Diego Armando Maradona was born on 30 October 1960, at the Policlínico (Polyclinic) Evita hospital in Lanūs, Buenos Aires district, to a poor family that had moved to Corrientes district; he was brought up in Villa Fiorito, a shantytown on the southern outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was the first son after four daughters. He has two tender brothers, Hugo (el Turco) and Raúl (Lalo), both of them were also professional Football Players. His father Diego Maradona "chitoro" (1927-2015), who worked at a chemicals industry, was of Guarani (indigenous) and Spanish (Basque) grade, and his mother Dalma Salvadora Franco, "Doña Tota" (1930-2011), was of Italian and Croatian grade.
Maradona's parents were both born and raised in the town of Esquina in the North East district of Corrientes on the banks of Corrientes River. In the 1950s, they depart from Esquina and settled in Buenos Aires. Maradona got his first football as a gift at the age of 3 and immediately became dedicated to the game. At the age of 8, he was spotted by a talent scout while he was playing in his local club Estrella Roja. In March 1969 he was suggested to Los Cebollitas, the Junior team of of Buenos Aires's Argentinos Juniors by his most related friends and football rival Gregorio Cornejo who had already been selected by coach Francis Gregorio Cornejo.
Maradona became exceptional player for the Cebollitas, and as a 12 years old ball boy he amused everyone by showing his extraordinary ball skills during the halftime break of Argentinos Junior's first Division match. During 1973 and 1974, Maradona led Cebollitas to two Evita tournament wins and 141 unbeaten matches in a row, playing alongside players like Andrian Domenech and Claudio Rodríguez, in what is considered as the best Youth team in history of Argentine Football. Maradona named Brazlian playmaker Rivellino and Manchester United winger George Best among his best players.
CLUB CAREER: ARGENTINOS JUNIORS
On 20 October 1976, Maradona made his first debut for Argentinos Juniors 10 days before his 16th birthday, against Talleres de Córdoba. On the pitch, he was wearing the number 16 shirt, and became the youngest player in the history of the Argentine primera Division. A few minutes into his first debut, Maradona kicked the ball through the legs of Juan Domingo Cabrera, a nutmeg that would become significant of his talent. When the game finished, Maradona stated, "that day I felt I had held the sky in my hands". Some 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 netted his first goal in the primera Division over Marplatense team San Lorenzo on 14 November 1976, some weeks after turning 16.
BOCA JUNIORS:
Maradona spent 5 years at Argentinos Juniors, from 1976 - 1981, he bagged 115 goals in 167 appearances before his US$4 million transfer to Boca Juniors. Maradona attracted many clubs attention including River Plate who promised to make him the club's best paid player. Maradona signed a contract with Boca Juniors on 20 February 1981. He made his debut some days later over Talleres de Córdoba, netting twice in the team's 4-1 win.
On 10 April, Maradona played his first Superclásico over River Plate at La Bombonera stadium. Boca trashed River Plate 3-0 with Maradona netting a goal after dribbling past Alberto Tarantini and Fillol. Regardless the mistrustful relationship between Maradona and Boca Juniors manager, Silvio Marzolini, Boca had been successful, capturing the League title after securing a point over Racing Club. That would be the only title won by Maradona in the Argentina domestic League.
BARCELONA:
"He had complete mastery of the ball, when Maradona ran with the ball or dribbled pass the defense, he seemed to have the ball tied to his boots. I recall our early training sessions with him: the rest of the team were so excited that they just stood and watched him. We all thought ourselves privileged to be witnesses of his talent". - Barcelona teammate Lobo Carrasco.
After the 1982 world cup, in June, Maradona was transferred to Barcelona for then a world record fee of £5 million ($7.6 million). In 1983, under the teachings of coach César Luis Menotti, Barcelona together with Maradona won the Copa Del Rey (Spain's annual nation cup tournament), defeating Real Madrid, and the Spanish Super Cup, defeating Athletic Bilbao. On 26 June 1983, Barcelona defeated Real Madrid at away, in one of the world's biggest club matches, EL CLÁSICO, a game where Maradona netted and became the first Barcelona player to be complimented by rival Madrid fans. Maradona dribbled past Madrid goalkeeper Agustin, as he move towards the empty goal, he stopped and Madrid defender Juan José came sliding in an attempt to block the ball from entering into the back of the net. José ended up smashing into the post, before Maradona kicked the ball into the net.
With the manner in which the goal was netted resulting an accolade from opposition fans, only Ronaldinho and Andrés Iniesta have since been granted such an acclamation as Barcelona players from Madrid fans at the Santiago Bernabéu. Due to illness and injury as well as troubles that occurred on the pitch, Maradona had a difficult tenure in Barcelona. First was illness, then a broken ankle in a La Liga match at the Camp Nou in September 1983 caused by a careless tackle by Athletic Bilbao's Andoni Goikoetxea nicknamed "the butcher of Bilbao", threatened to risk Maradona's career, but with treatment and improvement, it was possible for him to bounce back to the pitch after 3 months.
Maradona was involved in a violent and chaotic fight at the 1984 Copa Del Rey final at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium in Madrid over Athletic Bilbao. After receiving another hard tackle by Goikoetxea, as well as being insulted related to his father's native American ancestry throughout the match by Bilbao fans, and being annoyed by Bilbao's Miguel Sola at full time after Barcelona lost 1-0, Maradona snapped. He strongly got up, stood inches from Sola's face and the both of them exchanged words. This begin a chain reaction of emotional reaction from both teams. Using blasphemy, Sola mimicked a body language from the crowd towards Maradona by using a xenophobic term.then head-butted Sola, elbowed another Bilbao player in the face and kneed another player in the head, knocking him out cold. Then Maradona where surrounded by Bilbao players, Goikoetxea kick Maradona at his chest, before the rest of the Barcelona teammates joined in to help Maradona, immediately Barcelona and Bilbao players argued on the pitch with Maradona in the centre of the action, punching Bilbao players.
NAPOLI:
Maradona arrived in Naples and was presented to the world media as a Napoli on 5 July 1984, where he was welcomed by 75,000 fans at his presentation at the stadio San Paolo. According to sports writer David Goldlatt commented, "The fans were convinced that the saviour had arrived". A local Newspaper stated that despite the lack of houses, Buses, Schools, none of these matters because we have Maradona. At Napoli, Maradona reached the level of his professional career: he soon inherited the Captain's armband from Napoli veteran defender Giuseppe Bruscolotti and immediately became an enthroned star among the club's fans; in his time he helped the club archive a lot.
Led by Maradona, Napoli captured their first ever Serie A Italian Championship in 1986/87. Goldlatt wrote, "The celebrations were tempestuous. A rolling series of impromptu street parties and festivities broke out contagiously over the city in a round the clock carnival which ran for over a week. The Neapolitans held mock funerals for Millan and Juventus burning their coffins, their death notices publishing ' May 1987, the other Italy has been defeated. A new supremacy is born. Murals of Maradona were painted on the city's ancient buildings, and newborn children were name in his honour.
The next season, the club's prolific attacking trio, created by Maradona, Bruno Giordano, and Careca, was later dubbed the "Ma-Gi-Ca" (magical) front line. Napoli would claim their second league title in 1989/90, and end runners up in the league twice, in 1987/88 and 1988/89. Other honours during the Maradona time at Napoli included the Coppa Italia in 1987 as well as a second place end in the Coppa Italian in 1989, the UEFA Cup in 1989, and the Italian Super Cup in 1990.
During the 1989 UEFA Cup final over Stuttgart, Maradona netted from a penalty in a 2-1 home win in the first leg, later assisted the winning goal which was netted by Careca. While in the second leg on 17 May a 3-3 away draw, he assisted Ciro Ferrara's goal with a header. Regardless primarily playing in a creative role as an attacking midfielder, Maradona was the highest goal scorer in serie A in 1987/88 with 15 goals, and was the all-time leading goal scorer for Napoli, with 115 goals, until it was cleaned by Marek Hamsík in 2017.
When asked who was the toughest player he ever faced, A.C Milan defender Franco Baresi said it was Maradona, a view shared by his Milan teammate Paolo Maldini. Although Maradona was successful on the pitch during his era in Italy, his personal problems increased. He also faced intense harassment from some local fans after the 1990 world cup, in which Argentina beat Italy in a semi-final game at the San Paolo Stadium. In 2000, the number 10 shirt of Napoli was officially retired. On 4 December 2020, some days after Maradona's death, Napoli's home Stadium was renamed Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
INTERNATIONAL CAREER:
During his time with the Argentina national team, Maradona netted 34 goals in 91 appearances. He made his international debut at the age of 16 years, over Hungary, on 27 February 1977. Maradona was not included in the Argentina squad for the 1978 world cup on home soil by coach César Luis Menotti, who felt that he was too young at the age of 17 years. At the age of 18 years, Maradona was featured in the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship in Japan and became the star of the competition, being incredible in Argentina's 3-1 final victory against the Soviet Union, netting a total of 6 goals in 6 appearances in the competition.
1982 WORLD CUP:
Maradona played his first world cup competition in 1982 in his new country of residence, Spain. Argentina battled Belgium in the opening match of the 1982 world cup at the Camp Nou in Barcelona. Maradona did not perform as everyone expected him to perform in the match, as Argentina, the defending Champions, lost 1-0. Although the team determinately defeat both Hungary and El Salvador in Alicante to progress to the second round, there were internal forces within the team, with the younger, less experienced players at odds with the older, more experienced players.
A team that include players such as Ramón Díaz, Mario Kempes, Daniel Bertoni, Osvaldo Ardiles, Ubaldo Fillol, Daniel Passarella, and Alberto Tarantini. The Argentina side was beaten in the second round by Brazil and by eventual winner's Italy. The Italian game is renowned for Maradona being viciously man marked by Claudio Gentile, as Italy defeat Argentina at the Sarria stadium in Barcelona, 2-1.
1986 WORLD CUP:
Maradona captained the Argentine national team to victory in the 1986 world cup in Mexico, defeating West Germany in the final in Mexico City. Throughout the competition, Maradona performances was incredible and was the most dynamic player of the competition. He played full time in Argentina matches, netting 5 goals and providing 5 assists; 3 of the assists came in the opening match over South Korea at the Olimpico Universitario stadium in Mexico City.
His first goal of the competition came over Italy in the second match in Puebla. Argentina knocked out Uruguay in the first knockout round in Puebla, setting up a game over England at the Azteca stadium. After netting two goals in the 2-1 quarter-final victory over England, his legend was solidified. The majesty of his second goal and renown of his first led to the French Newspaper L'Equipe describing Maradona as "half-angle, half-devil".
This game was played with the background of Falklands war between Argentina and the United Kingdom. Replays showed that the first goal was netted by striking the ball with his hand. Maradona timidly, describing it as "a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God". It became known as the "Hand Of God". Finally, on 22 August 2005, Maradona accepted on his television show that he had hit the ball with his hand deliberately and no contact with his head was made at all, and that he immediately knew the goal was unauthorized.
This became known as an international fiasco in world cup history. "Maradona turns like a little eel and comes away from trouble, little squat man...... comes inside Butcher and leave him for dead, and puts the ball away.... and that is why Maradona is the greatest Player in the world". - Bryon Butler's BBC Radio commentary on Maradona's second goal over England. Maradona second goal, just few minutes after the hotly disputed hand-goal, was later voted by FIFA as the greatest goal in the history of the world Cup.
He got the ball in his own side of the pitch, swivelled around and with 11 touches ran more than half the length of the field, dribbling past England 5 players (Peter Beardsley, Terry Fenwick, Steve Hodge, Terry Butcher, and Peter Reid, before he past the goalkeeper Peter Shilton with a body feint, and slotted the ball into the net. This goal was voted "Goal of the Century", in a 2002 online poll conducted by FIFA.
Maradona still netted two more goals in a semi-final match over Belgium at the Azteca, including another amazing dribbling display for the second goal. In the final game, West Germany tried to contain him by double-making him but in the 84th minute of the game, he eventually found space past West German player Lothar Mathäus to give the final pass to Jorge Burruchaga for the winning goal. Argentina defeat West Germany 3-2 in the presence of 115,000 spectators at the Azteca with Maradona lifting the world Cup as the team's Captain.
During the competition, Maradona created more than half of Argentina's shots, attempted a competition-best 90 dribbles-three times more than any other player and was fouled a record of over 51 times, wining free kick twice as many free kicks as any player. Maradona netted and assisted 10 of Argentina's 14 goals (71%), including the assist for the winning goal in the final, establishing that he would be remembered as one of the greatest names in football history.
After the world cup have ended, Maradona win the Golden Ball as the best player of the competition by vote and was widely considered to have won the the world cup virtually single-handedly, something that he later stated he did not agree with. Zinedine Zidane, watching the 1986 world cup as a boy at the age of 14 years, said Maradona "was on another level. In a tribute to him, Azteca stadium authorities built a statue of him netting the "Goal of the Century" and placed it at the entrance of the stadium.
Considering Maradona's performances at the 1986 world cup in Mexico, in 2014, Roger Bennett of ESPN FC described it as "the most professional performance a world cup has ever witnessed, while Kevin Baxter of the Los Angeles Times called it "one of the greatest individual performances in competition history, with Steven Goff of the Washington Post stated his performance bad "one of the finest in competition annals.
In 2002, Russell Thomas of The Guardian described Maradona's second goal over England in the 1986 World Cup quarter-finals as "arguably the greatest individual goal ever. In a 2009 article for CBC Sports, John Molinaro described the goal as "the greatest ever scored in the competition and, maybe, in soccer". In 2018 article for Sportsnet he added: "no other player, not even Pelé in 1958 nor Paolo Rossi in 1982, had dominated a single competition the way Maradona did in Mexico". He also stated that Maradona's performance, "the brilliant Argentine artist single-handedly delivered its second World Cup".
1990 WORLD CUP:
Maradona captained his country again, in the 1990 world cup in Italy to yet another world cup final. He got a ankle injury which affected his overall performance, and he was much less control of the game than four years ago, and the team were missing three of their best players because of the injury. After losing their opening match to Cameroon at the San Siro in Milan, Argentina were almost knocked out in the group stage, only qualifying in third position from their group.
In the round of 16 game over Brazil in Turin, Claudio Caniggia netted the only goal after being well organized by Maradona. In the quarter-final, Argentina battled with Yugoslavia in Florence, the game finished, 0-0 after 120 minutes, with Argentina advancing in a penalty shootout even though Maradona's kick, a slow shot to the goalkeeper's right, was saved. Then at the semi-final, Argentina faced the host nation Italy at Maradona's club stadium in Naples, the stadio San Paolo, was also decided on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
1994 WORLD CUP:
During the 1994 world cup in the United States, Maradona played in only two game (both at the Foxboro stadium near Boston, netting one goal over Greece, before he was being sent home after failing a drug test for ephedrine doping. After netting Argentina's third goal over Greece, Maradona had one of the most astonishing world cup goal celebrations as he ran towards one of the sideline cameras shouting with a distorted face and bulging eyes, in sheer elation of his return to international Football.
This became Maradona's last international goal for his country. In the second match, a 2-1 win against Nigeria which was his last match for Argentina, he organized both of his team's goals with free kicks, the second an assist to Caniggia, in what were two very strong showings by the Argentine team. In his autobiography, Maradona argued that the test result was because his personal trainer gave him a energy drink.
His claim was that the U.S version, unlike the Argentina own, contained the chemical and that, having run out of his Argentine dosage, his trainer accidentally bought the U.S own. FIFA expelled him from U.S.A '94, and later Argentina were knocked out in the round 16 by Romania in Los Angeles, having been a weaker team without Maradona, even with great players like Caniggia, and Gabriel Batistuta on the squad. His failed drug test at the 1994 world cup flagged the end of his international career, which lasted 17 years and provided 34 goals, from 91 games, including one winner's medal and one runners up medal in the world Cup.
LATE CAREER:
After serving a 15 months ban from falling a drug test for cocaine, Maradona depart from Napoli in disgrace in 1992. Regardless interest from Real Madrid and Marsille, he signed for Sevilla, where he spent one year. In 1993, he played for Newell's Old Boys and in 1995 came back to Boca Juniors for.
ACHIEVEMENTS WITH BOCA JUNIORS:
Argentine Primera Division: 1981
ACHIEVEMENTS WITH BARCELONA:
Copa Del Rey: 1982/83
ACHIEVEMENTS WITH NAPOLI:
Serie A: 1986/87, 1989/90
Coppa Italia: 1986/87
Super Coppa Italiana: 1990
ACHIEVEMENTS WITH ARGENTINA:
FIFA World Youth Championship: 1979
FIFA World Cup: 1986
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENTS:
Argentine Primera Division top scorers: 1978 Metropolitano, 1979 Metropolitano, 1979 Nacional, 1980 Metropolitano, 1980 Nacional
FIFA World Youth Championship Golden Ball: 1979
FIFA World Youth Championship Silver Shoe: 1979
Olimpia de Oro: 1979, 1986
Guerin Sportivo World Player Of The Year: 1979, 1986, 1987
Argentine Football Writer's Footballer Of The Year: 1979, 1980, 1981, 1986
El Gráfico Footballer Of The America's: 1980, 1981
Guerin Sportivo World All-star Team: 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985
Eric Batty's World XI: 1984, 1987
Guerin d'oro (serie A Footballer Of The Year): 1985
Onze de Onze: 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989
FIFA World Cup Golden Ball: 1986
FIFA World Cup Silver Shoe: 1986
FIFA World Cup Most Assists: 1986
L'Equipe Champion Of Champions: 1986
La Gazzetta dello Sport Athlete Of The Year: 1986
Agence France-press Athlete Of The Year: 1986
Associated Press's Athlete Of The Year: 1986
Corriere dello Sport Athlete Of The Year: 1986
Onze d'Or: 1986, 1987
La Gazzetta dello Sport Footballer Of The Year: 1987, 1988
Capocannoniere (Serie A Top Scorer) 1987/88
Coppa Italia Top Scorer: 1987/88
UNICEF European Footballer Of The Season: 1989/90
FIFA World Cup Bronze Ball: 1990
El País Ideal Team Of The America's: 1993, 1995
FIFA World Cup All-Time Team: 1994
Ballon d'Or For Services To Football (France Football): 1995
World Team Of The 20th Century: 1998
World Soccer Magazine's Greatest Players Of The 20th Century: 1999
Argentine Sports Writer's Sports Man Of The Century: 1999
Marca Leyenda: 1999
Number 10 Retired By Napoli Football Team As A Recognition To His Contribution To The Club: 2000
FIFA Goal Of The Century ( for his second goal over England in 1986 FIFA World Cup quarter-final): 2002
FIFA World Cup Dream Team: 2002
Golden Foot: 2003, As Football Legend
FIFA 100 Greatest Living Players: 2004
Argentine Senate "Domingo Faustino Sarmiento" Recognition For Lifetime Achivments: 2005
Greatest Footballers In World Cup History; No. 1 By The Times, 2010
Best Athlete In History: No. 1, By Corriere dello Sport-stadio, 2012
Player Of The 20th Century, By Globe Soccer Awards: 2012
World Soccer Magazine's Greatest XI Of All Time: 2013
Italian Football Hall Of Fame: 2014
AFA Team Of All Time: 2015
Greatest Football Players Of All -Time: No. 1 By FourFourTwo Magazine, 2017
Greatest Football Players In World Cup History: No. 1, By FourFourTwo Magazine, 2018
Napoli All-Time Top Scorer (1991-2017)
L'Equipe's Top 50 South-American Footballers In History: #2
International Federation Of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) Legends
Ballon d'Or Dream Team: 2020
IFFHS All-Time Men's Dream Team: 2021
IFFHS South American Men's Team Of All Time: 2021