60 Fun Facts About Diego Maradona

With which player did Maradona share the FIFA Player of the Century award in 2000?

Pelé won a second award, voted by FIFA officials, journalists and coaches, after Maradona took the fans' web poll. Maradona collected his prize and walked out before Pelé went on stage.

By what nickname was Maradona known across the football world?

El Pibe de Oro means 'The Golden Boy'. As a boy he entertained crowds with ball tricks at half-time of Argentinos Juniors matches, years before his own debut.

In which shantytown on the outskirts of Buenos Aires was Maradona raised?

Villa Fiorito, where the family lived in a shack. Young Diego earned money selling scrap and the foil from cigarette packets.

What was the name of the Argentinos Juniors youth team Maradona starred for as a boy?

Los Cebollitas means 'The Little Onions'. At his trial the coach doubted Maradona was only eight and checked his ID card before taking him on.

What did Maradona's coach tell the 15-year-old to try on his 1976 debut?

A nutmeg: 'play like you know, and if you can, nutmeg someone', said coach Juan Carlos Montes. Soon after coming on, Maradona slipped the ball through his marker's legs.

In which Gulf city did Maradona coach the club Al Wasl during the 2011–12 season?

Dubai's Al Wasl gave him a two-year contract in 2011, his first job since leaving the Argentina post, but the team struggled and he was sacked after a single season.

Which Argentine club did Maradona join in 1993, whose shirt Lionel Messi revealed in a goal tribute after his death?

Newell's Old Boys is the club Messi himself played for as a boy. Four days after Maradona died he scored against Osasuna and pulled off his top to reveal its shirt underneath.

Which coach left the 17-year-old Maradona out of Argentina's squad for the 1978 World Cup on home soil?

César Luis Menotti felt he was still too young, and Argentina won that World Cup without him. A year later Menotti coached Maradona's under-20 side to the world youth title.

In which country did Maradona star at the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship, scoring six goals?

Japan hosted the tournament, and Argentina won the final 3–1 after falling behind to the Soviet Union, Maradona scoring the third. He was named its best player.

Maradona's first senior international goal came against which country, also the opponents in his first match as Argentina manager?

Scotland lost 3–1 at Hampden Park in June 1979, with the 18-year-old among the scorers. He was back at the same ground in 2008 to win his first match as manager 1–0.

Which Buenos Aires club did Maradona join in February 1981?

Boca Juniors won him over an offer from River Plate, who were ready to pay him as much as their top earner. Boca took the league title in his first season.

In 1982 Maradona joined which club for a world-record fee of £5 million?

Barcelona paid the record fee for the 21-year-old, but two seasons of injury and rows with club president Josep Lluís Núñez followed, and he left for Italy in 1984.

Which Athletic Bilbao player, dubbed 'the Butcher of Bilbao', fractured Maradona's ankle with a tackle in September 1983?

Andoni Goikoetxea later kept the boot he wore for the tackle on display at home in a case, like a monument.

How did Maradona's last game for his Spanish club, the 1984 Copa del Rey final, end?

In a mass brawl: after a 1–0 defeat to Athletic Bilbao, Maradona floored one opponent and kicked out at others in front of King Juan Carlos. He never played for the club again.

Which Maradona event drew over 50,000 Napoli fans in July 1984?

His unveiling was all it was: he walked out, saluted the crowd and showed a few touches of the ball, with no match played. Three years later he led the club to its first league title.

Maradona's Napoli won their first Serie A title in 1987 by dethroning which defending champions?

Juventus, champions the year before, finished runners-up as Napoli became the first club from the southern mainland to win the league, breaking the northern giants' hold on the title.

Which Napoli understudy to Maradona said he learned free kicks by spying on him in training?

Gianfranco Zola joined Napoli in 1989, and Maradona greeted him by joking that the club had finally bought someone shorter than him. The two stayed behind after training to practise set pieces.

Which German club did Maradona's Napoli beat over two legs to win the 1989 UEFA Cup?

Stuttgart led the first leg until Maradona levelled with a penalty and set up Careca's late winner. A 3–3 draw in Germany then sealed Napoli's first European trophy.

Which other trophy did Maradona's Napoli win in 1987?

The Coppa Italia: Napoli beat Atalanta 4–0 over two legs for a league and cup double. Their reward, a first European Cup tie, ended at once against Real Madrid.

Who broke Maradona's record of 115 goals for Napoli in 2017?

Marek Hamšík tied the mark against Torino and passed it a week later with the winner against Sampdoria; the record had stood since 1991. Dries Mertens overtook him in 2020.

After his 15-month cocaine ban ended in 1992, Maradona left Napoli for which Spanish club?

Sevilla signed him at the urging of their coach Carlos Bilardo, who had managed Argentina's 1986 World Cup winners, and got a single season out of him before he went home to Argentina.

Maradona's last Argentina goal, in 1994, came against which country?

Greece lost 4–0 near Boston. Four days later Maradona won his 91st and last cap, and was then sent home from the World Cup after failing a drug test.

In which country was the 1986 World Cup, which Maradona won as captain, held?

Mexico stepped in as host after Colombia pulled out for lack of money. Maradona played every minute of Argentina's seven games there and scored five goals.

Against which team did Maradona score the 'Hand of God' goal in the 1986 quarter-final?

England lost 2–1, four years after the Falklands War, and Maradona wrote in his autobiography that the win was revenge for the Argentine boys killed there.

Maradona said his 1986 handball goal was scored 'a little with the hand of God' and a little with what?

His head: 'a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God', he said that day. The referee had taken it for a header, and Maradona later admitted the hand was his own.

Which goalkeeper did Maradona round to score the 1986 'Goal of the Century'?

Peter Shilton was left sitting by a final feint after Maradona had dribbled from inside his own half. Minutes earlier the same goalkeeper had lost a high ball to Maradona's hand.

About how many times was Maradona fouled across his seven games at the 1986 World Cup?

53 fouls, more than seven a game. He still played every minute and scored or set up ten of Argentina's 14 goals.

Whose winning goal in the 1986 final against West Germany did Maradona set up in the 84th minute?

Jorge Burruchaga ran onto Maradona's pass three minutes after West Germany had come from 2–0 down to level, and his goal made it 3–2.

Which French newspaper described Maradona as 'half-angel, half-devil'?

L'Équipe's phrase is tied to his 1986 quarter-final: a handball goal the referee missed, then, minutes later, a solo run voted the World Cup's goal of the century.

Which Italian defender famously man-marked Maradona in Argentina's 2–1 defeat at the 1982 World Cup?

Claudio Gentile kicked and shadowed him all game, then shrugged that football 'is not for ballerinas'. Italy went on to win the tournament.

How was the 1990 World Cup semi-final between Maradona's Argentina and hosts Italy decided?

By a penalty shoot-out, 4–3 after a 1–1 draw, with Maradona scoring his kick. The game was played in Naples, on his own club's ground, and it put the hosts out.

Whose penalty gave West Germany a 1–0 win over Maradona's Argentina in the 1990 World Cup final?

Andreas Brehme converted a disputed penalty six minutes from time, given for a tackle on Rudi Völler. Maradona wept at the final whistle and blamed the referee.

Cocaine brought Maradona's 1991 ban; which substance got him expelled from the 1994 World Cup?

Ephedrine and four related stimulants were found in his sample. He was sent home after two games, banned for 15 months and never played for Argentina again.

Against which team did Maradona play his last game for Argentina, a 2–1 win at the 1994 World Cup?

Nigeria were beaten 2–1 in Boston, four days after Maradona had scored in the opening win. He was then expelled for a failed drug test and never played for his country again.

Maradona's first coaching jobs, with Carlos Fren, were at Mandiyú in 1994 and which side, nicknamed 'La Academia', in 1995?

Racing Club hired the pair in 1995. Maradona had turned to coaching at Mandiyú months earlier because his ban covered playing only, and he ran his first match from the stands.

Whose 2008 resignation as Argentina coach let Maradona take the job?

Alfio Basile stepped down, Maradona put himself forward at once and the federation gave him the job. He won his first three matches in charge.

Which country beat Maradona's Argentina 6-1 in 2010 World Cup qualifying?

Bolivia won 6–1 in La Paz, and Argentina only qualified by winning their last two games. Maradona then told reporters to 'suck it' and FIFA banned him for two months.

Maradona's Argentina lost 4–0 to Germany at which 2010 World Cup stage?

The quarter-finals, where Germany won 4–0. Within weeks the Argentine federation's board voted not to renew Maradona's contract.

Which Mexican second-division club did Maradona manage from 2018 to 2019?

Dorados de Sinaloa reached two promotion finals in a row under him and lost both. His season in Culiacán was filmed for a Netflix documentary series.

Which Argentine club was Maradona managing when he died in November 2020?

Gimnasia de La Plata hired him in September 2019 and he was still their coach when he died. He last appeared on the touchline for their match on his 60th birthday.

Which boxer wore the Argentina jersey Maradona gave him on his talk show when he later arrived in Brazil?

Mike Tyson was the show's final guest in November 2005. Days later he walked into a São Paulo courthouse wearing the signed Argentina shirt.

Which operation did Maradona undergo in Cartagena, Colombia?

A gastric bypass, to reverse the obesity that followed his playing days. When he returned to public life a few months later he was strikingly thinner.

Which Argentine striker had a son, Benjamín, with Maradona's daughter Gianinna?

Sergio Agüero and Gianinna's son Benjamín was born in Madrid in 2009, and Maradona was in the city for the arrival of his first grandson. The couple later separated.

What did Italian police seize from Maradona in 2009 against a €37 million tax bill?

His earrings were taken during a health cure in northern Italy, three years after police had seized two luxury watches from him. The unpaid taxes dated from his playing days at Napoli.

Three weeks before his death, Maradona had emergency surgery for what condition?

A subdural haematoma, a blood clot on the brain, was found after he went into hospital with anaemia and depression days after turning 60. He died at home of cardiac arrest three weeks after the operation.

Where did Maradona's coffin lie in state after his death?

The Casa Rosada, the presidential palace, opened its doors for a public wake. The family cut it short after fans spilled into a courtyard and clashed with police.

Who went on trial in 2025 over Maradona's death?

His medical team, including his personal doctor and a psychiatrist, was accused of homicide. A medical board called the care he got at home after an operation 'deficient and reckless'.

Napoli's stadium was renamed after Maradona nine days after his death; which saint's name did it lose?

Saint Paul gave the Stadio San Paolo its name from 1963. After Maradona died, the mayor and the club's owner both called for the change and the city council passed it unanimously.

Which item from Maradona's 1986 'Hand of God' match sold for £7.1 million in 2022?

His jersey had belonged for 35 years to the opposing midfielder who swapped tops with him after the game. It spent much of that time on display in a football museum.

Who directed the 2019 documentary Diego Maradona, built largely from previously unseen archive footage?

Asif Kapadia called it the third part of a trilogy about child geniuses and fame, after Senna and Amy. Emir Kusturica had released his own Maradona film in 2008.

What did fans in Rosario start on Maradona's 38th birthday?

A church devoted to him: the Iglesia Maradoniana counts its years from his birth and writes his name D10S, fusing 'Dios', God, with his number 10.

What was the title of Maradona's bestselling 2000 autobiography?

Yo Soy El Diego, 'I am the Diego', came out in September 2000. In it he went back over his career and confessed how his drug addiction had begun.

Which British star did Maradona say had inspired him as a youngster, adding that they were 'very similar players'?

George Best 'inspired me when I was young', Maradona said when Best died in 2005, calling them both dribblers who could create moments of magic. He also named the playmaker Rivellino as a boyhood model.

In which Buenos Aires-province town was Maradona born, at the Policlínico Evita Hospital, in 1960?

Lanús was only where the hospital stood: the family lived in a shantytown elsewhere on the edge of Buenos Aires. Diego was his parents' first son after a run of daughters.

Which British rock band posed with Maradona backstage at a Buenos Aires concert in 1981, its singer in an Argentina shirt?

Queen met him before the last of their Buenos Aires shows. Freddie Mercury pulled on an Argentina shirt for the photo, and the 20-year-old Maradona wore a British one.

Maradona captained which club against Germany in Lothar Matthäus's farewell match in 2000?

Bayern Munich. Matthäus had man-marked Maradona in the 1986 World Cup final; fourteen years on, the old rival came to Munich to lead Matthäus's former club out.

How did Maradona score twice in his 2001 farewell match?

From the penalty spot. After the 6–3 win he told the crowd that he had made mistakes and paid for them, 'but the ball is not stained'.

In 1993 Maradona's Argentina beat which reigning European champions for the Artemio Franchi Cup?

Denmark. The Danes had won Euro 1992 after being called up as late replacements for banned Yugoslavia; in Mar del Plata they drew 1–1 with Argentina and lost 5–4 on penalties.

In a 2006 soft-drink advert, Maradona woke from a nightmare in which he played for which team?

Brazil. In the Guaraná Antarctica advert he sings the Brazilian anthem in the yellow shirt, then wakes blaming too much guaraná.

Whose portrait did Maradona have tattooed on his leg?

Fidel Castro. After an overdose nearly killed Maradona in 2000 he spent years in addiction treatment in Cuba and grew close to its leader, later showing him the tattoo on his own television chat show.