Diego Maradona
Diego Maradona was born on 30 October 1960 in Argentina.
- He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time by many pundits. He was one of the two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the 20th Century award alongside Pele.
- Maradona’s vision, passing, ball control and dribbling skills were combined with his small stature (1.65 m or 5 ft 5 in), which gave him a low center of gravity, thereby, allowing him to maneuver better than most other football players.
- He would often dribble past multiple defender on a attacking run. A precocious talent, he was given the nickname “El Pibe de Oro” (“The Golden Boy”), a name that stuck with him throughout his career due to his dribbling pace and vision on the pitch.
- Maradona was the first player in football history to set the world record transfer fee twice. First when he transferred to Barcelona for a then world record £5 million, and second, when he transferred to Napoli for another record fee £6.9 million.
- In his international career with Argentina, he earned 91 caps and scored 34 goals. He played in four FIFA World Cups, including the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico where he captained Argentina and led them to world cup glory, and won the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player.
- In the 1986 World Cup final, he scored both goals in a 2–1 victory over England that entered football history for two different reasons. The first goal was an controversial unpenalized handling foul known as the “Hand of God”, while the second goal was a masterclass by Maradona which followed a 60m dribbling past five England players, voted “Goal of the Century”.
- He is currently the coach of Argentine Primera División club Gimnasia de La Plata.
Does the footballer Joha Crruyff name sound familiar. Know about him on next page.
