For all Argentinians, watching the 2022 World Cup final was special, but for Luciana Alvarengue there was additional emotion. In the Argentina side were two players to whom she had taught maths at school: Enzo Fernández and Julián Álvarez.
“They are still my students, even if they are no longer in the classroom,” she says. “To see it with my son telling me: ‘Mamá, there are your students’ … that’s really nice.”
The River Plate School
Alvarengue was 26 when, in 2012, she took a job at the school run by River Plate. The school was housed at Estadio Monumental, meaning lessons would be cancelled if River had a midweek game. Now, they have moved to a purpose-built facility near the stadium. The school hall is dominated by six photographs of Álvarez, Fernández, Gonzalo Montiel, Exequiel Palacios, Germán Pezzella and Guido Rodríguez—players who attended the school and were in the 2022 World Cup squad.
The school is not just for footballers, but Alvarengue soon realised the role was different. Many pupils live in club accommodation, away from families, forming closer bonds with teachers. “The boys would come and give you a kiss when they came to greet you,” she says.
Different Personalities
Álvarez, from Calchín in Córdoba, needed more emotional support and would regularly hug Alvarengue. He was 12 when she started teaching him; Fernández was 11. She taught both up to age 14. They were in different school years and had very different personalities.
“You either love maths or you hate it,” Alvarengue says. “Julián was very good at maths. Enzo was a little more difficult to deal with. He was always thinking about football, what he wanted to do, who they were playing.”
Fernández liked to make sounds, banging his pencil case. “I remember entering the classroom, and on the left side was Enzo’s place, and he was with his back against the wall, his feet on the other bench,” she says. “Julián was calmer, much more respectful.”
Maturity and Discipline
Alvarengue says the best players show maturity. “It’s their teammates who notice there’s something special about them,” she says. “They would tell others that they don’t know how to play. You can see a different discipline in football players.”
That means sacrifice. Álvarez once was upset because he could not go on a camping trip due to football commitments. Athletes were banned from PE lessons, but teachers had to intervene as impromptu games broke out using scrunched-up paper. “We were terrified they would get injured,” Alvarengue says.
Balancing Education and Sport
Fitting education around sporting commitments was never easy. Pupils often are away for tours or tournaments, but teachers prepare work for them to take, and coaches support them in completing exercises. The key is persuading students that education is part of athletic development.
“Their head says: ‘I want to succeed in sport,’” Alvarengue says. “They don’t understand that education is part of being able to react quickly. We always try to orient the academic part to something they can see reflected in training. In mathematics, we often work on statistics: ‘What were your stats? How many goals did you score?’ They need to see that what we teach is useful for their sports career.”
Fernández effectively quit school at 14 but completed his studies remotely while playing for River’s first team.
What If They Hadn't Made It?
Alvarengue is reluctant to answer, but eventually agrees Álvarez could have been a lawyer or accountant. Fernández? “He really liked hitting things,” she says. “So, a drummer?”
Players are formed by a range of influences. As she watched Argentina beat France in the final, Alvarengue reflected on her small part. “I can always think that they passed through our classrooms. I hope they took something away.”
