Diego Maradona

Argentinos Juniors

On 20 October 1976, Maradona made his professional debut for Argentinos Juniors, ten days before his 16th birthday. He became the youngest player in the history of the Argentine Primera División, and entered the match against Talleres de Córdoba wearing the number 16 jersey. A few minutes into the match, Maradona kicked the ball through the legs of Juan Domingo Cabrera, a nutmeg that would become symbolic of his talent. After the game, Maradona said: "That day I felt I had held the sky in my hands." Thirty years later, Cabrera recalled Maradona's debut: "I was on the right side of the field and went to press him, but he didn't give me a chance. He made the nutmeg and when I turned around, he was far away from me." Maradona scored his first two goals as a professional against the Marplatense club San Lorenzo on 14 November 1976, two weeks after turning 16. He made 11 appearances in his debut season. During the 1977 season, he scored 19 goals in 49 matches, and began to attract the attention of other South American clubs. In the 1978 season, he scored 26 goals in 35 matches; to the surprise of many, he was not selected for the 1978 World Cup by coach César Luis Menotti. In 1979, Maradona scored 26 goals in 26 games, and finished as the top scorer in both the Metropolitan and Nacional tournaments. In 1980, he scored 43 goals in 45 appearances and was the top scorer during four consecutive tournaments. In total, Maradona spent five years at Argentinos…

Debut at age 16

Maradona made his full international debut at age 16, against Hungary, on 27 February 1977, only four months after his professional debut for Argentinos Juniors. He was left off the Argentine squad for the 1978 World Cup on home soil by coach César Luis Menotti who felt he was too young at age 17. On 3 November 1978, just a few days after turning 18, Maradona played for the U20 Argentina team in a friendly match against Franz Beckenbauer's New York Cosmos, scoring twice in a 2–1 win.

1979 World Youth Championship and Copa América

At age 18, Maradona played the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship in Japan and emerged as the star of the tournament, shining in Argentina's 3–1 final win over the Soviet Union, scoring a total of six goals in six appearances in the tournament. On 2 June 1979, Maradona scored his first senior international goal in a 3–1 win against Scotland at Hampden Park. He went on to play for Argentina in two 1979 Copa América ties during August 1979, a 2–1 loss against Brazil and a 3–0 win over Bolivia in which he scored his side's third goal. Speaking thirty years later on the impact of Maradona's performances in 1979, FIFA President Sepp Blatter stated, "Everyone has an opinion on Diego Armando Maradona, and that's been the case since his playing days. My most vivid recollection is of this incredibly gifted kid at the second FIFA U-20 World Cup in Japan in 1979. He left everyone open-mouthed every time he got on the ball."…

Club management

Maradona began his managerial career alongside his former Argentinos Juniors teammate Carlos Fren. The pair led the Argentina club Mandiyú of Corrientes in 1994, and Racing Club in 1995. In 2011, Maradona became the manager of the Dubai club Al Wasl FC in the United Arab Emirates, and was fired the following year. In 2013, he became a "spiritual coach" at the Argentine club Deportivo Riestra. He left Deportiva in 2017 to become the head coach of the UAE second division club Fujairah, but departed at the end of the season after failing to secure automatic promotion. In May 2018, Maradona was announced as the new chairman of Belarusian club Dynamo Brest. In September 2018, he was appointed manager of the Mexican second division club Dorados. In June 2019, after Dorados failed to secure promotion to the Mexican top tier, Maradona's lawyer announced that he would be stepping down from the role, citing health reasons. On 5 September 2019, Maradona was unveiled as the new head coach of Gimnasia de La Plata, signing a contract until the end of the season. After two months in charge he left the club on 19 November. However, two days later, Maradona rejoined the club as manager saying that "we finally achieved political unity in the club". Maradona insisted that Gabriel Pellegrino remain club president if he were to stay with Gimnasia de La Plata. However it was still not clear if Pellegrino, who declined to run for re-election, would stay on as club…

Maradona was born on 30 October 1960, at the Policlínico Evita Hospital in Lanús, Buenos Aires Province, to a poor Roman Catholic family. He was raised in Villa Fiorito, a shantytown on the southern outskirts of Buenos Aires. His father, also named Diego Maradona, worked at a chemicals factory. His mother, Dalma Salvadora Franco, was of Italian and Croatian descent. Maradona's parents grew up in Esquina in the north-east province of Corrientes, and moved to Buenos Aires in the 1950s. Maradona's two younger brothers, Hugo and Raúl, both became professional footballers. He also had four older sisters. Maradona received his first football as a gift at age three and quickly became devoted to the game. At age eight, he was spotted by a talent scout while he was playing at Estrella Roja, his local club. In March 1969, Maradona was recommended to Los Cebollitas (The Little Onions), the junior team of Buenos Aires's Argentinos Juniors club, by his friend Gregorio Carrizo, who had already been recruited by coach Francis Gregorio Cornejo. Cornejo later remarked that the eight-year-old Maradona played football like an adult. Maradona became a star for the Cebollitas, and as a 12-year-old ball boy he entertained spectators with his ball skills during the halftime breaks of Argentinos Juniors' first division games. During 1973 and 1974, Maradona led the Cebollitas to two Evita Tournament victories and 141 undefeated games in a row, playing alongside Adrian Domenech and Claudio Rodríguez…