11 Stunning Things About Diego Maradona You May Not Have Known

Diego Maradona, the world famous football prodigy has fallen and the global footballing community is in mourning. Here are 11 stunning things about the prodigy that you may not have known.

Diego Armando Maradona was born on 30 October 1960, at the Policlínico (Polyclinic) Evita Hospital in Lanú Buenos Aires Province, to a poor Catholic family that had moved from  Corrientes Province he was raised in Villa Fiorito, a shantytown  on the southern outskirts of Buenos Aires.  He was the first son after four daughters, with two younger brothers, Hugo (el Turco) and Raúl (Lalo), both of whom were also professional football players.

• Diego Maradona was 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 Napolic for another record fee £6.9 million.

• Diego Maradona made his professional debut with Argentinos Juniors On 20 October 1976, 10 days before his 16th birthday.  He entered to the pitch wearing the number 16 jersey, and became the youngest player in the history of Argentine Primera División.

• There are contentions that Maradona’s small stature (1.65 m or 5 ft 5 in), has been more an advantage. IT gave him a low centre of gravity allowing him to manoeuvre better than most other football players;

• Despite being adored for his great footballing skills, from the mid-1980s until 2004, Maradona was addicted to cocaine, which he allegedly began using in Barcelona in 1983. It was even rumored that by the time he was playing for Napoli, he had a regular addiction, which began to interfere with his creative football ability

• Once while receiving treatment on the island country of Cuba, Maradona became friendly with Cuban strongman Fidel Castro. At a time, Maradona had a portrait of Castro tattooed on his left leg and one of Fidel’s second in command, fellow Argentine, Che Guevaraon his right arm

• In the quarter final of the 1986 World Cup, Diego Maradona scored both goals in a 2–1 victory over England that entered football history for two different reasons. The first goal was an un-penalised handling foul that later became famous as the Hand OF God while the second goal followed a 60 m (66 yd) dribble past five England players, voted “Goal of the century” by FIFA.com voters in 2002

• 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.

• Diego Maradona and his compatriot Lionel Messi are the only players to win the Golden Ball at both the FIFA U-20 World Cup and FIFA World Cup.  Maradona did so in 1979 and 1986 which Messi emulated in 2005 and 2014^.

• Maradona is regarded as the best player of his generation and also one of the greatest players of all time, one of the most skillful players in the history of football, one of the greatest dribblers and free kick takers in the history of the sport. In 2000, he won FIFA Player of the Century award  Maradona won the Internet-based poll, garnering 53.6% of the votes against 18.53% for Pelé.

• Hounded for years by the press, Maradona once fired a compressed-air rifle at reporters who he claimed were invading his privacy.

• Aside football, Diego Maradona had also had a stint with broadcasting. On 15 August 2005, he made his debut as host of a talk-variety show on Argentine television, La Noche del 10 (“The Night of the no. 10”), his main guest on opening night was Pelé; the two had a friendly chat.
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information source: wikipedia