Diego Armando Maradona (1960 - )

Argentine soccer player, world champion in 1986, awarded three times the best South American player (1979, 1980 and 1986) and considered one of the best soccer players of all times.

Diego Armando Maradona was born on October 30, 1960 in the poor neighborhood of Villa Fiorito on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Diego grew up with soccer and was nicknamed "the golden boy". He started in Argentinos Juniors, then Boca Juniors and then went on to play for the national team. He went to Barcelona and played in Spain for some years. In 1984 he went to play for Napoli and won here two Italian championships in 1986/87 and 1989/90, a Coppa Italia (1987), an Uefa cup (1989) and a Supercoppa Italiana (1990).  At age 17 he was considered one of the best 25 Argentine players, but not mature enough to be a part of the team that brought Argentina its first world cup in 1978.

In 1979 he was the leader of the team that won the junior world championship. He had a disappointing performance in Spain '82, where he was ejected in a match against Brazil. In Mexico '86, his finest showing, he led Argentina's national team to victory against Germany (3-2) in the final. His most memorable match was against England, during which he dribbled the ball from his own quarter of the field, past 10 English players, to put it into the net. In 1990 he led Argentina to a second place World Cup finish, losing 1-0 to Germany.

Maradona's relation with drugs was first brought to public in 1991, when he was banned from Napoli for failing a drug test. Then he returned to Spain to play in Sevilla and soon to Argentina to play in Newell's Old Boys. This drug problem would come back and haunt him in the World Cup '94, where he tested positive for Ephedrine, and was banned from playing soccer by FIFA for one year. The Argentine team, which depended a lot on their leader, did not go very far in the competition. After this year and after the ban, Diego came back to Boca Juniors, where he played until 1997. In the day of his 37th birthday he definitely retired from soccer fields.

In 2000, while recovering from his addiction in Cuba, Maradona decided to write his autobiography called "Yo soy el Diego". Some year later, he took the challenge of hosting his own TV show "La Noche del Diez", featuring national and international invited celebrities.

Diego is know for being absolutely devoted to his two daughters, Dalma and Gianinna. Besides, he has a Che Guevara tatoo in his right arm. These and other peculiar aspects of the god-person inspired the biographic documentary "Maradona by Kusturica" (2008), produced by the brilliant Serb filmmaker.

Figure

692 Official Games

• Argentinos 166
• Boca Juniors 70 
• Newell's 5
• 58 in Barcelona (Spain)
• 259 in Napoli (Italy)
• 29 in Sevilla (Spain)
• 105 in the Argentinean national team.

   
353 Goals

• 116 in Argentinos
• 35 in Boca Juniors
• 38 in Barcelona
• 115 in Napoli
• 7 in Sevilla
• 8 in the Argentinean youth team 
• 34 with the main national team (8 in World Cups).

10 Titles

• Youth World Cup, 1979
• Boca Juniors, 1981
• Barcelona (Copa del Rey), 1983
• World Cup in Mexico, 1986
• Napoli, 1987
• Copa Italia, 1987
• Copa UEFA, 1989
• Napoli, 1990
• Supercopa Italiana, 1991
• Copa A. Franchi, 1993