After a long election day, River has a new president. Stefano Di Carlo was elected on Saturday after winning decisively with 61.77% of the votes in an election that mobilized more than 25,000 members. At 36 years old, he became the third youngest president in the club's history, behind Leopoldo Bard and Antonio Vespucio Liberti, consolidating the continuity of the official project that for more than a decade was led by Rodolfo D’Onofrio and Jorge Brito.
His history with River, however, goes far beyond politics. The family and emotional bond with the institution runs throughout his life: he is great-grandson of Ángel Di Carlo, prosecretary during Liberti's presidency, and grandson of Osvaldo "Titi" Di Carlo, president in 1989 and an emblematic leader during the 1980s.
Stéfano literally grew up in the Monumental: he attended elementary and high school at the club's school, and accompanied his grandfather to the stadium since he was a child, even on the day his grandfather passed away in the San Martín grandstand, during a Copa Libertadores match. "At the moment he collapsed, I was by his side and caught him when he fell to the ground. It was terrible. At one point a doctor managed to revive him, but after he arrived at the clinic, he collapsed again and there was nothing more to be done," he recalled years later.
From youth activism to leadership
His first step in River Plate politics came in 2013, at the start of D’Onofrio's first term. There, he chaired the Department of Communication, Media, and Digital, and was one of the pillars in building the campaign that brought the leader to the presidency. In 2017, he again joined the official list and took office as a full member of the Board of Directors. He then became involved in the areas of Education, Systems, and Culture, and in 2018 he was appointed second vice president, after the passing of Guillermo Cascio. Since 2021 he has held the position of General Secretary, a role in which he led a deep digital transformation of the club.
One of his greatest achievements in management was the creation of the River ID system, the digital platform that allows members to buy tickets or join without in-person procedures. Under his management, the digital registry grew from 70,000 to more than 350,000 users.
