This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Robert Merkel (talk | contribs) at 01:34, 9 May 2002 (I think the consensus opinion is that Pele is the best, great though Maradona was). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 01:34, 9 May 2002 by Robert Merkel (talk | contribs) (I think the consensus opinion is that Pele is the best, great though Maradona was)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Diego Armando Maradona is a former Argentinian football player. He is generally regarded as one of the best players of all time.
He was born in Villa Fiorito, Buenos Aires, Argentina, on October 30, 1960. Maradona first played in the Argentinian Championship, for Argentinos Juniors and for Boca Juniors. Then he went to Spain, where, playing for Barcelona, he won a Copa del Rey. In 1984 he went to Naples where he won 2 Italian Championships, a Coppa Italia, a UEFA Cup and an Italian Supercup, plus obtained the 2nd place in the Italian Championship twice.
He led the Argentinian Soccer Team to victory in the World Cup in 1986 (in which he admittedly cheated in the semi-finals, in the famous "Hand of God" incident, at the same time scoring the most beautiful goal in history, according to many people's opinion), and obtained a second place in the World Cup in 1990 in Italy.
In the 1990s, his reputation was stained by a cocaine addiction that he tried to control on several occasions, and is now trying to defeat in Cuba.
In Naples, where still now he is beloved (having brought the local team to win for the first time the italian championship), he also had a scandal regarding an illegitimate son and was object of some suspects about an eventual frequentation of Camorra (local Mafia).
In this decade, he played again in Neweld`s Old Boys and Boca Juniors, without much success.
In 2002, the FIFA authorized the argentinian football association to stop using the shirt number 10, the number he used, as an homage to him.
A brother of Maradona is a soccer player too, and the young illegitimate child is now trying to start a career in soccer, even if with more spectacularity than results.