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Sebastián Viberti during an interview with SUR. SUR
Sebastián Viberti An Argentinian icon at Malaga CF
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Sebastián Viberti An Argentinian icon at Malaga CF

During the five years that the midfielder was at La Rosaleda he became an iconic figure in the city and Antonio Banderas was a huge fan

Tony Bryant

Malaga

Friday, 9 May 2025, 12:40

Just behind La Rosaleda - Malaga CF's stadium - is a roundabout named after one of the team's most iconic players, Sebastián Viberti. At the stadium itself, gate number five was named after him in 2013, following the football legend's death in 2012.

The Argentinian played for Malaga from 1969 to 1974 and his name lives on in the memories of some of the team's older fans and in the city itself.

Known as "El Pelado", Viberti was born on 25 May 1944, in Cordoba, Argentina, and died in the city on 24 November 2012. He was a father of three children, one of whom, Martín Viberti, followed in his father's footsteps and also became a football coach.

Viberti discovered football at the age of 11 and his first professional club was San Lorenzo, which he joined at the age of 16, although it was when he joined Huracán de Buenos Aires that he made the first big leap in his career.

It was at that stage that he was introduced to Club Deportivo Málaga, then presided over by Antonio Rodríguez López. It was 1969 and the Blue and Whites needed a strong player to guide them to the first division.

That would be Viberti, a tall midfielder (1 metre 87cm), with a boot size of 48 that led to his nickname El Zapatones (the big shoes).

Malaga kept on winning and he became the team's idol in the 1970s. In that five-year period before leaving for Nástic de Tarragona, people chased him in the streets, chanting 'Vibeeeerti, Vibeeerti' and his name would be chanted during matches, whether he was playing or not. Fans even copied his hairstyle.

Malaga-born actor Antonio Banderas was passionate about football as a youngster and a fan of Viberti, who was his coach in the youth team. "He was a good coach and a good person," Banderas has said of the player.

In 2022 to mark the tenth anniversary of Viberti's death, journalist Dani Barranquero presented 'Viberti, Viberti!, la leyenda del Zapatones', a biography of the Argentinian footballer and coach.

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surinenglish Sebastián Viberti An Argentinian icon at Malaga CF