The sports world was thrown into mourning on Wednesday following the death of football legend, Diego Maradona, who died at 60 after suffering a cardiac arrest while recovering from a major brain surgery.
Diego Maradona is known around the world as one of the best football players of all time. He rose from humble beginnings to reach the apex of stardom.
Maradona led club teams to championships in Argentina, Italy and Spain and famously starred for the Argentinean team that won the 1986 World Cup.
However, the soccer legend’s career was marred by a pair of high-profile suspensions for drug use, and he often battled health problems in retirement.
Maradona left hospital on November 11 just eight days after being admitted for emergency brain surgery.
The iconic former Argentine footballer was driven away from the private Olivos Clinic just before 6pm on Wednesday as hundreds of fans and photographers tried to get a glimpse of him.
Here are few things you need to know about the soccer legend:
1. Diego Armando Maradona was born on October 30, 1960, in Villa Fiorito, a province of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2. He was fifth of eight children raised by Diego Sr. and Doña Tota
3. At 10, Maradona joined Los Cebollitas, a youth team of Argentinos Juniors, one of the biggest clubs in Argentina.
4. The pinnacle of his career came as a member of the Argentinean national team that won the 1986 World Cup.
5. Two memorable goals in his career history was when he scored illegally with his left hand, which Maradona later claimed was the work of “the hand of God” and the second required no supernatural help other than his ability to dribble past an onslaught of defenders to find the back of the net.
6. Maradona is the first player in football history to set the world record transfer fee twice, first when he transferred to Barcelona for a then world record £5 million, and second, when he transferred to Napoli for another record fee of £6.9 million.
7. He battled drug addiction for years, and was taken into intensive care at a Buenos Aires clinic, where he was treated for heart and blood pressure problems.
8. He became a father for the 1st time at age 25 when his one-time girlfriend Cristiana Sinagra gave birth to their son Diego Maradona Jr. on September 20, 1986 in Naples, Italy. Diego Maradona recognised him as his son in 2016.
9. He became a father for the 2nd time at age 26 when his girlfriend [now ex-wife] Claudia Villafañe gave birth to their daughter Dalma Maradona on April 2, 1987 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
10. He also became a father for the 3rd time at age 28 when his girlfriend [now ex-wife] Claudia Villafañe gave birth to their daughter Gianinna Maradona on May 16, 1989 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
