Diego Armando Maradona (30 October 1960 – 25 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in history, he was one of the two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the Century award, alongside Pelé.
Maradona was seen as an advanced playmaker who operated in the classic number 10 position. He was known for his vision, passing, ball control, and dribbling skill, and was known as a free kick specialist. His small stature gave him a low centre of gravity and allowed him to manoeuvre better than most other players. His presence and leadership on the field had a great effect on his team's performance, and he was given the nickname El Pibe de Oro ("The Golden Boy").
Maradona played for Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla and Newell's Old Boys during his club career. He led Napoli to their first Serie A league title, and their second three years later; he was later banned from the club for taking cocaine. He was the first player to set the world record transfer fee twice: in 1982 when he transferred to Barcelona for £5 million, and in 1984 when he moved to Napoli for £6.9 million.
In his international career with Argentina, Maradona earned 91 caps and scored 34 goals. He played in four editions of the FIFA World Cup, including the 1986 World Cup, where he led Argentina to victory as captain and won the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player. In the 1986 World Cup quarter final, he scored both goals in a 2–1 victory over England. His first goal was an unpenalized handling foul known as the "Hand of God", while his second goal came after a dribble past five England players; it was voted "Goal of the Century" by FIFA.com voters in 2002.
Maradona became the manager of the Argentina national team in November 2008, and departed after the 2010 World Cup. He coached the United Arab Emirates (UAE) club Al Wasl during the 2011–12 season, and was the chairman of the Belarusian club Dynamo Brest for several months in 2018. He also coached the UAE club Fujairah (2017–2018), the Mexican club Dorados (2018–2019) and the Argentine club Gimnasia de La Plata (2019–2020). Maradona died on 25 November 2020.
Early life Maradona was born on 30 October 1960, at the Policlínico Evita Hospital in Lanús, Buenos Aires Province, to a poor Roman Catholic family. He was raised in Villa Fiorito, a shantytown on the southern outskirts of Buenos Aires. His father, also named Diego Maradona, worked at a chemicals factory. His mother, Dalma Salvadora Franco, was of Italian and Croatian descent. Maradona's parents grew up in Esquina in the north-east province of Corrientes, and moved to Buenos Aires in the 1950s. Maradona's two younger brothers, Hugo and Raúl, both became professional footballers. He also had four older sisters.
Maradona received his first football as a gift at age three and quickly became devoted to the game. At age eight, he was spotted by a talent scout while he was playing at Estrella Roja, his local club. In March 1969, Maradona was recommended to Los Cebollitas (The Little Onions), the junior team of Buenos Aires's Argentinos Juniors club, by his friend Gregorio Carrizo, who had already been recruited by coach Francis Gregorio Cornejo. Cornejo later remarked that the eight-year-old Maradona played football like an adult. Maradona became a star for the Cebollitas, and as a 12-year-old ball boy he entertained spectators with his ball skills during the halftime breaks of Argentinos Juniors' first division games. During 1973 and 1974, Maradona led the Cebollitas to two Evita Tournament victories and 141 undefeated games in a row, playing alongside Adrian Domenech and Claudio Rodríguez on what is regarded as the best youth team in the history of Argentine football. Maradona named Brazilian playmaker Rivellino and Manchester United winger George Best among his inspirations growing up."Football's Greatest – Rivelino". Pitch International LLP. 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2014
Club career
Argentinos Juniors
On 20 October 1976, Maradona made his professional debut for Argentinos Juniors, ten days before his 16th birthday. He became the youngest player in the history of the Argentine Primera División, and entered the match against Talleres de Córdoba wearing the number 16 jersey. A few minutes into the match, Maradona kicked the ball through the legs of Juan Domingo Cabrera, a nutmeg that would become symbolic of his talent. After the game, Maradona said: "That day I felt I had held the sky in my hands." Thirty years later, Cabrera recalled Maradona's debut: "I was on the right side of the field and went to press him, but he didn't give me a chance. He made the nutmeg and when I turned around, he was far away from me."
Maradona scored his first two goals as a professional against the Marplatense club San Lorenzo on 14 November 1976, two weeks after turning 16. He made 11 appearances in his debut season. During the 1977 season, he scored 19 goals in 49 matches, and began to attract the attention of other South American clubs. In the 1978 season, he scored 26 goals in 35 matches; to the surprise of many, he was not selected for the 1978 World Cup by coach César Luis Menotti. In 1979, Maradona scored 26 goals in 26 games, and finished as the top scorer in both the Metropolitan and Nacional tournaments. In 1980, he scored 43 goals in 45 appearances and was the top scorer during four consecutive tournaments. In total, Maradona spent five years at Argentinos Juniors, scoring 115 goals in 167 appearances.
Boca Juniors
Maradona completed a US$4-million transfer to the Argentine club Boca Juniors in February 1981. He had received offers from other clubs, including River Plate, which offered to make him their highest paid player. However, River ultimately dropped their bid due to their large payroll and desire to retain Daniel Passarella and Ubaldo Fillol. Maradona made his debut for Boca on 22 February against Talleres de Córdoba, scoring twice in a 4–1 win. On 10 April, he played his first Superclásico against River Plate at La Bombonera stadium. Boca defeated River 3–0 with Maradona scoring once. Despite the distrustful relationship between Maradona and Boca Juniors manager Silvio Marzolini, Boca won the 1981 league title.
Barcelona
In 1982, Maradona transferred to Barcelona for a then-world record fee of £5 million ($7.6 million). According to Barcelona player Lobo Carrasco, Maradona's teammates were so amazed by his ball control that they simply stood by and watched him dribble during an early training session. During the 1982–83 season, under coach César Luis Menotti, Barcelona won the Copa del Rey and the Copa de la Liga, defeating their longtime rivals Real Madrid in both tournaments. In the final of the Copa del Rey, Maradona assisted Víctor Muñoz's goal in a 2–1 win. In the first leg of the Copa de la Liga finals at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid, he assisted Carrasco's goal and then scored one himself as the game ended in a 2–2 draw. Maradona became the first Barcelona player to receive a standing ovation at the Bernabéu. Three days later, Barcelona won the second leg against Real Madrid 2–1, with Maradona scoring from a penalty kick. In September 1983, a tackle by Andoni Goikoetxea of Athletic Bilbao caused a fracture in Maradona's left ankle.
During the 1984 Copa del Rey Final against Athletic Bilbao in Madrid, Bilbao fans taunted Maradona with racist insults related to his father's Indigenous ancestry. After receiving another rough tackle from Goikoetxea and being confronted by Bilbao's Miguel Sola after Barcelona lost 1–0, Maradona headbutted Sola. He then elbowed a Bilbao player in the face and kneed another in the head, knocking him unconscious. Goikoetxea kicked Maradona in the chest, and a brawl ensued between the Barcelona and Bilbao squads. The brawl played out in front of King Juan Carlos of Spain and 100,000 spectators in the stadium, with more than half of Spain watching on television. Spectators began throwing objects at players, coaches and photographers, and sixty people were injured. It was the final Barcelona game for Maradona, who was known for his disputes with Barcelona executives, particularly club president Josep Lluís Núñez. Following the brawl, Maradona was transferred to the Italian club Napoli for £6.9 million ($10.48 million), another world record fee at the time. During Maradona's two seasons at Barcelona, he scored 38 goals in 58 appearances.
Napoli
On 5 July 1984, Maradona was presented as a Napoli player in front of 75,000 spectators at the Stadio San Paolo in Naples, Italy. Sports journalist David Goldblatt wrote that Napoli fans viewed Maradona as a "saviour". A local newspaper wrote that although Naples lacked a "mayor, houses, schools, buses, employment and sanitation, none of this matters because we have Maradona". Prior to Maradona's arrival, Italian football was dominated by teams from the north and centre of the country, such as AC Milan, Juventus, Inter Milan and Roma, and no team in the south of the Italian Peninsula had ever won a league title. When Maradona joined Napoli, the club was facing relegation from the top-tier Serie A league.
Maradona soon inherited the captain's armband from Napoli veteran defender Giuseppe Bruscolotti, and quickly became an adored star among the club's fans; in his time there he elevated the team to the most successful era in its history. Maradona played for Napoli at a period when north–south tensions in Italy were at a peak due to a variety of issues, notably the economic differences between the two.
Led by Maradona, Napoli won their first ever Serie A Championship in 1986–87. Goldblatt described the celebrations in Naples as "a round-the-clock carnival which ran for over a week". Murals of Maradona were painted on the city's ancient buildings, and newborn children were named after him. The same year, Napoli won the 1987 Coppa Italia final 4–0 on aggregate against Atalanta, with Maradona assisting Ciro Muro's goal in a 3–0 home victory in the first leg. In total, Maradona scored seven goals in ten matches during the competition. Shortly before the 1986 World Cup, he appeared for Tottenham Hotspur in a testimonial match for Osvaldo Ardiles against Internazionale.
The following season, the team's prolific attacking trio, formed by Maradona, Bruno Giordano, and Careca, was later dubbed the "Ma-Gi-Ca" (magical) front-line. Despite the team's failing to defend their league title, losing out to AC Milan after a collapse in the final four matches, Maradona was the Serie A top scorer in the 1987–88 season with 15 goals, and was the all-time leading goalscorer for Napoli, with 115 goals, until his record was broken by Marek Hamšík in 2017. He was also the top scorer for that season's Coppa Italia, scoring six goals, despite being eliminated in the quarter-finals by Torino, with Maradona's two goals in the second leg not enough to prevent the elimination. In the 1988–89 season, Napoli finished runner-up in the league and in the Coppa Italia, losing on aggregate to Sampdoria in the final; in the first leg, Maradona assisted Alessandro Renica's goal in a 1–0 home win, but Napoli were defeated 4–0 in the second leg. However the team avenged these runner-up finishes with the UEFA Cup title, won over two legs in the final against Stuttgart. During the second leg of the quarterfinals against rivals Juventus, Maradona scored a penalty, and Napoli eventually qualified to the next round after extra time. During the first leg of the finals, Maradona scored from a penalty in a 2–1 home victory and later assisted Careca's match-winning goal, while in the second leg on 17 May—a 3–3 away draw—he assisted Ciro Ferrara's goal with a header.