Log In

Diego Maradona Edit Profile

also known as Diego Armando Maradona Franco, El Diego, El Pelusa, El Dios, The Golden Boy

coach manager Football player footballer sportsman

Diego Maradona, in full Diego Armando Maradona, was a former Argentine footballer and current coach of Argentine Primera División club Gimnasia de La Plata. One of the stars of the 1980s, he went down in the history of the game as a legendary player due to his ability to control the ball and create scoring opportunities for himself and others. He played an important part in the victory of the 1986 World Cup by the Argentine national team.

Background

Ethnicity: Maradona's father was of Italian and Native American origin and his mother was of Croatian origin.

Diego Maradona was born on October 30, 1960, in Lanús, Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was a son of Diego Maradona "Chitoro," a bricklayer and factory worker, and Dalma Salvadora Franco "Doña Tota." Maradona had two younger brothers, Hugo (el Turco) and Raúl (Lalo), and five sisters.

Education

Diego Maradona was raised in a poor but tight-knit family. From his childhood spent in the slums of Villa Fiorito, a small city to the south of central Buenos Aires, he dreamed of becoming a great footballer. Maradona was gifted his first ball at the age of three by his cousin, Beto Zarate. Since then, he devoted himself to the game with a passion.

By 1968, Diego Maradona was admitted to the club Estrella Roja where his incredible talent came to the attention of Francis Cornejo, coach of the Cebollitas or Little Onions, the youth team of Argentinos Juniors. Maradona applied his skills to lead the team to a 136-game winning streak. In 1972, the Cebollitas took part in a junior championship.

Career

The start of Diego Maradona's career as a professional football player can be counted from October 20, 1976 when he debuted as a member of the Argentinos Juniors team in the match against Talleres de Córdoba. Before the end of the first season, the team became Maradona's team, and the stadiums were always full. The Argentinos Juniors were winning against the best teams. Maradona's international debut in 1977, when he played in a match against Hungary, was followed by his first disappointment when he wasn't admitted to the World Cup championship by coach Cesar Menotti.

In 1982, Maradona was transferred to Barcelona for $7.7 million. With the help of the footballer, the team soon received the Spanish League title. The talent that Maradona demonstrated on the field soon became the object of much venom from other players. Hoping to take him out of play, the rivals kicked at his ankles or knees, and succeeded once in 1983 by dislocating his ankle.

The following year, Diego Maradona's contract was purchased by Naples, in the Italian League, for a record $12 million. However, the sportsman remained true to his native country at the major international football competitions, and, as the captain of the Argentine national team, led it to the victory at the 1986 World Cup contest. During the legendary final match against West Germany (present-day Germany), Maradona scored what would come to be known as the "hand of God" goal in the annals of soccer. It is regarded as the pinnacle of his career.

While Maradona's name became well known after the World Cup win for Argentina, the footballer soon proved his value to Naples as well. The team headed the Italian League twice, in 1987 and 1990, the first two titles since its foundation in 1926. In 1989, the Naples team won European Soccer Union Cup competition. A year later, Diego Maradona again represented Argentina in the World Cup competition. Though he missed penalty kicks in the semi-finals he should not have missed, the team won 3-2 over Yugoslavia (disintegrated in 1992).

The stories of drug use and illegal gambling badly impacted Maradonna's career in 1991. He was even supposed to be associated with the Neapolitan camorra, or organized-crime syndicate. The sportsman was banned from football following a March 17 test, which showed traces of cocaine. After his suspension, he first followed a drug treatment program voluntarily, but dropped it down when faced with a $35,000 fee for the service. As he gained weight and grew sloppy in his training habits, Italian sportswriters enjoyed poking fun at him.

Diego Maradona was released from his contract with Naples in 1992, and played for Seville in the Spanish League for a while. He came back to Argentina in 1993 and joined Newell's Old Boys for one year. In 1994, during his fourth World Cup competition, Diego Maradona was again tested positive for five types of a banned stimulant, ephedrine. He was immediately forced off the Argentine team. It should be noted, however, that the drug had been prescribed by his doctor for allergies and that's why some of Maradona's supporters supposed a fraud.

The 15-month suspension followed and Maradonna tried himself as a coach. After training Deportivo Mandiyu for two months, and then Racing Club de Avellaneda, the footballer stopped his unsuccessful attempts in the area by April 1995. Later, in June, he was offered a two-and-a-half year contract by the Boca Juniors.

Maradonna's comeback within the team was in October of that same year, in the match against South Korea at the Olympic Stadium in Seoul. The sportsman was easily topped by his younger team-mates. After another match of the team, with Colon de Santa Fe, Maradona was randomly chosen to undergo another drug test. Tested positive for cocaine, he was suspended for a third time.

Diego Maradona came back to the field as the member of the Boca Juniors in July 1997. During the match, he left the pitch twice because of health problems. On October of that same year, Maradona announced his retirement from the sport, stating that he was forced to do so in order to protect himself and his family from increasing fake charges in drug abuse against him.

In 2008, Diego Maradona was assigned head coach of the Argentine national team. He led the team to the quarterfinals of the 2010 World Cup where Argentina was beaten by Germany with 4:0, despite the captainship of an extremely talented Lionel Messi. That same year, Maradona's contract with the team ended.

From 2011 to 2012, Maradona coached the United Arab Emirates club Al Wasl. Six years later, in May, he signed a contract with the Belarusian club Dynamo Brest to be its new chairman. The collaboration ended the following year. Maradona worked for several other clubs before serving as a coach of a Mexican club Dorados de Sinaloa from September 2018 to June 2019. On September 5, 2019, he took the post of the coach of Argentine Primera División (First Division) club Gimnasia de La Plata and served in that capacity till his death in November a year later.

Achievements

  • During the 1980s, Diego Maradona was one of football's greatest stars. He scored a record 259 goals in 490 games at the professional level, including 34 goals in 91 matches for Argentina. He was regularly named the best living player in the world, being second only to Pelé as the sport's most remarkable talent.

    Maradonna's goal in the 1986 World Cup entered the history as one of the most controversial and memorable moments at once. Nevertheless, the win of Argentina in that competition was perceived by its citizens as another example of what they prided themselves as having a national character trait, viveza, or triumph through cunning.

    Diego Maradona was a recipient of many high awards and titles, including the Guerin d'Oro, the Footballer of the Year of Argentina (four times), the South American Footballer of the Year (twice), the Olimpia de Oro (twice), the FIFA World Cup Golden Ball, and the Player of the Century Award that he shared with Pelé in 2000, among others. That same year, he was the winner of the most FIFA Internet votes in the whole world. He was named Argentine Primera División (First Division) Top Scorer three times, in 1970, 1980, and 1981.

Religion

Diego was a devout Roman Catholic.

Politics

Diego Maradona first supported neoliberal Argentine President Carlos Menem and his economist Domingo Cavallo, and then turned his attention toward left wing policies. He got acquainted with Fidel Castro and expressed sympathy to Che Guevara as well. Maradona even tattooed Castro's portrait on his left leg and Che Guevara's on his right arm. He spoke out positively for former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez as well.

Maradona expressed his opposition to imperialism at the 2005 Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina, wearing a T-shirt with the text "STOP BUSH." Later, the sportsman stated that he hated everything related to the United States.

Views

Quotations: "I'm alive and I want to keep living."

"When you win, you don't get carried away. But if you go step by step, with confidence, you can go far."

"I am Maradona, who makes goals, who makes mistakes. I can take it all, I have shoulders big enough to fight with everybody."

"When people succeed, it is because of hard work. Luck has nothing to do with success."

"The Lord helps those who help themselves."

"To see the ball, to run after it, makes me the happiest man in the world."

"My mother thinks I am the best. And I was raised to always believe what my mother tells me."

"Things are neither clear nor clean in the world of football right now and many people recognize this reality."

"Money is not a motivating factor. I do what comes to me at that moment."

Personality

Revealed in the early 1990s, Diego Maradona's drug addiction and his love for carousing drawn media attention and began to have a negative impact on his life and career. Maradona was suspended from international play from March 17, 1991 to July 1, 1992 because of the test which had showed traces of cocaine in his blood. The sportsman didn't follow training schedule and gained 20 pounds during this time.

Maradona had troubles because of drugs and illegal gambling throughout his further life. On February 2, 1994, he fired a pellet gun at reporters who camped outside his home in Buenos Aires. He was also charged with an alleged assault on a photographer. He was being tried in absentia on Italian drug charges. That same year, he was again suspended from game after being tested positive for ephedrine, a banned stimulant. The third suspension came a year later, in Buenos Aires.

Physical Characteristics: Diego Maradona was 1.65 meters tall.

He was distinguished by his speed and slippery approach in play since his youth. He managed to miraculously avoid rival players and hold the ball for yards as he ran down the field. Once near the goal, he could easily fake out the goaltender and put the ball in the net.

Diego Maradona's cocaine addiction led to heart problems in January 2000. He underwent treatment for the next four years, including drug rehabilitation and a gastric-bypass surgery.

Quotes from others about the person

  • Rick Telander, sports columnist: "For some veteran observers, Maradona is a symbol of all that has gone wrong with the sport of soccer. He is aloof and mercenary, whereas most great former players were supposedly kind, grateful and dedicated beyond the limits of monetary reward."

    Francisco Cornejo, youth football coach who discovered Maradona when he was eight years old: "When Diego came to Argentinos Juniors for trials, I was really struck by his talent and couldn't believe he was only eight years old. In fact, we asked him for his ID card so we could check it, but he told us he didn't have it on him. We were sure he was having us on because, although he had the physique of a child, he played like an adult. When we discovered he'd been telling us the truth, we decided to devote ourselves purely to him."

    Lobo Carrasco, former football winger and manager: "He had complete mastery of the ball. When Maradona ran with the ball or dribbled through the defence, he seemed to have the ball tied to his boots. I remember our early training sessions with him: the rest of the team were so amazed that they just stood and watched him. We all thought ourselves privileged to be witnesses of his genius."

    Sepp Blatter, the eighth President of the FIFA: "Everyone has an opinion on Diego Armando Maradona, and that's been the case since his playing days. My most vivid recollection is of this incredibly gifted kid at the second FIFA U-20 World Cup in Japan in 1979. He left everyone open-mouthed every time he got on the ball."

    Fidel Castro, Cuban revolutionary and politician: "Diego is a great friend and very noble, too. There's also no question he's a wonderful athlete and has maintained a friendship with Cuba to no material gain of his own."

    Emir Kusturica, movie director: "I asked myself, 'Who is this man? Who is this footballing magician, this Sex Pistol of international football, this cocaine victim who kicked the habit, looked like Falstaff and was as weak as spaghetti?' If Andy Warhol had still been alive, he would have definitely put Maradona alongside Marilyn Monroe and Mao Tse-tung. I'm convinced that if he hadn't been a footballer, he'd've become a revolutionary."

Interests

  • Politicians

    Fidel Castro, Ernesto "Che" Guevara

  • Athletes

    Rivellino, George Best

Connections

Diego Maradona was married to his childhood sweetheart, Claudia Villafañe, from 1984 to 2004. The family produced two daughters, Dalma Nerea and Gianinna Dinorah.

Maradona had also a son Diego born after a romantic affair with Cristiana Sinagra, a woman from Naples, Italy, and a son Diego Fernando Maradona Ojeda with Veronica Ojeda. Diego Sinagra followed in his father's footsteps and became a footballer. Dalma Nerea took up a career of an actress.

Father:
Diego Maradona, Sr.

(died June 25, 2015)

Mother:
Dalma Salvadore Franco

(born 1930 – died November 19, 2011)

Brother:
Hugo Maradona
Hugo Maradona - Brother of Diego Maradona

(born May 9, 1969)

Hugo Maradona, in full Hugo Hernán Maradona, is an Argentine Association football coach and former player. He was a midfielder in clubs of South America, Europe, Japan, and Canada, and played in the Argentina U-16 national team.

Brother:
Raúl Maradona
Raúl Maradona - Brother of Diego Maradona

(born November 29, 1966)

Raúl Maradona, in full Raúl Alfredo Maradona Franco, is a former professional football player. He was a striker.

ex-wife:
Claudia Villafañe
Claudia Villafañe - ex-wife of Diego Maradona

Daughter:
Dalma Maradona
Dalma Maradona - Daughter of Diego Maradona

(born April 2, 1987)

Dalma Maradona, in full Dalma Nerea Maradona Villafañe, is an Argentine actress. She debuted in La Rabia movie by Albertina Carri in 2008. Three years later, Dalma graduated from Universidad Nacional de las Artes (National University of the Arts). That same year, she played the lead role in Orillas by Pablo César.

Daughter:
Gianinna Dinorah Maradona
Gianinna Dinorah Maradona - Daughter of Diego Maradona

(born May 16, 1989)

Gianinna Dinorah Maradona was married to Sergio Agüero, an Argentine professional footballer, from 2008 to 2012. On February 19, 2009, Gianinna Dinorah gave birth to Benjamin Aguero Maradona.

Son:
Diego Sinagra
Diego Sinagra - Son of Diego Maradona

(born September 20, 1986)

Diego Sinagra, in full Diego Armando Maradona Sinagra, is an Italian footballer and beach soccer player. He is a member of A.S.D San Giorgio in Italy.

Son:
Diego Fernando Maradona Ojeda

Friend:
Fidel Castro Ruz
Fidel Castro Ruz - Friend of Diego Maradona

(born August 13, 1926 – died November 25, 2016)

A Cuban revolutionary and politician, Fidel Castro was Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President from 1976 to 2008.