Diego Maradona

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Diego Maradona
Argentina celebrando copa (cropped) .jpg
Diego Maradona after winning the 1986 World Cup
Personnel
Surname Diego Armando Maradona Franco
birthday October 30, 1960
place of birth Lanús ,  Argentina
date of death November 25, 2020
Place of death Tigre ,  Argentina
size 165 cm
position Attacking midfield
Juniors
Years station
1969-1976 Argentinos Juniors
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1976-1981 Argentinos Juniors 168 (136)
1981-1982 Boca Juniors 40 0(28)
1982-1984 FC Barcelona 36 0(22)
1984-1991 SSC Naples 188 0(81)
1992-1993 Sevilla FC 26 00(5)
1993 Newell's Old Boys 5 00(0)
1995-1997 Boca Juniors 30 00(7)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1977-1979 Argentina U20 14 00(8)
1977-1994 Argentina 91 0(34)
Stations as a trainer
Years station
1994 Deportivo Textil Mandiyú
1995 Racing Club
2008-2010 Argentina
2011–2012 Al-Wasl
2017-2018 Al-Fujairah SC
2018-2019 Dorados de Sinaloa
2019-2020 Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata
1 Only league games are given.

Diego Armando Maradona Franco (born October 30, 1960 in Lanús ; † November 25, 2020 in Tigre ) was an Argentine football player and coach .

Maradona was one of the "legends of world football" and is considered one of the best football players in history. At the beginning of his career he made a name for himself with the Argentinos Juniors at the age of 15 , before moving to the Boca Juniors and becoming Argentine champion in 1981. Then Maradona moved to Europe to FC Barcelona for a record transfer fee . There he celebrated his only important title win by winning the Cup in 1983 . Plagued by illnesses and injuries, he had to leave the club after only two years because of numerous scandals. He then rejoined the SSC Napoli for a record transfer fee . With the underdog from Campania , who almost relegated in the previous season , he celebrated the greatest successes of his club career between 1984 and 1991, including the only championship title in club history in 1987 and 1990 and winning the UEFA Cup in 1989 .

The U20 World Champion of 1979 led the Argentine national team in 1986 in Mexico as a team captain on winning the second World Cup after 1978 . The 25-year-old scored two of the most famous goals in football history in four minutes in a 2-1 win against England in the quarter-finals , when he first illegally kicked a high ball into the goal with his hand, the “ hand of God ”, and then afterwards scored the World Cup goal of the century with a dribble over about 60 meters . Overall, Maradona took part in four World Cup tournaments ( 1982 , 1986, 1990 , 1994 ) and scored 34 goals in 91 international matches.

In the 1990s, Maradona hit the headlines because of drug problems and doping, for which he was twice imposed a 15-month ban by the world football association FIFA . After his active career, Maradona worked as a coach, but repeatedly had health problems. From October 2008 to July 2010 he was national coach in his home country.

Origin and family

Diego Armando Maradona was born on October 30, 1960 in Lanús as the fifth of eight children of factory worker Diego Maradona Senior († 2015) and Dalma Salvadore Franco († 2011). After four daughters, he was the first son of his family, who lived in poor conditions in Villa Fiorito , a Villa Miseria on the southern outskirts of the capital in the greater Buenos Aires area .

Maradona married his long-time girlfriend Claudia Villafañe on November 7, 1989 in Buenos Aires. There are two daughters from this relationship: Dalma Nerea (* 1987) and Giannina Dinorah (* 1989). The marriage was divorced in 2004. His daughter Giannina was in a relationship with the Argentine soccer player Sergio Agüero .

During his time in Naples Maradona had a relationship with Cristiana Sinagra, from which the son Diego Armando jr. (* 1986), who played in the Italian national beach soccer team. In 1993 he was obliged to pay alimony by an Italian court after he refused to provide a DNA sample. It was only in August 2016 that he confessed to fatherhood. In addition, Maradona fathered a daughter (* 1996) with Valeria Sabalaín and another son (* 2013) with Verónica Ojeda. In March 2019, Maradona confessed to the paternity of three more children from the time of his spa stays in Cuba at the beginning of the 2000s.

Club career

The first steps

Maradona with the Cebollitas (1973)

From early childhood, Diego Maradona was exclusively concerned with football . When he was nine years old, he was discovered playing with his street team Estrella Roja by a talent scout from the first division club Argentinos Juniors from Buenos Aires and signed. From then on he played in the club's children's team. These Cebollitas ("onions") remained unbeaten for 136 games, the young Diego was called El Pibe de Oro ("The Golden Boy"). As a twelve-year-old ball boy, he entertained the spectators in the stadium with dribbling skills and special pieces during the halftime breaks of the senior team.

Debut with Argentinos Juniors (1976 to 1981)

On October 20, 1976 Maradona made his debut at the age of only 15 in the league game against Talleres de Córdoba as a substitute in the Argentine Primera División . In the senior team of the Argentinos Juniors, he seamlessly continued his performances in the juniors and quickly became one of the regulars. On November 14, he scored his first two first division goals. In the 1977 season he made his breakthrough with 19 goals in 49 games. In the 1978 season he was the first top scorer in the Torneo Metropolitano with 21 goals . In 1979 and 1980 he was not only the top scorer in the Metropolitano , but also in the Torneo Nacional . Already the outstanding player in the Argentine league, he achieved international fame for the first time in 1979 as the best player in the Junior World Cup. The Argentinos Juniors were first runner-up in the 1980 season with the help of his goals. As a result, Maradona was voted Argentina and South America's Footballer of the Year in both years . The local media compared him to the Brazilian Zico , who was considered the best playmaker in South America at the time.

Boca Juniors (1981 to 1982)

Maradona in the jersey of the Boca Juniors (1981)

Maradona was now courted by numerous large clubs. River Plate was ready to make him the club's top earner alongside Ubaldo Fillol . However, Maradona preferred a move to the Boca Juniors , his father's favorite club. Because Boca was financially weak, the change took place on February 20, 1981 on loan. Boca paid 4 million dollars , received a call and were six players in the squad to the Argentinos Juniors from. In his first competitive game for Boca, a 4-2 win over Talleres de Córdoba, he scored two goals. This was the beginning of a successful time in “ La Bombonera ”. In his first Superclásico in front of a home crowd, he did the preparatory work for Miguel Brindisi's opening goal with a solo run . He also scored the 3-0 final score by accepting a cross from Carlos Córdoba in the penalty area, playing around Argentine goalkeeper Ubaldo Fillol and fooling defender Alberto Tarantini, who had rushed back to the goal line , before he maneuvered the ball into goal. Despite disagreements with coach Silvio Marzolini , who did not give Maradona the preferential treatment he enjoyed at the Argentinos Juniors, and pressure from the club's Barra Brava , Boca won the Torneo Metropolitano in August 1981 . In the Torneo Nacional , the club was eliminated in the quarter-finals. At the end of the year, Maradona was named Argentina's Footballer of the Year for the third year in a row. At only 21 years of age, he was finally considered the new superstar in world football and assumed the status of “the best footballer in the world” , which had been vacant since Pelé's resignation. In the spring of 1982 he played with Boca as part of the Torneo de verano a few friendlies before he was called to the national team to prepare for the 1982 World Cup in Spain in a four-month training camp .

FC Barcelona (1982 to 1984)

Maradona in the shirt of FC Barcelona (left Mario Kempes )

After the World Cup , Maradona moved to Europe for FC Barcelona for a record transfer fee of 7.3 million US dollars . He made his debut on August 3, 1982 in a friendly against SV Meppen . In Catalonia he was first trained by Udo Lattek and was a regular player right away. By early December 1982, he played 13 of 14 league games and scored six goals. However, he then fell out for three months due to hepatitis and missed 13 league encounters. In mid-March 1983 he made his comeback. By this time Lattek, with whom he had repeatedly fought, had already been dismissed and replaced by Maradona's compatriot, the former Argentine national coach Menotti . Regardless, FC Barcelona only finished fourth at the end of the 1982/83 season . With a 2-1 win in the final against Real Madrid in early June 1983, Barça at least won the cup . At the first edition of the short-lived league cup , Barcelona prevailed against Real Madrid in two finals at the end of June . Maradona scored a goal in both games. In particular, his first leg goal at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu , in the course of which he headed for the opposing goal alone, played around the goalkeeper and then let a defender slide into the void before he put the ball in, caused a stir.

After only being able to play 20 league games the previous year due to illness, Maradona started the 1983/84 season with great ambition . On Matchday 4, however, he suffered an ankle fracture after a serious foul by Bilbao defender Andoni Goikoetxea , whereupon he had to take three and a half months off and again missed a large part of the season. With discipline and diligence in training, he fought his way back into the team in January 1984. By the end of the season, he played a total of 16 league games and scored 11 goals. As third in the table, Barcelona once again missed the championship title. In the cup, the club reached the final once again , but lost it to Athletic Bilbao of all places . Immediately after the final whistle, Maradona started a mass brawl in front of the eyes of the Spanish King Juan Carlos , for which the Spanish Football Association imposed a three-month ban on him. In the months before, Maradona had often clashed with club president Josep Lluís Núñez . B. because he enjoyed the nightlife to the fullest - in Barcelona he came into contact with cocaine for the first time - or was violent against autograph collectors. But now the pain limit was reached. The club put Maradona on the transfer list to sell him. The lost cup final was his last game for FC Barcelona.

SSC Napoli (1984 to 1991)

Maradona presentation in Naples
Maradona with Michel Platini from Juventus Turin (1986)
Graffiti in honor of Maradona in Naples (2019)

For the 1984/85 season Maradona joined the Italian first division club SSC Napoli for the record transfer fee of 24 million D-Marks . Napoli had never become Italian champions to date and only narrowly escaped relegation in the preseason . However, offers from other clubs did not materialize. In order to be able to cope with the enormous transfer fee, club president Corrado Ferlaino had taken out a syndicated loan. A journalist who asked Maradona's introduction if he knew who the Camorra was and what influence it was having in the southern Italian port city was expelled from the press room by an angry Ferlaino. Maradona was then received by around 75,000 fans in the Stadio San Paolo . The people in Naples associated with Maradona the hope of finally being able to stand up to the more successful clubs from economically stronger northern Italy such as Juventus Turin , AC Milan and Inter Milan . For them, “Diego” was more than a football player and, due to his origins, Maradona had little trouble identifying with the Neapolitans and reciprocating their affection.

Maradona needed start-up time to get used to the robust Italian style of play. At the beginning of the 1984/85 season , SSC Napoli won only one of the first nine league games. The results improved significantly over the course of the season, however, and Naples ended the season in a secure midfield. Subsequently, a new coach, Ottavio Bianchi, was hired , who granted Maradona more protection and freedom on the field, so that he could have even more influence on the attacking game. In addition, players such as Ciro Ferrara , Fernando De Napoli or Salvatore Bagni developed into important performers at his side. In the 1985/86 season Naples was third in the table and qualified for the UEFA Cup . Maradona was now walking at the height of his career. After helping Argentina win the World Cup in the summer of 1986, he led SSC Napoli in the 1986/87 season as a playmaker, most important goalscorer and preparer, captain and integrating figure to the first championship title in the club's history. On top of that, the club also won the trophy at the end of the season . Due to this not thought possible success, an unprecedented fan cult developed around Maradona in Naples. The city sank in a state of emergency. Motorcade parades, street parties and wall paintings with Maradona's likeness dominated the scene. Popular singing of the Tifosi became Ho visto Maradona! (“I saw Maradona!”), A kind of declaration of love to Maradona.

At the beginning of the 1987/88 season , Maradona turned down an offer from AC Milan and extended his contract in Naples, which originally ran until 1989, prematurely to June 1993, with his annual salary increased to 5 million US dollars. Afterwards, there were many indications of winning the championship again: Naples' storm row, consisting of Maradona, Bruno Giordano and the newly signed Careca , quickly received the nickname Ma-Gi-Ca and shot the club from victory to victory. Five game days before the end of the season, Napoli were four points ahead of the table. Afterwards, however, the club only got one of a possible ten points and thus gave up the championship. To this day there is a rumor that the series of defeats at the end of the season was related to the Camorra, which would have posted high losses with illegal sports betting if they had won the championship again. Maradona was the top scorer with 15 goals. In the 1988/89 season Naples was again second in the table and lost the cup final against Genoa , but the club beat greats like Juventus Turin or Bayern Munich in the European Cup and won the UEFA Cup for the first time against VfB Stuttgart .

Immediately after this success, Maradona asked the club president Corrado Ferlaino for approval. On the one hand, he had already celebrated the greatest possible success with Naples from a sporting point of view. On the other hand, he felt increasingly overwhelmed by life in Naples and the affection of the Neapolitans. There were also personal scandals such as the birth of an illegitimate son and connections to the Giuliano clan , who courted Maradona and increasingly supplied them with cocaine and prostitutes. Ferlaino wanted to keep Maradona at all costs and turned down all requests, including an offer from Olympique Marseille . According to his own statement, he became Maradona's jailer. Maradona responded by returning from summer vacation a month late and diving into the nightlife. He celebrated excess cocaine after every weekend game until Wednesdays before returning to team training on Thursdays to prepare his body for the next game. Maradona's drug use did not go unnoticed by those in charge of SSC Naples. The association even helped to bring about negative doping results by submitting false urine samples. As long as Maradona played, Naples' success continued. In the 1989/90 season , the club was again Italian champions with two points ahead of AC Milan.

In the summer of 1990, Maradona became the most hated person in the country due to the events at the World Cup in Italy (see section “ 1990 World Cup ”). After the tournament, he returned weak and overweight to SSC Napoli. His six goals in the 1990/91 season he scored all from a penalty. The antics away from the football field increased, the sporting success decreased. In the European Champions Cup , Naples was eliminated in the 2nd round , in the league the title defense was a long way off. In February 1991, police opened an investigation after Maradona's name was mentioned several times during a wiretapping involving drugs and prostitutes. In the course of this, he was later sentenced to 14 months suspended prison sentence for possession and the passing on of narcotics in absentia. Previously, on March 29, 1991, in a doping test given two weeks earlier after a home win against AS Bari , he was proven that he had taken cocaine. Maradona's drug addiction - an open secret in Naples - had become an official reality. On April 1, 1991, he left Naples for Argentina. On April 6, the Italian Football Association imposed a 15-month ban on him until June 30, 1992, which was then given worldwide effect by FIFA .

On April 26, 1991, Maradona and two friends were arrested for drug possession during a raid in the Caballito neighborhood . In the subsequent court process, he was obliged, among other things, to undergo an addiction treatment. At the same time, he hired a private fitness trainer to prepare him for a comeback. His contract with SSC Napoli was still valid for one year after the ban. However, Maradona had little interest in returning to Italy, as he was considered a persona non grata there and should have expected further legal proceedings. He demanded the termination of his contract, which club president Ferlaino refused, as Maradona could have looked for a new club on a free transfer. In August 1992, he finally tied his return to Naples on numerous conditions, which were largely rejected by the club. After tough negotiations, Maradona moved to Spanish first division club Sevilla on September 21, 1992 for 11.3 million Deutschmarks . After Maradona's departure, the slow decline of SSC Napoli began, which had experienced its most successful sporting era with him. His jersey number 10 is no longer awarded.

Sevilla FC (1992 to 1993)

At Sevilla FC, Maradona met Carlos Bilardo , the former Argentinian national coach with whom he had become world champion in 1986. On October 4, 1992, he celebrated his comeback in a 2-1 defeat by Athletic Bilbao on the fifth day of the Primera División 1992/93 . After a year and a half without a competitive game, he ran after his best form and was no longer the player who had dominated world football in the mid-1980s. He made up for his athletic deficits by anticipating game situations, and his standards were still deadly. On December 19, 1992, he delivered his best performance in a Seville jersey as part of a 2-0 home win against Real Madrid . In February 1993 he even returned to the national team, for which he last played in the 1990 World Cup final. The trips to the national team, however, led to disputes with the club's executive committee. In addition, Maradona's lifestyle ensured numerous escapades in Seville. When he lost form towards the end of the season and was substituted prematurely on the penultimate match day against Real Burgos , he fell out in public with the coach Bilardo. As a result, his second engagement in Spain ended after just one season.

Newell's Old Boys (1993 to 1994)

In September 1993 Maradona moved back to Argentina to the Newell's Old Boys . His stint at the club from Rosario was short-lived. He played five competitive games until December. A muscle injury and his tense relationship with coach Jorge Castelli then led him to leave the club in early 1994. On February 2, 1994, he shot an air rifle at journalists who were besieging his villa near Lomas de Zamora and was sentenced to 34 months suspended prison sentence.

Boca Juniors (1995 to 1997)

After the 15-month ban on taking banned substances at the 1994 World Cup, Maradona made a comeback in October 1995 with the Boca Juniors in the Argentine Primera División . The club only achieved a disappointing fourth place in the 1995 Apertura . Following was Mauricio Macri elected as the new club president and Carlos Bilardo committed a new coach. Maradona and Bilardo were reconciled and the Boca Juniors played for a long time in the 1996 Clausura for the championship. In the hot phase of the title race, however, Maradona missed five penalties in a row. Boca lost touch and was only fifth. At the end of the 1995/96 season Maradona left the club temporarily. In April 1997 he signed a new working paper and on July 9, 1997 he returned to the football field after eleven months towards the end of the 1997 Clausura. At the beginning of Apertura 1997, the Boca Juniors met the Argentinos Juniors on August 24th . After the game, Maradona had to go to a doping control, whereupon he was again proven to be ingesting cocaine. Maradona initially had the result contested and was allowed to continue to participate in the game. On October 25, 1997, he played his last professional game in a 2-1 away win against River Plate . When the indications grew that the challenge would be rejected, Maradona faced another 15-month ban and announced his official retirement on October 30, 1997, his 37th birthday.

National team career

Early international career

Maradona on his senior team debut (1977)
Maradona at the 1979 World Junior Championship

Just four months after his league debut, Maradona received an invitation for the national team. On February 27, 1977, at the age of 16, he made his debut for Argentina in a 5-1 victory over Hungary . However , he was not nominated for the Argentine squad for the 1978 World Cup in his home country. National coach César Luis Menotti expressed the fear that Maradona could not withstand the enormous pressure at the World Cup in his own country. Argentina became world champions for the first time in 1978. A year later, Maradona led his country's U-20 selection to the World Junior Championship . At the tournament taking place in Japan , he scored six of the twenty Argentinian goals and was voted the best player of the tournament. After the success at the U-20 World Cup, Maradona returned to the senior team of the "Albicelestes" and was soon an integral part of the regular formation. His first international goal was on June 2, 1979 in a 3-1 win over Scotland in Glasgow's Hampden Park . In 1982 Maradona took part in its first world championship.

1982 World Cup

The expectations of El Pibe de Oro were extremely high before the 1982 World Cup in Spain . Argentina entered the tournament with nine world champions (including Mario Kempes , Daniel Passarella , Osvaldo Ardiles ), and with Maradona they wanted to successfully defend the title. He played his first World Cup game in the opening game against Belgium in his new home stadium, Camp Nou, in Barcelona , which Argentina lost 1-0. The Belgians had put Maradona under severe man- marking and thus largely took him out of the game - an experience that the young star would experience more often during the tournament. In the second group game against Hungary he was again guarded twice, but he was unstoppable in this game and scored twice in the 4-1 win. In the second round he had a difficult time against the experienced Italian defenders, while he was covered by the rock-hard Claudio Gentile , who also knocked him down with a punch once. Gentile only saw yellow for it . Maradona put a free kick on the crossbar and the eventual tournament winner Italy won 2-1. Against Brazil Argentina lost clearly with 1: 3. Maradona kicked his opponent Batista in the stomach just before the end of the game and saw the red card .

World Cup 1986

Maradona scored the 1-0 in the quarter-finals against England with the " hand of God "
Diego Maradona after his second goal, the goal of the century, in the quarter-finals against England on June 22, 1986 (1986 World Cup)

The 1986 World Cup in Mexico shaped Maradona like no other player in a World Cup before or after. As the new captain of the national team, he initially led the Argentine team to victory in the group. He prepared all Argentine goals in the 3-1 opening win against South Korea and scored 1-1 in the second group game against defending champions Italy himself. In the last group game against Bulgaria (2-0), he contributed another assist. In the subsequent knockout phase, Maradona achieved top form. He scored two of his most famous goals in the quarter-finals against England . At the opening goal, he illegally pushed the ball over the English goalkeeper Peter Shilton into the net, and after the game he spoke of the " hand of God " in this context ("It was the head of Maradona and the hand of God") . Three minutes later, after a dribble across half the field, in which he played off the entire English defense, he scored 2-0. This goal was named “ World Cup Goal of the Century ” by FIFA in 2002 . Maradona scored both goals again in the 2-0 semi-final win against surprise team Belgium . The goal to 2-0, which was preceded by another dribble, landed in fourth place in the election for World Cup goal of the century. In the final against Germany , Maradona was partially covered by two players ( Lothar Matthäus and Karlheinz Förster ). He did not develop as much as in the previous tournament, but created more space for his teammates (especially Jorge Valdano and Jorge Burruchaga ). Five minutes before the end of the game, he gave the decisive through pass to Burruchaga, who completed the 3-2 winner. Argentina were world champions for the second time and owed this title largely to Maradona (5 goals and 5 assists), who was named the best player in the World Cup. He was also named Footballer of the Year in Argentina and South America for the fourth time.

World Cup 1990

Maradona's preparatory work for the winning goal in the round of 16 of the 1990 World Cup.

At the 1990 World Cup in Italy , Maradona led Argentina back into the tournament as captain. He was on pain medication because of a swollen ankle and played a far less dominant World Cup than four years earlier. The opening game against Cameroon was lost 0-1. Argentina played the two remaining group matches against the USSR (2-0) and Romania (1-1) in Maradona's “living room”, the Stadio San Paolo . Outside of Naples it was whistled in every stadium. Argentina ultimately qualified as the best third party in the group for the round of 16. There the Albiceleste met Brazil and was largely defeated. A brilliant moment from Maradona, who prepared Claudio Caniggia's winning goal in the 80th minute , was enough to advance to the quarter-finals. Argentina won against Yugoslavia after 120 goalless minutes despite a miss by Maradona on penalties. In the semifinals, host and tournament favorite Italy turned out to be a difficult task. The host city of Naples almost became a political issue with Maradona announcing in advance of the game that the city was not part of Italy and expressing the hope that the Neapolitans would keep Argentina in view of his contributions to the home club's successes in this game . Argentina won the game again on penalties, this time Maradona also scoring from the penalty spot. The final in Rome was a remake of the 1986 final against Germany. When the Argentine national anthem was loudly whistled for him immediately before the game, Maradona insulted the audience as sons of bitches. He was then successfully mated by Guido Buchwald and never got involved. Germany became world champions with a 1-0 victory.

World Cup 1994

Argentina missed direct qualification for the 1994 World Cup in the USA without Maradona by losing 5-0 to Colombia on the final day of the match. For the playoffs against Australia in October and November 1993, national coach Alfio Basile was forced to call the 33-year-old back into the squad despite a lack of match practice. In preparation for his fourth and knowingly final World Cup finals, Maradona relied on a disciplined training program developed by his longtime private fitness trainer, Fernando Signorini, and Daniel Cerrini, with whom he had first worked for his commitment to Newell's Old Boys. In the 4-0 opening win against Greece , the football world saw a Maradona motivated to the tips of his hair, who was in excellent physical condition and crowned his remarkable performance with the goal to make it 3-0. Also in the second round match against Nigeria (2-1) he formed a congenial duo with Claudio Caniggia and punished his critics who had not believed him to repeat the performance from the first game. In a urine sample given after the game, however, Maradona was found to have prohibited substances (including the appetite suppressant ephedrine ). A later investigation revealed that he had not knowingly ingested the substances; rather, they had been given to him by his private fitness trainer, Cerrini. Regardless, Maradona was banned from the tournament and received a 15-month ban for the second time in his career. Maradona's national team career was over. Maradona considered herself an innocent victim of a conspiracy. He concluded with the TV station Canal 13 an exclusive contract from to for a fee of 1.5 million dollars to remain as a World Cup commentator in the US. The World Cup had lost one of the big stars due to the scandal with Maradona. Argentina was no longer one of the tournament favorites and was eliminated in the round of 16 against Romania .

Copa America

The Copa América , the South American equivalent of the European Championship, Maradona could never win. He took part in three tournaments: in 1979 he was eliminated with Argentina in the preliminary round, in 1987 he was fourth in his own country. In 1989 he achieved the best placement with third place. In 1983 he was absent due to an injury. He missed tournament victories in 1991 and 1993 due to his first 15-month FIFA ban and another injury.

Style of play

Maradona was a classic playmaker whose strengths included dribbling in tight spaces, precise passes, his game intelligence and his creative game design. He was left-footed and often made use of his left foot when the ball was actually better suited for the right foot. Maradona had a compact physique: his strong legs and the low center of gravity due to his small size enabled him to withstand the physical attacks of his opponents while running with the ball. His ball control was so tight that the ball seemed to belong to his body while dribbling. He was a tech-savvy strategist and team player, could move effortlessly with the ball in a confined space and usually attracted a large number of opponents, whereupon he either started dribbling with rapid body deceit or gave a free-standing teammate a chance to score. In addition, Maradona was a dangerous free-kick and penalty taker.

Maradona demonstrated remarkable leadership skills. As a leader on and off the field, he was the mouthpiece of his teams and commented on a number of topics, although he did not shy away from criticizing figures of authority. His skills as a player and his overpowering personality had a positive effect on his respective team. His teammate at the 1986 World Cup, Jorge Valdano , said: “Maradona was a technical leader: he found a solution to every difficulty on the field. In the first place, he was responsible for working miracles. That gives the team a lot of self-confidence. Furthermore, the extent of his fame was so immense that he absorbed all the pressure on behalf of his teammates. As Diego's teammate, you could sleep well before a game. You knew he could do things that no one else could do. And in the subconscious it was clear to us that he would be the one who would have to take most of the responsibility in the event of defeat. That was the influence he had on the team. "

Maradona was known for his witty, charismatic personality. His nickname El Pibe de Oro ("golden boy") goes hand in hand with this: Pibe is the name for a shrewd and cunning, non-conformist loner. His controversial goal by hand at the 1986 World Cup, which he camouflaged by simultaneously moving his head like a header, is seen by some critics as the embodiment of the viveza criolla concept that prevailed in the slum area where Maradona grew up . Some publications have compared Maradona's character to that of Artful Dodger , a character from Charles Dickens ' novel Oliver Twist .

“ Pelé scored more goals, Lionel Messi won more titles. Both had more stable personal lives than the obese, formerly cocaine addict, Maradona, who tops this list and whose relationship with football grew strained the longer his career went on. But if you've seen Diego Maradona with a ball on his foot, then you understand. "

- Andrew Murray on Maradona's victory in FourFourTwo Magazine's Best Player of All Time (July 2017).

Career as a coach and football official

Maradona as national coach (2009)
Maradona as coach of Al-Wasl (2012)

Early coaching career

Maradona tried during his doping ban in 1994/95 as a coach of the Argentine first division textile Mandiyú and Racing Club , but without success. Under his direction, Mandiyú played twelve games and won one, Racing Club won two of eleven.

Argentine national coach

In October 2008, Maradona became the coach of the Argentina national team . Although he had little experience as a football coach, after a conversation with the Argentine association president Julio Grondona , he prevailed against Sergio Batista , Diego Simeone , Miguel Ángel Russo and Carlos Bianchi, among others . Maradona's predecessor Carlos Bilardo acted as team manager. After the long-endangered but ultimately successful qualification for the 2010 World Cup , he caused a scandal with statements about his critics at a press conference. He was subsequently banned for two months and had to pay a fine of 25,000 Swiss francs . In the group stage of the final round, Argentina qualified for the round of 16 without losing points and moved into the quarter-finals after beating Mexico 3-1. There Maradona's team lost 4-0 to Germany and was eliminated from the tournament. He was dismissed from the association on July 27, 2010 after negotiations to continue his work failed. Maradona had made further cooperation with his assistants a condition.

Further stations

After his engagement as national coach, Maradona moved to Al-Wasl in the UAE Arabian Gulf League in May 2011 . He signed a two-year contract until the summer of 2013. The club finished the 2011/12 season only as eighth of the table. The GCC Champions League made it to the finals, but the final was lost on penalties against Muharraq Club . As a result, Maradona was released early in July 2012 after 14 months in office.

In August 2013, Maradona joined the Argentine fifth division club Deportivo Riestra on a voluntary basis as a mental coach.

On May 7, 2017, Maradona signed a one-year contract as head coach of Al-Fujairah SC , a second division club in the United Arab Emirates. After the direct promotion was narrowly missed at the end of the season, he resigned on April 27, 2018. Less than two weeks later, the club was promoted to the UAE Arabian Gulf League via the playoffs .

In July 2018, Maradona was introduced as CEO of the Belarusian first division club Dynamo Brest . They parted ways again at the beginning of September. However, he remained honorary chairman of the association.

On September 6, 2018, Maradona became the coach of the Mexican second division club Dorados de Sinaloa . The fact that the once cocaine addict Maradona moved to the state of Sinaloa, which is known for the Sinaloa cartel involved in the drug trade , was initially received with skepticism. However, the club played a successful 2018/19 season under Maradona and qualified for the playoffs in both Apertura and Clausura . There Dorados de Sinaloa was subject to Atlético San Luis in the final after extra time. On June 13, 2019, Maradona resigned due to health problems. His time in Sinaloa was the subject of the Netflix documentary series Maradona in Mexico , released in November 2019 .

On September 5, 2019, Maradona became the coach of Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata , the bottom of the table in the Argentine Primera División at the time. The contract initially ran until the end of the season. On November 19, 2019, he resigned in solidarity with club president Gabriel Pellegrino, whose application for re-election threatened to fail due to internal disputes, despite good results up to then. Two days later, after an agreement was reached, he reversed his decision. In December 2019, Pellegrino was elected for a further three years. At the end of April 2020, the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina at the behest of the AFA . At that time, Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata was 19th out of 24 places. At the beginning of June 2020, Maradona extended his contract until the end of the 2020/21 season.

Titles, achievements and awards

Maradona with the World Cup trophy (1986)
Maradona with the World Cup trophy (1986)
Maradona celebrates the championship title with the Boca Juniors (1981)
Maradona (left) after winning the 1989 UEFA Cup

As a national player

As a club player

Boca Juniors

FC Barcelona

SSC Naples

Individual awards

* Maradona won the internet poll among soccer fans initiated by FIFA for the best soccer player of the last century; However, it was difficult for FIFA to market because of its numerous scandals, so that a FIFA-appointed jury created an equivalent to the Internet vote won by the FIFA-compliant Pelé ; thus the title "Footballer of the Century" was awarded twice.

Season statistics

society league season league Nat. Cup League Cup Int. Cup Other total
Games Gates Games Gates Games Gates Games Gates Games Gates Games Gates
Argentinos Juniors Primera División 1976 11 2 - - - - - - - - 11 2
1977 49 19th - - - - - - - - 49 19th
1978 35 26th - - - - - - - - 35 26th
1979 26th 26th - - - - - - - - 26th 26th
1980 45 43 - - - - - - - - 45 43
total 166 116 - - - - - - - - 166 116
Boca Juniors Primera División 1981 40 28 - - - - - - - - 40 28
total 40 28 - - - - - - - - 40 28
FC Barcelona Primera División 1982/83 20th 11 5 3 6th 4th 4th 5 - - 35 23
1983/84 16 11 4th 1 - - 3 3 - - 23 15th
total 36 22nd 9 4th 6th 4th 7th 8th - - 58 38
SSC Naples Series A 1984/85 30th 14th 6th 3 - - - - - - 36 17th
1985/86 29 11 2 2 - - - - - - 31 13
1986/87 29 10 10 7th - - 2 0 - - 41 17th
1987/88 28 15th 9 6th - - 2 0 - - 39 21st
1988/89 26th 9 12 7th - - 12 3 - - 50 19th
1989/90 28 16 3 2 - - 5 0 - - 36 18th
1990/91 18th 6th 3 2 - - 4th 2 1 0 26th 10
total 188 81 45 29 - - 25th 5 1 0 259 115
Sevilla FC Primera División 1992/93 26th 5 4th 2 - - - - - - 30th 7th
total 26th 5 4th 2 - - - - - - 30th 7th
Newell's Old Boys Primera División 1993/94 5 0 - - - - - - - - 5 0
total 5 0 - - - - - - - - 5 0
Boca Juniors Primera División 1995/96 24 5 - - - - - - - - 24 5
1996/97 1 0 - - - - - - 1 0 2 0
1997/98 5 2 - - - - - - - - 5 2
total 30th 7th - - - - - - - - 31 7th
Career total 491 259 58 35 6th 4th 32 13 1 0 589 311

Sources: footballdatabase.eu , national-football-teams.com

Further career

Maradona and Kirchner (2004)
Diego Maradona in December 2017
Maradona as a spectator at the 2018 World Cup in Russia
Diego Maradona in December 2019

After his breakthrough with the Argentinos Juniors , Maradona made his childhood friend Jorge Cyterszpiler his agent in 1977 . In 1979 he had the company Maradona Producciones entered in the Liechtenstein company register and concluded lucrative sponsorship deals with Puma and Coca-Cola for his clients . However, in his dual role as friend and agent, Cyterszpiler failed to get Maradona's expenses under control. When Maradona left FC Barcelona in the summer of 1984, he said he was broke. In October 1985 he fired Cyterszpiler and replaced him with Guillermo Coppola . Coppola put Maradona's finances in order but built a dubious reputation for his client's drug use. In October 1990 he gave up the post and was replaced by Mario Franchi . In January 1995, Maradona and Coppola agreed to work together again. In October 1996, Coppola was raided for cocaine possession.

In June 2005, Maradona returned to Naples to watch Ciro Ferrara's farewell game at the San Paolo stadium . At the beginning of August 2005, he began to host his own TV show on the Argentine television channel Canal 13 , La Noche del 10 ("The night of number 10"). On this show, which ran 13 episodes on Argentine television through the end of the year, Maradona spoke to celebrities and athletes from around the world, including Fidel Castro , Pelé , Roberto Durán and Mike Tyson .

Drugs, Diseases and Death

On January 4, 2000, Maradona suffered a serious heart attack during a stay in the Uruguayan seaside resort of Punta del Este , which was attributed to a cocaine overdose . His manager Coppola was arrested for false statements during a subsequent questioning by the police about the origin of the cocaine. After his recovery, Maradona underwent a six-month detox in Cuba , where he became friends with Fidel Castro .

On April 18, 2004, Maradona was admitted to a clinic in Buenos Aires with high blood pressure , shortness of breath, and pneumonia . He was allowed to leave the hospital after twelve days. However, in early May he relapsed, which required further treatment in the intensive care unit. The hospital stays were ultimately attributed to Maradona's severe cocaine addiction, which is why he was admitted to a mental hospital on the outskirts of Buenos Aires in mid-May 2004 under pressure from his relatives and a rehabilitation program began. On August 12, 2004, Maradona met President Néstor Kirchner (see photo) under strict security precautions to obtain an exit permit for a stay in an addiction clinic in Switzerland . Due to a court order, Maradona was not allowed to leave Argentina at the time. In 2005, Maradona's health improved significantly after rehab, especially after undergoing stomach surgery in Colombia to reduce his chronic obesity .

From March 28, 2007, Maradona was treated for two weeks in a clinic in Buenos Aires for heavy alcohol abuse with toxic hepatitis . In mid-April, he relapsed just days after he was released from the hospital. He then stayed until May 7, 2007 for treatment in a psychiatric clinic. On May 8th, he appeared on Argentine television and declared that he had not used hard drugs for two and a half years and that he would henceforth give up alcohol.

On November 16, 2015, Maradona underwent a second gastric bypass operation in Maracaibo hospital in Venezuela after his attending doctor diagnosed him as being 75 kg overweight.

In early November 2020, he underwent a craniotomy , which removed a blood clot from him. He was released from the hospital a few days after the operation. He died on November 25, 2020 as a result of another heart attack. The Argentine government then declared a three-day state mourning .

Political activities and positions

In 2000 he published his autobiography Yo Soy El Diego , which he dedicated to Fidel Castro and the Cuban people among others . He also had Castro and Che Guevara tattoos on his left calf and right upper arm.

In November 2005, Maradona participated in a protest rally in the context of the fourth Americas summit part and chanted against George W. Bush directed anti-American slogans.

In the 2013 presidential election in Venezuela , Maradona supported the socialist Nicolás Maduro .

The NZZ said he had a weakness for authoritarian states, after demonstrations of sympathy for Cuba and the autocrat Chavez , campaign support for Maduro and a visit to the Chechen despot Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov .

Movies

The deep impression that Maradona made during an appearance with Barcelona in Belgrade in 1982, when he scored two goals in a 4-2 away win for Barcelona in front of 120,000 spectators, led, among other things, to director Emir Kusturica's 2006 documentary about Maradona's life shot the title Maradona by Kusturica .

More movies:

  • Amando a Maradona - A film about the Maradona myth . Documentary , Spain 2005, directed by Javier M. Vazquez
  • Maradona, the golden boy . Documentary, France 2006, directed by Jean-Christophe Rosé
  • Maradona - La mano de Dios . Feature film, 2006, directed by Marco Risi
  • Diego Maradona . Documentary, 2019, director: Asif Kapadia

Curiosities

Maradona Altar in Naples
  • Maradona is worshiped like a saint by his fans, sometimes even as a god. Thus, in Rosario , the Iglesia Maradoniana (Church of Maradona) was founded. Her “believers” refer to Maradona as God, as “D10S” (Dios is the Spanish word for God, the 10 stands for the number on the back that Maradona wore for years).
  • The German national player Guido Buchwald was nicknamed Diego for the first time due to his successful stepping over directly before the cross on Jürgen Klinsmann to 1-0 in the last 16 of the 1990 World Cup against the Netherlands. After he had largely neutralized Maradona in the final, this moniker finally solidified.

Neologisms

Due to his quality as a footballer, Maradona's name was synonymous with a gifted footballer in the press for a while. The technicians Gheorghe Hagi were referred to as "Carpathian Maradona", Andrés D'Alessandro as "Mini-Maradona" and Andreas Herzog as Alpine Maradona. Furthermore, the term “new Maradona” is regularly used in the Argentine press for talented young players. So were z. B. Javier Saviola , Diego Latorre , Ariel Ortega , Marcelo Gallardo , Juan Román Riquelme , Pablo Aimar and Lionel Messi called the "new Maradonas". Lionel Messi was also celebrated as "Messidona" after particularly spectacular goals and high-class games.

Web links

Commons : Diego Maradona  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

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personal data
SURNAME Maradona, Diego
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Maradona Franco, Diego Armando (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Argentinian soccer player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH October 30, 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH Lanus
DATE OF DEATH November 25, 2020
Place of death Tigre