club Deportivo Municipal, but the 1948 derby was the first meeting between the clubs as they currently exist and the first in the División Mayor del Fútbol Profesional Colombiano ("Dimayor" for short). 1948 was the inaugural season for the Dimayor, who had just seceded from FIFA over a dispute with the Colombian amateur football organization.

Both Millonarios and Sante Fe benefitted from working outside FIFA's constraints on transfer and player payments, and both were able to lure high-profile signings from both sides of the Atlantic. Millonarios acquired Alfredo di Stéfano and Adolfo Pedernera from River Plate, while Sante Fe signed Neil Franklin from Stoke and Charlie Mitten from Manchester United.

Santa Fe won the Dimayor in that first season, while Millonarios won it the next year. Between them, Santa Fe and Millonarios have won 19 first division titles, though the last title for either club was Millonarios' title in 1988.