If you’re a soccer fan, then Diego Maradona is an absolute legend. And like a true legend, his life off the field is just as fascinating as his life on the field.
Tragically, Maradona suffered an untimely death at the age of 60 on November 25, 2020. But his legend lives on thanks to everyone who knows his story. Would you care to learn the triumphs and tragedies of this amazing player, manager, and human being?
Here is the unknown truth about Diego Maradona.
Fateful childhood
Some soccer players discover their talent when they are a little older. However, Diego Maradona was nothing short of a soccer prodigy from a very young age.
Maradona was born in Buenos Aires on October 30, 1960. He took to soccer right away, and he recalled, “I was 3 years old and I slept hugging that ball all night.”
This passion continued as he got a little older, and Maradona started playing for the Argentinos Juniors. Thanks in large part to Maradona’s talent, the team went on to win a staggering 136 games in a row.
As a player, he was on a hot streak. And he didn’t slow down as he entered into his teenage years.
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Teenage superstar
Among Maradona’s many accomplishments was that he joined the Argentine National Team at the tender age of 16. He ended up regretting joining so early, though. He couldn’t play for the team during the World Cup the following year because he was only 17.
Adding insult to injury, his team actually won the World Cup that year (1978). And despite his lifetime of amazing accomplishments, Maradona regretted missing out. He would call missing out on that World Cup that year as the “greatest tragedy” of his long career.
Rising career
While he may have regretted not playing in that World Cup, Maradona certainly made the most out of the rest of his career. In 1982, he started playing for Barcelona.
And this made him a very rich man. He received a six-year, $12 million contract on top of a $9 million transfer fee to leave the Argentinos Juniors.
He was on the team for two years before getting sold to Napoli in Italy. There, he helped transform a losing team into a winning one almost single-handedly.
In 1986, Maradona finally had his shot to compete in the World Cup, leading the Argentinian team to victory against West Germany. While this was a great victory, it was a moment in a different match that would come to define his career.
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Diego Maradona’s most famous moment
Three words are often synonymous with Diego Maradona: “hand of God.” This refers to a famous goal that he scored against England in the 1986 quarter finals match of the World Cup.
The short version of this story is that Maradona scored a goal after the ball bounced off his hand. Strictly speaking, this goal was illegal. Maradona should have gotten a yellow card. However, the referees were unable to get a clear view of what happened.
The goal was controversial at the time, and controversial again in 2005 when Maradona finally admitted to using his hand. But he didn’t exactly regret the moment.
In his 2011 autobiography, Maradona wrote, “Now I can say what I couldn’t at that moment, what I defined at that time as The Hand of God. What a hand of God, it was the hand of Diego!”
Scandal and retirement
Unfortunately, some of the successes of the 1980s had a negative impact on Maradona. He eventually developed a cocaine addiction. And he received a 15-month ban from playing after he failed a drug test in 1991.
Later, in 1994, Maradona got thrown out of the World Cup after testing positive for stimulants. These incidents greatly tainted his legacy, and he retired from playing soccer in 1997. Unfortunately, the next few years would be even worse for this legendary former player.
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Health struggles
Between drug habits as well as unhealthy eating and drinking habits, the next decade caused a lot of damage to Maradona’s body. The Associated Press reports that he was “hospitalized near death in 2000” for cocaine-related heart problems.
In 2007, he returned to the hospital for acute hepatitis related to his eating and drinking, though he had tried to control his weight in 2005 with gastric bypass surgery.
For a while, it looked like Maradona might die in disgrace. But as fate would have it, he got one last chance to return to glory with the sport that came to define his life.
Return to glory
In 2008, Maradona assumed a different kind of leadership role: he became a manager for the Argentine national team. He helped lead them to reach the quarter finals of the World Cup in 2010.
Over the next few years, he would manage Al Wasl FC in Dubai and become the mental coach for Deportivo Riestra in Buenos Aires, the head coach of Fujairah in the UAE, and the manager of Dorados in Mexico.
Arguably, Maradona never reached the heights as manager and coach that he reached as a player. But it is only fitting that such a legendary player would spend his final years ushering in the next generation of players.
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Untimely death
On November 25, 2020, Diego Maradona’s health issues finally caught up to him. He died of a heart attack while undergoing brain surgery.
At only 60 years old, Maradona died before his time. But he leaves behind a rich legacy in his country and beyond. Not only was his coffin covered with the Argentine national flag and multiple jerseys, but his wake received tens of thousands of visiting fans.
Whether you’re a passionate soccer fan or not, one thing is clear: Diego Maradona is the perfect embodiment of the sports, with all of its tragedies, triumphs, and redemptions.