Who was Diego Maradona?
Diego Maradona is a former Argentinean football player and is considered to be one of the greatest football players of all time. Diego helped his teams become champions in Argentina, Italy and Spain. He was part of the Argentinean national team that won the 1986 World Cup.
Diego Armando Maradona was born on October 30, 1960, in Lanus, Argentina to Diego Sr. and Dalma Salvadora Franco. He grew up in a low-income family and suffered financially. He was gifted a soccer ball at the age of three and he took an immediate interest in the game. When Maradona was eight, he caught the attention of a talent scout while he played in a local football club called Estrela Roja.
The scout immediately selected the young Maradona for the youth team of Buenos Aires’ Argentines’ juniors. He became the leading player on their team named last Cebollitas (The Little Onions), one of the biggest junior clubs in Argentina, at the age of ten.
Professional Context
Maradona at his first big break at the age of fourteen. In 1976, he started playing with Argentines Juniors itself, at the age of 14. And just four months later, he also joined the junior national team, becoming the youngest player to do so. He played for five years in the club. While there, he scored 115 goals in 167 games before moving to the Boca Juniors. He was signed on for $1 million in 1981.
Diego managed to uplift has family from poverty on the basis of this contract. The same year, he contributed to the success of his club when he won them the League Championship. After the League’s success, Maradona was selected for the Argentinean senior national team. Getting Cup was a career high for Maradona. However, his team didn’t do as well as a expected.
Went to Spain
Maradona transferred to Spain’s FC Barcelona after his failure at the World Cup. He signed a $5 million contract, a record-setting fee at the time. He proved quite beneficial for the team. In 1983, Maradona led the team t winning the Copa Del Rey and Spanish Super Cup. In just two years, he had scored 38 goals in 58 matches.
Maradona suffered quiet a but while he Was Barcelona. He fell it and sustained multiple injuries. It took him three months to recover fully. After his recovery, he decided to transfer to an Italian team called SSC Napoli in 1984.
Legacy of Maradona
Maradona performed incredibly well during his time in Napoli. He even grabbed the media’s attention. During 1986-87 and 1989-90 he directed the team for two seasons and won the Serie A Italian championships twice. In 1986, Maradona led the Argentinean team to victory at the FIFA World Cup.
He scored two of the most remarkable goals in World Cup history during a quarter-final against England. His second goal in the quarter finals was voted as the ‘Goal of the Century’ by FIFA.com users. He was also awarded the Golden Ball Award for being the top scorer. Apart from the World Cup. He was also on the winning team, SSC Napoli, of the Copa Italia in 1987 and the UEFA Cup in 1989.
Achievements
In 1990, Maradona once again became the Argentinean captain for the 1990 FIFA World Cup. However, they did not win the trophy this time around and could only reach the finals. In 1992, Maradona left Napoli to join the Spanish team, Seville FC, for a year. Maradona also participated in the 1994 FIFA World CUP but Ephedrine. After a prosperous seventeen-year-long career, Maradona declared his requirement in 1997.
In the years after his retirement, he suffered from a lot of health issues. He was hospitalized a couple of times due to earth problems. He also had to undergo surgery to club his obesity. Being a former football star, Maradona started training other players. In 2008, he became the head coach of the Argentinean national team till after the 2010 World Cup, where they lost a quarter-final against Germany.