History of D10S
Biography
Diego Armando Maradona Franco, born 30 October 1960 in Buenos Aires, is an Argentine former footballer. He has served as a manager and coach at other clubs as well as for the national team of Argentina. Many experts, football critics, former players, current players and football fans regard Maradona as the greatest football player of all time. He was joint FIFA Player of the 20th Century with Pelé.At the age of 10, Maradona joined “Los Cebollitas”, the youth team of Argentinos Juniors and he started to show his prodigious ability, he led his team to an awesome 136 unbeaten streak games. At the unusual age of 15, he made his professional debut with Argentinos Juniors during a match against Talleres de Córdoba. With Argentinos he was 5 times in a row top scorer into the Argentina first division tournaments (Metropolitano and Nacional) between 1978 and 1980.In 1977 at the age of 16 he made his international debut with Argentina National Team during a match against Hungary and he scored his first international goal two years later, against Scotland at Hampden Park. In 1979, he led the Argentina Under-20 team to win the World Cup played in Japan, he got the Golden Ball as best player of the tournament.In 1981, Maradona was transferred to Boca Juniors and achieved the Metropolitano championship in his first year with the club. In 1982, Maradona was transferred to FC Barcelona and he won Spanish League Cup and Copa del Rey before left the team to be transferred to SS Napoli from Italy in 1984, In this club Maradona got his biggest success achieving several tournaments for first time into this club’s history.A playmaker who operated in the classic number 10 position, Maradona is the only player in football history to set the world record transfer fee twice, first when he transferred to Barcelona for a then world record £5m, and second, when he transferred to Napoli for another record fee £6.9m. He played for Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla and Newell's Old Boys during his club career, and is most famous for his time at Napoli where he won numerous accolades. In his international career with Argentina, he earned 91 caps and scored 34 goals.
Maradona's exceptional vision, passing, ball control, dribbling skills, speed, reflexes and thinking time was combined with his small size (he was 5'5", or 1.65m) giving him a low center of gravity which allowed him to be more maneuverable than most other football players; he would often dribble past multiple opposing players on a run. His presence on the pitch would have a great effect on his team's general performance, while he would often be singled out by the opposition. A precocious talent, Maradona was given the nickname "El Pibe de Oro" ("The Golden Boy"), a name that stuck with him throughout his career.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 yd) dribble past five England players, voted "The Goal of the Century" by FIFA.com voters in 2002.Maradona coached two clubs in Argentina, Deportivo Mandiyu and Racing Club, as well UAE club Al Wasl. In 2008, he was appointed as the head coach of the Argentina National Team until 2010 World Cup.
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 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 coach of Mexican club Dorados. He was the coach of Argentine Primera División club Gimnasia de La Plata from September 2019 until his death in November 2020.
Individual Awards
Argentine Primera División top scorers: 1978 Metropolitano, 1979 Metropolitano, 1979 Nacional, 1980 Metropolitano, 1980 Nacional
FIFA World Youth Championship Golden Ball: 1979
FIFA World Youth Championship Silver Shoe: 1979
Argentine Football Writers' Footballer of the Year: 1979, 1980, 1981, 1986 South American Footballer of the Year: (official award) 1979, 1980
Olimpia de Oro: 1979, 1986
Guerin d'Oro (Serie A Footballer of the Year): 1985
UNICEF European Footballer of the Season: 1989–90
FIFA World Cup Golden Ball: 1986
FIFA World Cup Silver Shoe: 1986
FIFA World Cup Most Assists: 1986
FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1986, 1990
Onze d'Or: 1986, 1987
L'Équipe Champion of Champions: 1986 United Press International Athlete of the Year Award: 1986
World Soccer magazine's Player of the Year: 1986
Capocannoniere (Serie A top scorer): 1987–88 Coppa Italia top scorer: 1987–88
FIFA World Cup Bronze Ball: 1990
FIFA World Cup All-Time Team: 1994 South American Team of the Year: 1995
Ballon d'Or for services to football (France Football): 1995
World Team of the 20th Century: 1998
World Soccer magazine's Greatest Players of the 20th century: (#2) 1999
Argentine Sports Writers' Sportsman of the Century: 1999
Marca Leyenda: 1999
Number 10 retired by Napoli football team as a recognition to his contribution to the club: 2000
FIFA Player of the Century: 2000
FIFA Goal of the Century (for his second goal against England in 1986 FIFA World Cup quarter-final): 2002
FIFA World Cup Dream Team: 2002
Golden Foot: 2003, as football legend
FIFA 100 Greatest Living Players: 2004
Argentine Senate "Domingo Faustino Sarmiento" recognition for lifetime achievement: 2005
Greatest Footballers in World Cup History: No. 1, by The Times, 2010
Best Athlete in History: No. 1, by Corriere dello Sport – Stadio, 2012
Globe Soccer Awards Player Career Award: 2012
World Soccer magazine's Greatest XI of All Time: 2013
Greatest Football Players of All-Time: No. 1 by FourFourTwo magazine, 2017
Greatest Football Players in World Cup History: No. 1, by FourFourTwo magazine, 2018
Napoli all-time Top Scorer (1991–2017)
Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2014
AFA Team of All Time: 2015
L'Équipe's top 50 South-American footballers in history: #2
International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) Legends
Ballon d'Or Dream Team: 2020
Team Awards
Boca Juniors
Argentine Primera División: 1981 Metropolitano
Barcelona
Copa del Rey: 1982–83
Copa de la Liga: 1983
Supercopa de España: 1983
Napoli
Serie A: 1986–87, 1989–90
Coppa Italia: 1986–87
Supercoppa Italiana: 1990
UEFA Cup: 1988–89
International
Argentina Youth
FIFA World Youth Championship: 1979
Argentina
FIFA World Cup: 1986
Artemio Franchi Trophy: 1993
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