Víctor Legrotaglie

Víctor Antonio Legrotaglie (29 May 1937 – 30 March 2024) was an Argentine football player and coach. He played as a midfielder, and was the fourth-highest scorer (as of May 2025) from free kicks.

Legrotaglie began his professional career in Gimnasia y Esgrima de Mendoza in 1953, where he became the institution's greatest star. In 1959 he moved to Chacarita Juniors, where he won a second-division national championship. He returned to Mendoza in the mid-1960s. Three years later, he played for Argentino de Mendoza. A year later, he returned to Lobo Mendoza for the third time, staying for three years. During that period, he won an official regional tournament and the unofficial Confraternidad Tournament organized by Boca Juniors in 1965.

In 1967, he briefly returned to the Mendoza Academy but in the middle of that year, he went to the Province of San Juan to play for Juventud Alianza. His fourth stage in Mensana came at the beginning of 1968 when he began to dispute the national championship. In 1973, he played in Independiente Rivadavia —the classic rival of Lobo, but at the time it was customary for Mendoza clubs to borrow players to represent the province at the national level. In 1976, he went to the Province of La Rioja to play in Américo Tesorieri where he ended up retiring professionally a few months later.

He stood out for his free kicks The Gimnasia y Esgrima Stadium was named in his honour. His family was a fan of Independiente Rivadavia, so he tried to stay there, but was rejected because he weighed only sixty-two kilos.

Professional career

In 1959, he transferred to Chacarita Juniors where he became champion of the Primera B—the second division of Argentine football league system—that year. A year later he returned to Gimnasia y Esgrima where he stayed until 1963 when he was traded to C.A. Argentino. He returned to GyE where he won his first Liga Mendocina title. On 1 March 1964, Legrotaglie played unofficially for Godoy Cruz in a friendly game vs Brazilian side Santos. Santos won 3–2. In 1965 he won the Torneo Confraternidad that offered the possibility of facing Boca Juniors.

In the second half of 1967, after his second stint at the Mendoza Academy, he played for Juventud Alianza, a club in San Juan Province including the 1967 Torneo Regional and Torneo Promocional. During his fourth tenure on GyE, Legrotaglie gained recognition as part of Los Compadres, regarded as the best football team outside Buenos Aires during those years. That squad remained undefeated at home for two years. They qualified for the Nacional championship on three consecutive occasions. In the 1971 Nacional, GyE achieved an outstanding result by beating San Lorenzo de Almagro 5–2 at Estadio Gasómetro. In the next season, GyE defeated Newell's Old Boys, 5–2.

In 1973, he transferred to Independiente Rivadavia to compete in the 1973 Nacional. He returned to the field 2 years later to play for Club Américo Tesorieri of La Rioja, his last official club.

In 1971 Legrotaglie appeared on the cover of prestigious sports magazine El Gráfico, which described him: He scored a total of 66 goals from free kicks, ranking 4th. among the highest in the history of football.

Death Legrotaglie died in Godoy Cruz, Mendoza on 30 March 2024, at the age of 86.