4 July 1926 - The Blonde Arrow Is Loosed

On 4 July 1926, two-time Ballon d'Or winner and five-time La Liga top scorer Alfredo di Stéfano was born in Buenos Aires.

Nicknamed "the Blonde Arrow," di Stéfano's twenty-one year professional career saw him win league trophies and scoring titles in three different countries. He debuted with River Plate in 1945 and won the league in his first season, followed by a second in 1947 when he was also the Primera División's top scorer. In 1949, Millonarios lured him to Colombia, where he added another three league championships (1949, 1951, 1952) and two scoring titles (1951, 1952) to his list of accomplishments.

In 1953, he moved across the Atlantic to play for Real Madrid (he had intended to sign for Barcelona, but a stall in contract negotiations allowed Real Madrid to steal him away in a move that intensified the already heated rivalry between the two clubs). There, he reached his greatest heights, winning five consecutive European Cups along with eight La Liga titles between 1954 and 1964. By the time he left, he was the club's all-time top scorer, with 305 goals in 392 appearances in all competitions (he currently sits in second, behind Raúl, who has 323). He also won the Ballon d'Or in 1957 and 1959.

He played two seasons for Espanyol before retiring in 1966, then moved into management, including multiple spells in charge of Boca Juniors, Valencia, and Real Madrid before his full retirement in 1991.

18 June 1946 - Colombia's One-In-A-Million Club

On 18 June 1946, Club Deportivo Los Millonarios was officially founded in Bogotá. They have since become one of the most successful teams in Colombia with a shared-record thirteen top-flight titles.

Although they trace their history back to 1937 when students from two schools united to form a team, Millonarios emerged as a true club in 1946 thanks to the efforts of their first chairman, Alfonso Senior. In 1948, Senior then founded Colombia's first professional league, the Dimayor, which promptly split with FIFA to operate as a renegade league.

Removed from FIFA's restrictions on professionalism, the new league was able to attract many star players with financial incentives that other leagues could not match. Millonarios, which had originally been called Deportivo Municipal, earned their new name by signing high-priced River Plate stars Adolfo Pedernerna, Néstor Rossi, and Alfredo di Stéfano. Nicknamed the Ballet Azul for their stylish play, that side dominated the early years of the Dimayor, winning the league in 1949, 1951, 1952, and 1953 (they were runners-up to Deportivo Caldas in 1950).

Since then, they have finished as champions nine more times, but won their most recent title in 1988. During the ensuing barren stretch, their rivals America won seven titles to share the record of 13.

In 2002, Millonarios suffered through a financial crisis that threatened to end the club, but they are currently on their way to recovery and finished in second place in the 2011 aggregate table.