The world of football has been stunned by the news that the last surviving player of the first-ever FIFA World Cup Final (in 1930), Francisco Varallo, has died at age 100 at his home in La Plata.
Argentine winger Varallo, aged 20 at the time of his country’s 4-2 defeat to host nation Uruguay all those years ago, has recently been referred to as the last surviving reference as to what it was like to play in that historic occasion, and due to special circumstances this year (he, the last surviving player, had turned 100, and it had been 80 years since the 1930 Final), was giving plenty of interviews to websites and magazines to share his experiences.
Varallo was also a success at club level, and until recently held the record for being all-time top goalscorer at Boca Juniors (the record of 190 goals was broken by Martin Palermo) to go with his World Cup silver medal.
It has been said that Varallo nearly missed out on the famed inagural final through injury, but he insisted on playing, saying that he “Wouldn’t miss it for the world”. The history books seem to be thankful of this decision, and although the subsequent defeat was his “biggest regret”, his mere presence in the match meant that he would be an ambassador of the game for many years to come.
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