Who is Who: Diego Armando Maradona

Views on BG | April 19, 2004, Monday // 00:00

By vivadiego.com

Born on October 30, 1960 in the poor slums of Villa Fiorito in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Diego grew up with soccer. He was nicknamed "El pibe de oro" (the golden boy): he started in Argentinos Juniors, then joined Boca Juniors and led the Argentina youth team to win the world cup in 1979.

After the 1982 world cup in Spain, when he was already an idol, he joined Barcelona and played in Spain for two seasons. In 1984 he joined Napoli and won two Italian Championships in 1986/87 and 1989/90, a Coppa Italia (1987), a UEFA cup (1989) and a Supercoppa Italiana (1990).

In the mean time, he was the hero of Argentina's triumph in Mexico 1986 World Cup since he led the team to the final victory.

After failing a dope test in 1991 he was banned from the soccer fields. After the suspension, he went to Spain to play for Sevilla and then back to Argentina with Newell's Old Boys. Then, after coaching in Argentina, he came back to Boca Juniors.

In the World Cup of 1994 in the USA, Maradona was tested after the match against Nigeria and was found to have used "ephedrine", not permitted by FIFA. He was suspended from playing soccer for more than a year. Although Argentina came in with a strong team in the 1994 World Cup, everything went downhill and, without their captain, they were soon defeated.

After the suspension, he started playing again for Boca Juniors until 1997: on October 30, 1997, his 37th birthday, he retired from football.
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