Maradona Diego Armando is the legendary Argentinean footballer who played in the position of an attacking midfielder, as well as an attacker. According to the results of many votes, Maradona is a football player who was able to get on the list of the best players of the last century. In addition, he has won many titles and achievements, and he is known to almost every football fan.
Childhood and youth
On Sunday morning, October 30, 1960, Maradona was born. Father's name is Diego, and mother's name is Dalma. The birthplace was the province of Buenos Aires. The Maradona family was no different from most families living in that place. Diego became their fifth child, but the first boy. Later, the mother of the football player said that the birth of the boy was easy enough. All she wanted then was a healthy son, who would later become a good person. Diego Maradona has Italian and Croatian roots.
At about ten months old, the boy took his first steps. Diego spent his childhood on the street, like most Argentinean children. Then he began to get involved in football, but it was difficult to call it a game - the guys just ran after the ball.
Diego Maradona received his first good ball as a gift from his cousin. The seven-year-old football player was so pleased that he fell asleep with him in an embrace. Soon he decided to show his friends a present and play with him, but changed his mind, and for a long time the toy lay at home. However, in the spring, both the ball and Maradona appeared on the street. The footballer learned from his father the art of the right hit, and spent a long time doing this.
Soon, Diego began to play football with older children, but they constantly beat him. For a long time the boy spent in the wasteland, honing his skills. Every day he got better and better at owning the ball. Subsequently, Maradona became the most coveted player in the yard teams. The footballer has turned into the most technical player in the area.
At school, Diego immediately got into the junior football team and became its basis. The family lived in a poor area of Buenos Aires, in a three-room house. Adults had to work hard, and especially a father who wanted to educate children and feed them. The kids also tried to help, fashioning pots from clay, and then selling them. The money received in this way was given to the mother.
"Los Ceballitos"
Diego Maradona is a football player whose biography is quite extensive and saturated. At the age of eight, he met a boy who played for the Argentinos Juniors squad. Carriso (that was the name of the boy) was also very interested in football, so they quickly became friends.
In 1969, Carriso introduced Diego to the scout of the Argentinos Juniors children's team. Diego was able to get to the club after the first viewing. Maradona, whose name already became famous in his hometown, could very quickly get into becoming a key player. At first, the coach did not pay attention to his age and believed that he was a dwarf.
“Los Ceballitos” (“Bulbs”) have become a thunderstorm for all local youth teams. The leadership was able to perfectly select the players, and Maradona became the leader. The footballer had enormous stamina and could be on the field all two halves.
Team and player progress
With every game, the club, like Diego, showed all the best results. The team was especially remembered for winning the game with the River Plate youth team. Eight goals were scored in that game (7: 1 - Lukovicek victory), five of them were scored by Maradona. The name of the football player after that meeting began to appear in the newspapers, and he also got on television thanks to the ability to mint the ball for a long time. In the same period, the player received a severe hand injury. He was stitched, but Diego convinced the coach to let him out in the next meeting, in which he scored five goals.
At twelve, Diego Maradona became a member of the Argentinos Juniors youth squad. The coach had to release him under a different name, since his age was too young to participate in competitions. After some time, the management of River Plate suggested that Diego's father conclude a permanent contract, but he refused. Soon, Maradona managed to break into the seventh team of “Argentinos Juniors”, and then got to the first.
Despite such achievements, the family of a young football player had a hard time. They had three more babies. My father worked at the mill, working in two shifts. Nevertheless, he encouraged his son's hobbies and took him to classes every day. He believed that someday a great football player would grow out of him.
The beginning of a professional career
Football player Diego Maradona spent his first match in the main team of Argentinos Juniors on October 20, 1976. At that time he was not yet sixteen. In the first meeting, he came out at the end for ten minutes, but failed to help the team defeat. For that match, the player received the first fee, but was more pleased with the support of fans and flattering reviews in the press.
The next game was unsuccessful for the team and the player, and for a while he went to the second squad. He returned to the base on November fourteenth and in the first match really showed his potential. In the following games, he appeared almost always.
Debut in the main and youth team
For the first time Diego was invited to the national team in 1977. Argentina held a friendly match with the national team of Hungary. Diego could appear at the end of the match for twenty minutes.
In April of that year, the football player made his debut in the youth team. Together with the team, he took part in the youth world championship, which took place in the same year.
In the composition of “Argentinos,” the player also showed himself in the best way. During the season, he played forty-nine matches and scored nineteen times. Then many famous world clubs began to watch the player. However, Diego chose to stay and prepare for the World Cup.
A few days before the start of the tournament, it turned out that some players were expelled, including Maradona. The footballer, whose name should have been present in the first place, was very upset. Diego tried to ask the coach for a ticket to the championship, but he was adamant. Subsequently, Maradona wrote that this was the worst defeat in his life.
Until 1981, Diego continued to play for the Argentinos Juniors. In every game, he regularly scored, but soon some disagreements with the leadership began, and the player decided to change the club. The main contender for the player was the River Plate, but Boca Juniors turned out to be more stubborn.
Boca Juniors
On February 20, the player joined the new team. The transfer cost the club three million six hundred thousand dollars. In addition, the new club was supposed to pay six hundred thousand “lift”, but he had insufficient funding. Therefore, the player from the head of the club received two apartments.
Soon, Diego made his debut for the team and began to demonstrate an amazing game. However, conflicts often occurred between the footballer and the leadership. Many believed that this was due to the hot-tempered nature of Maradona. He himself called the main reason that the coach forced him to play according to the modified scheme, which gave less freedom on the field.
The last match for the “Boca Juniors” Diego held in February 1982. In total for the team, he spent forty matches and scored twenty goals.
Barcelona
In 1982, Diego joined the Catalan club, which pledged to pay three million dollars "lift" and two hundred thousand every year. The player’s transfer cost the team eight million dollars and became at that time the most expensive in history.
We met the player in Spain very warmly. Each newspaper wrote about the arrival of a football player. Diego Maradona managed to spend fifteen games when he was diagnosed with hepatitis. Due to illness, the footballer was forced to miss three months. The player returned to the field in a match with Betis.
The start of the next season was unsuccessful for the player. In a match with “Atletico” Diego was seriously injured - an ankle fracture. The operation was carried out in one of the clinics in Barcelona, where the player was told that he could only enter the field after six months. He returned to football in January 1984 in a match with Sevilla and helped his team win.
Soon, disagreement began between the player and the management. Diego was seen visiting nightclubs, and once became the instigator of a fight on the football field. The result was that the player decided to move from Barcelona to another team.
Napoli
In the summer of 1984, Napoli started negotiations with the player and soon signed a contract with him. The transfer amount was just under eight million dollars. Fans very warmly greeted the football star in Naples. Diego was in Italy until 1991. It is here, according to many, the best years have passed in the career of Maradona. With the club, he managed to achieve many prestigious titles and gained great fame among fans.
Seville and the last years of his career
In the fall of 1992, Diego Maradona joined Seville. The transfer cost amounted to seven and a half million dollars. However, in the new club, the player did not do well. There were problems with some old injuries. The football player was forced to spend several matches at painkillers.
In the summer of 1993, Diego was forced to part with the Spanish team due to conflicts with the coach and management.
In the fall of that year, Maradona returned to Argentina and signed a contract with the Newells Old Boys. However, he stayed in it only until the winter of 1994. A new mentor came to the post of coach, who decided to terminate the contract with the football player. In February of that year, the player attacked with correspondents who were reporting at his home with an air rifle. The court sentenced him to two years probation.
“Boca Juniors” was the last club for Maradona in his career. "Hanged boots on a nail" Diego in 1997.
Despite many shortcomings and addictions, the football player is one of the best players in history. Many today are interested - how old is Maradona? In 2016, the football player turned 56 years old. Diego did a lot for all of world football, leaving his mark in the clubs not only in Argentina, but also in Europe. Of course, the younger generation did not catch the game of the great Argentine, but almost everyone knows the name.