Who is Diego Maradona?

Diego Armando Maradona (Date of birth 30 October 1960 - Date of death 25 November 2020) was an Argentine professional footballer, coach and manager. He is considered one of the greatest footballers of all time by many experts, football critics, former footballers, current footballers and football fans. He also received the FIFA Player of the 20th Century award together with Pelé.

He is the only player who broke the highest wage record twice in the transfer. After a record transfer to Barcelona for £ 5 million, he broke a new record with a transfer to Napoli for £ 6,9 million. During his professional football career, Maradona has played for Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, ​​Napoli, Sevilla and Newell's Old Boys. He has received numerous accolades on the Napoli team, for which he is most famous at club level. He played 91 national games for Argentina and scored 34 goals.

He played in four FIFA World Cup tournaments and at the 1986 World Cup, where he captured for Argentina, they beat West Germany 3-2 in the final and reached the cup. He received the Golden Ball award after that game. In the same tournament, England scored two goals in the quarterfinals, leading to a 2-1 victory, and both goals went down in history. He scored the first goal with his hand and was not punished, that goal was called "God's hand". His second goal was scored by passing five players while driving the ball 60 meters. This goal was chosen "The Goal of the Century" by FIFA.com in 2002.

Maradona is considered one of the sport's most controversial and newsworthy figures. He was banned from football for 1991 months after a failed cocaine test in Italy in 15. He had to watch the 1994 FIFA World Cup at home as a result of his positive ephedrine test in the USA. He lost a significant amount of weight in 2005 and overcame his cocaine addiction. He has been on the agenda with his frankness and disagreements with the press and sports executives. Despite his lack of coaching experience, he was appointed as Argentina coach in November 2008 and resigned at the 15 FIFA World Cup 2010 months later.

Diego Armando Maradona was born on 30 October 1960 from Corrientes to a poor family at the Evita Hospital in Lanús, Buenos Aires. After three daughters, they were their first son. His two brothers Hugo and Raúl (Lalo) were professional footballers just like him. Maradona is of Italian and indigenous origin.

The lineage of Diego Armando Maradona of Italian origin comes from Calabria.

When Maradona was 10 years old, she was spotted by a talent scout and started playing as an amateur at the neighborhood club, Estrella Roja. He soon moved to club Los Cebollitas and, after spending three seasons there, entered the youth club of Buenos Aires' Argentinos Juniors club. At the age of 12, he was entertaining the audience by juggling the ball with the ball between the periods.

Club career

On 20 October 1976, Maradona signed her first professional contract with Argentinos Juniors, ten days before she turned 16. After scoring 1976 goals in 1981 matches between 167 and 115, he was transferred to Boca Juniors for £ 1 million. Transferring to Boca Juniors in the half of the 1981 season, Maradona received her first league title medal in 1982.

After the 1982 FIFA World Cup, in June, Maradona transferred to Spanish club FC Barcelona for £ 5 million ($ 7.6m), claiming the title of the most expensive player. In 1983, under the coaching of César Luis Menotti, Barcelona from Maradon eliminated Real Madrid and defeated Copa del Rey and Athletic Bilbao to take Supercopa de España. However, Maradona's journey to Barcelona was short-lived. In his fight against Athletic Bilbaolu player Andoni Goikoetxea, his ankle was broken and his football career was in jeopardy. But he returned to the fields after the treatment.

Despite being injured, Maradona scored 58 goals in 38 games. However, Maradona, who had frequent conflicts with the club's president Josep Lluís Núñez, was put on the transfer list in 1984. The Italian Serie A team set a new record by transferring to Napoli for £ 6.9m ($ 10.48m).

Napoli

Maradona reached the peak of his professional career in Naples. He soon became the darling of the fans and the team experienced its most successful period. Under the leadership of Maradona, Napoli became the league champion in the seasons 1986/87 and 1989/90. He became the second in the league in 1987/88 and 1988/89 seasons. They also won Coppa Italia in 1987 (second in Coppa Italia in 1989), the UEFA Cup in 1989 and Supercoppa Italiana in 1990. Maradona was the top scorer in Serie A in the 1987/88 season.

During his time in Italy, Maradona's personal problems increased. He started using cocaine from stress and was fined $ 70.000 by the club for lost matches and tournaments.

He later retired to the number 10 shirt that Maradona wore to honor his achievements at Naples.

Last periods

Maradona, who failed cocaine and drug tests, left Naples in 15 after being banned from football for 1992 months. Despite interest from clubs Real Madrid from Spain and Olympique de Marseille from France, he chose Sevilla and played there for a year. In 1993, he transferred to Newell's Old Boys. He returned to Boca Juniors in 1995 and played there for two years. With Maradona becoming legendary for the fans of Boca Juniors, lines of Boca es mi religion, Maradona es mi dios, la Bombonera es mi iglesia (my religion Boca, my god Maradona, my temple La Bombonera) were written at the entrance of La Bombonera stadium.

Maradona also played in a friendly against Internazionale in a Tottenham Hotspur shirt before the 1986 FIFA World Cup. Tottenham won the match 2-1. He gave up the number ten jersey in Argentina for Glenn Hoddle, with whom he later played.

National team career

Diego Maradona scored 91 goals in 34 matches with the Argentine national team. He made his first national match on 27 February 1977 at the age of 16 against Hungary. At the age of 18, he played in the World Junior Championships and shined in the final match against the Soviet Union and won 3-1. On June 2, 1979, Maradona scored his first goal for the national team in a 3-1 win over Scotland at Hampden Park. In 1979 and 1986, he became the only player to achieve this by taking the Golden Ball in the FIFA Under-20 World Cup and the FIFA World Cup.

1982 FIFA World Cup

The first tournament that Maradona played on a national team basis was the 1982 World Cup. The opening match of the tournament in Barcelona was between Argentina and Belgium. Argentina, falling into the 3rd group, lost 1-0 in the match with Belgium. Argentina, which defeated Hungary and El Salvador in the other matches of the group, advanced to the second round. In group C, he matched with Brazil and the champion of that year, Italy. Italy won 2-1 in the Italy match where Claudio Gentile played aggressively against Maradona. Maradona played in all five games and scored two goals against Hungary, but was out of the game with a red card 5 minutes before the end of the match in Brazil. Argentina lost 3-1 in that game and said goodbye to the cup.

1986 FIFA World Cup

The Argentine national team, captained by Maradona, won the cup by beating West Germany in the final played in Mexico in the 1986 FIFA World Cup. During the 1986 World Cup, Maradona was said to be the most dynamic player of the tournament. Playing in all matches, Maradona scored 5 goals and made 5 assists. He made three assists against South Korea, his first rival in the tournament. He scored his first goal in the tournament in Italy in the second match of his group. He scored his next two goals against England in the quarter-finals, contributing to his team's 2-1 victory. The background of the match was still the emotions left over from the Falklands War. Maradona scored his first goal in the match, known as the "Hand of God". “A small goal from Maradona's head and God's hand,” Maradona said of this goal. On August 22, 2005, Maradona admitted on a television show that he deliberately scored the goal with his hand and the ball did not hit the head. This goal has been recognized as an international debacle in World Cup history.

Maradona scored his second goal, just four minutes later, to the golden goal with his hand. This goal was named the best goal in FIFA World Cup history by FIFA. Having received the ball in his own half of the court, Maradona scored the goal by spinning the ball around and tapping the ball 11 times, beating six English players (Peter Beardsley, Steve Hodge, Peter Reid, Terry Butcher, Terry Fenwick and goalkeeper Peter Shilton). This goal was named "The Goal of the Century" in an online poll conducted by FIFA in 2002.

He scored two more goals against Belgium in the semi-final. In the final, he contributed to his team's winning goal by giving a goal pass to Jorge Burruchaga, despite the double marking applied by the West German defenders. In the match, Argentina beat 3-2, there were 115.000 spectators at Azteca Stadium.

During the tournament, Maradona dribbled 90 times three times more than any player in Argentina. He was also fouled 53 times, earning his team twice as many free kicks than other players. Maradona scored 14 of Argentina's 10 goals during the tournament, either from him or with his own assist.

At the end of the tournament, he was chosen the best player of the tournament and received the Golden Ball award. A statue was erected at the entrance of Azteca Stadium.

1990 FIFA World Cup

Under the captain of Maradona, Argentina became a finalist in the 1990 FIFA World Cup. An ankle injury affected his performance. He was third in the Argentine group and was almost eliminated. Argentina defeated Brazil, which he faced in the last 16, with the goal scored by Claudio Caniggia in Maradona's attack.

Argentina won the match with a penalty shootout at the end of the match that ended 120-0 in 0 minutes in the quarter-final match against Yugoslavia. Maradona took a weak shot to the right in the match, missing the penalty. In the semi-finals, the match was drawn with the host Italy at the end of 1-1 and went to penalties. Maradona scored a penalty this time. Confronting West Germany in the final, Argentina was defeated 1-0, and the only goal of the match came from Andreas Brehme, who scored the controversial penalty for Rudi Völler's foul.

1994 FIFA World Cup

He played in just two matches in the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He scored a goal against Greece. After the match, Maradona, who failed her doping test, was sent home. In his autobiography, Maradona argued that the cause of doping was a strength drink called Rip Fuel that his coach gave him. His trainer said he unwittingly gave him a different chemical. Argentina was eliminated in the second round that year.

That doping test marked the end of Maradona's national football career. Playing for the national team since the age of 17, Maradona scored 91 goals in 34 games.

Coaching career

Club teams

Maradona started coaching with Argentinos Juniors teammate Carlos Fren. He coached Corrients' Mandiyú team and the team called Racing and had small success. Maradona, who started as the manager of Dubai club Al Wasl in the United Arab Emirates in May 2011, was dismissed from the team on 10 July 2012.

National team

With the resignation of Argentina national football team coach Alfio Basile in 2008, Diego Maradona took the seat.

On 29 October 2008, AFA president Julio Grondona confirmed that Maradona would become coach from December 2008. On November 19, 2008, Diego Maradona made his debut as the Argentine coach at Hampden Park in Glasgow, against Scotland, and won his first game 1-0.

After losing 6-1 against Bolivia after a three-game streak, the national team tied the most different defeat. Argentina, which ranked fifth in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers with two games remaining, was in danger of not making it to the FIFA World Cup. But they managed to make it to the finals in the last two games.

After Argentina went to the finals, FIFA received a two-month ban from all football activities until January 15, 2010, for using abusive language at the post-match press conference. Besides, CHF was fined 25.000. At home, a friendly match with the Czech Republic scheduled for home on December 15 was canceled due to penalties. Argentina lost 4-2 in the away game against Catalonia during Maradona's penalty.

Argentina reached the World Cup finals in June 2010, beating Nigeria 1-0 in its first match. Gonzalo Higuain scored a hat-trick in their 4-1 win against South Korea. Argentina, which played its last match in the group against Greece, won the match 2-0, leading the group and matched with Mexico in the second round. Argentina, which also beat Mexico 3-1, lost to Germany 4-0 in the quarterfinals and was out of the tournament. Argentina finished fifth in the tournament. After the German defeat, Maradona said about the future of Argentina's coach, "I can quit tomorrow." On July 15, 2010, the Argentine Football Association announced that it could offer a four-year contract valid until the summer of 2014 World Cup, but on July 27, AFA decided not to renew the contract. On 29 July 2010, Maradona said that AFA president Julio Grondona and national teams director Carlos Billiards had dismissed him.

Why Was Maradona Dead?

Maradona, who underwent a treatment process at his home in Tigre after brain surgery, died of a heart attack on November 25, 2020.