“Punchi” and “Turrón” are not cartoon characters, even if they sound like one. They are flesh-and-blood footballers who, true to their origins, put not only their bodies but also their souls into every game they play in the Argentino de Fútbol de Madrid jersey. “A club from Spain, with Argentine passion,” as portrayed on their social networks.
“Punchi” is called Rafael, is 29 years old and plays as a left midfielder or midfielder. “Turrón” is an answer to the name Agustín, has 26 calendars and serves as a page marker. The shared surname of both, Álvarez, is no minor matter. Julián, the youngest of the three brothers, is neither more nor less than the striker for Atlético de Madrid and the Argentina national team.
“The reason Rafael and Agustín are with us is because of a friend of theirs, Lucas Beltrán, a current player of Valencia in Spain (also from Córdoba and trained at the institute). It was he who told me that Julián’s brothers had moved to Madrid and had no club,” says Adrián Varela, the former manager of River Plate, who has headed the Spanish company since its creation on July 11, 2023.
“Punchi” is called Rafael, is 29 years old and plays as a left midfielder or midfielder. “Turrón” is an answer to the name Agustín, has 26 calendars and serves as a page marker.
“They are two stars. From the first moment, the coaches were enthusiastic about them, not only because of their game but also because of their way of being. They have a spectacular humility and they have fitted in very well in the group,” says Varela, who was part of the “Millonario” leadership under the presidency of Rodolfo D’Onofrio and has lived in Spain for five years.
With the Álvarez brothers on the field, “El Granadero”, as the Argentine football club from Madrid is called, achieved promotion to the First Madrid Regional, the seventh category of Spanish football, last April. “They arrived two months earlier, right at the moment when the team had taken the lead and people were starting to follow the campaign more closely. There was still a third of the tournament left and since then we have made an incredible final spurt, winning twelve games in a row,” emphasizes Varela.
With the Álvarez brothers on the field, “El Granadero”, as the Argentine football club from Madrid is called, achieved promotion to the First Madrid Regional, the seventh category of Spanish football, last April.
In the current season, the Albiceleste team – led by the Spaniards David Sánchez and Quique López – occupies fifth place in Group 5 of the “First Amateur”, which counts 18 participants and grants two promotions. “We have a good team and are in a promising position,” emphasizes the leader of the Madrid club, son of a woman from Bellville (Isabel Rius) and brother of a man on his mother’s side from Córdoba (Cristian Requena, labor judge).
Argentina at the wheel
The Argentine’s mentor from Madrid highlights the “sporting and media leap” that his project has made since the arrival of the Álvarez family. “The proximity to Julián and his brothers gave us a lot of visibility and gave everyone the expectation of making a larger club even stronger.”, says Varela.
He says that “La Araña” is a regular at “El Granadero” games, where the passion and blue and white colors refer to the climate and setting of the national team’s games. Even a giant “rag” with the faces of Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi accompanies every team presentation.
“In our club we live in the Argentine style. The mateadas in the previews, the barbecues during the week, the cumbia in the dressing room, the speeches with the emotionality and intensity that characterize us and even the vocabulary. This influence is also felt in the stands, where there is no lack of drums, drums and flags, but also mate, pasta frola, cookies or empanadas, depending on when the games are played”, says Varela.
“The proximity to Julián Álvarez and his brothers gave us a lot of visibility and raised everyone’s expectations to create a bigger club,” says Adrián Varela, president of Argentino de Madrid.
“The Argentine community is getting closer, and with it the sponsors,” says the leader. “A month ago we opened the Argentine fan membership, with benefits and discounts in Spain and Argentina, and we have already added 250 members. And last year we sold 1,500 T-shirts, crazy,” he points out. “Everything helps. The club has an annual budget of 50,000 euros and is financed through sponsors and private donations,” he emphasizes.
Currently, Argentine football club Madrid competes with its senior and youth teams and is based at the Virgen de la Torre municipal football field in the Vallecas district, where the first AFA football academy in Europe was inaugurated last year.
There are around fifty footballers, 40% of whom are Argentinian, 50% Spanish and 10% from other countries. “We have a very characteristic diversity with players from Uruguay, Colombia and Brazil. Among the Argentines we have players from Córdoba, Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Chubut and Corrientes,” explains Varela. The Córdoba embassy is completed with Máximo Torres (senior) and Gonzalo García Rojo (U-19).
Argentino de Madrid competes with its senior and youth teams and plays at home at the municipal football field Virgen de la Torre, where the first AFA football academy in Europe was inaugurated.
Álvarez, Rafael and Agustín shared a squad in the youth teams of Club Atlético Calchín and also in the Abbey Hey Football Club, a Manchester team competing in the tenth category, at the time when Julián emigrated to England with his family to defend the city’s colors.
A twist in the story
“Our club was founded with the hope of representing the unique passion of Argentines for football; far from Argentina, close to the hundreds of thousands of Argentines who live in Spain,” reads the introductory letter from the Argentine football club Madrid.
“Between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the great Spanish immigration took root in Argentina, which remains alive today through Argentine children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren who have managed to preserve characteristics that identify both countries,” the letter says. And he emphasizes: “As a twist in history, the Argentine football club was born in Madrid in 2023, as a natural consequence of a growing and constant Argentine immigration to Spain, which gives temporal continuity to this historical connection.”
“Despite the search in exile for a better future and living conditions even further removed from the stress and dizziness of Argentina, nostalgia for the country left behind inexorably takes its toll, generating a pain in the chest that requires the use of Creole creativity to alleviate it,” the text underlines.
“Our club was founded with the hope of representing the unique passion of Argentines for football; far from Argentina, close to the hundreds of thousands of Argentines who live in Spain,” reads the introductory letter from the Argentine football club Madrid.
“In Madrid there are Argentinians everywhere and creating a meeting place inspired us,” says Adrián Varela, the club’s president. “The idea was to create a community and through this bond to temper the nostalgia, since sometimes it is very difficult to be separated from our country and the truth is that what is created is very strong.” We Argentines are always looking for reasons to get together and I think football is the perfect excuse,” he emphasizes.
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