Related Articles
-Editorial
Football legend Diego Maradona has died after suffering a heart attack, according to his spokesman. The Argentinian legend, who led his country to a World Cup victory in 1986, underwent brain surgery to remove a blood clot earlier in November.
He was still involved in the game, coaching the local club, Gimnasia y Esgrima, since 2019. Maradona, who coached the Argentina national team from 2008-2010, previously survived two heart attacks in addition to undergoing gastric bypass surgery.
Diego Armando Maradona was an Argentine professional footballer and football manager. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time, and by many as the greatest ever. He was one of the two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the 20th Century award.
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 allowing him to maneuver better than most other football players; he would often dribble past multiple opposing players on a run. His presence and leadership on the field had a great effect on his team’s general performance, while he would often be singled out by the opposition. In addition to his creative abilities, he also possessed an eye for goal and was known to be a free-kick specialist. A precocious talent, Maradona was given the nickname “El Pibe de Oro” (“The Golden Boy”), a name that stuck with him throughout his career.
In his international career with Argentina, he earned 91 caps and scored 34 goals. Maradona played in four FIFA World Cups, including the 1986 World Cup in Mexico where he captained Argentina and led them to victory over West Germany in the final, and won the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player. In the 1986 World Cup quarter-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 unpenalized handling foul known as the “Hand of God”, while the second goal followed a 60 m (66 yds) dribble past five England players, voted “Goal of the Century” by FIFA.com voters in 2002.
Maradona became the coach of Argentina’s national football team in November 2008. He was in charge of the team at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa before leaving at the end of the tournament. He then coached Dubai-based club Al Wasl in the UAE Pro-League for the 2011–12 season. In 2017, Maradona became the coach of Fujairah before leaving at the end of the season. In May 2018, Maradona was announced as the new chairman of the Belarusian club Dynamo Brest. He arrived in Brest and was presented by the club to start his duties in July. From September 2018 to June 2019, Maradona was the coach of the Mexican club Dorados. He was the coach of Argentine Primera División club Gimnasia de La Plata from 2019 until his death.
