The Mac Allister's - From Fife to Buenos Aires

The Mac Allister’s are the footballing family keeping Fife’s Argentine connection alive.

The School of Football looks into the amazing story of the Mac Allister family and their conveyor belt of professional football talent.

The Scottish county of Fife has links with Argentina going as far back as 1881 when Alexander Watson Hutton, born to Fifer parents set sail for Argentina. He would go on to become known as the “father of Argentinian football” helping to establish the AAFL in 1893.

139 years later and the Mac Allister family, who have hereditary ties to Fife, have produced 5 professional footballers; Carlos, Patricio and 3 brothers Alexis, Francis and Kevin. Carlos Mac Allister was the younger brother to Patricio who played professionally throughout the 80s and 90s in Argentina.

But it was Carlos who made the families first big splash.

After debuting for Argentinos Juniors in 1986 the left-back would go on to play over 300 professional games including 124 games for Boca Juniors, winning the league title in 1992. Carlos also played internationally for Argentina earning 3 caps before he retired in 1999.

Carlos Mac Allister playing for Boca Juniors against River Plate

The family tradition didn’t stop there as his 3 sons all made their professional debuts for Argentinos Juniors in 2016, applying their trade together for the club as they earned promotion back to the Argentine top flight that season.

The eldest son Francis, 24 is a midfielder at Argentinos Juniors and he has scored 1 goal in 44 games for the club. He also spent a brief loan spell at Boca Unidos in 2016.

The middle brother, defender Kevin also plays for Argentinos Juniors and he has played 42 games for them scoring 1 goal. In 2019 he spent time on loan with Boca Juniors where he played just 2 games.

The youngest is Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder and Argentinian international Alexis. The 23-year-old left Argentinos Juniors for Brighton in 2019 but In 2018/19 he spent time back on loan at his first club. The following season he played for Boca Juniors helping them to win the league title scoring 2 in his 20 games.

Alex Mac Allister has now become the first Brighton & Hove Albion to win the World Cup, having won the 2022 World Cup with Messi at the helm for one of the great World Cup Finals.