The sporting world mourns the death of Diego Maradona, the legendary football player who has reportedly died at age 60. The epicenter of this grief is Maradona’s beloved Argentina, the country whose colors he wore proudly as he deftly carved his name into history with a magical left foot. Photos emerge from Buenos Aires depicting men crouching on the street in tears in number 10 jerseys, rugged corners piled high with memorial flowers, walls decorated with magnified drawings of a five-foot-five, stout argentine in his prime; D10s, the football “god” who invented number ten. For them, and football fans all over the world, there is no other news in the coming days ahead, besides the death, the life and legend of a man who defined the beautiful game.
The way the world memorializes our heroes is sometimes a source of solace as we mourn the loss of figures who were larger than life, figures who were more than themselves. People who represented ideas, identities, and movements that shaped our very place in the world. The outpouring of grief and admiration for Maradona is no different, drawing condolences from as far abroad as Naples, Italy (a city forever indebted to him for his role in the only two Serie A titles in their 94-year history) to his contemporaries and rivals, like Pelé, Lionel Messi, and even American boxing great, Mike Tyson.
A complicated man with a story just as intricate and complicated as the paths he would cut across a pitch littered with world-class defenders, Maradona’s life was not free from criticism or controversy. Affectionately dubbed el pibe de oro, the golden boy often found his shining record as a player marred by his personal decisions, cutting his own career short with a cocaine addiction that began during his time at Spanish super-club F.C. Barcelona in the 80’s and lasted 20 years, ultimately overshadowing what should have been a historic farewell to a stellar career. And while a simple google search can turn up a litany of negative incidents in his latter years, like a contentious and brief career coaching the national team, a recent stint in rehab for alcoholism and his lifelong struggles with obesity, the annals of history have a way of erasing the failings of great men in favor of remembering what they gave. And Diego Maradona gave football everything.
There is perhaps no way to measure just what he meant to the sport of football, even for those who watched in real time as he invented a new style of play seemingly out of thin air. A ferociously creative player in a time when football was physical and unregulated, his size and low-center of gravity allowed him to attack the game in a way no one had ever seen, weaving through the world’s best defenders as if they were toddlers still finding their legs; controlling the ball at his feet as if it were attached to his boot with a string. In his 17-year-long national career, Maradona scored 34 goals across 91 matches, hoisting the World Cup trophy in 1986 for the first time since La Albiceleste’s first win in 1978 and the last time since.
His contribution to Argentine identity alone has cemented him a place in national history and folklore, with a genius that was respected worldwide and a fiery temper that although it occasionally cost them greatly, ultimately saw them through four world cup appearances, and the ever-illusive world cup championship. His infamous handball against England in the quarter-finals of that tournament held a special significance for the South American country still reeling from the sting of the Falklands War in 1982, a territory dispute that ended in British victory, a bruised Argentine pride, and severed diplomacy between the two countries until 1989. For a country that still maintains (to this day) the territory is Argentine despite the loss, Maradona and his triumph over England meant more to Argentina than mere athletic achievement. He embodied the country’s fighting spirit, and avenged the national reputation on the largest world stage there is.
Diego Maradona leaves behind almost two decades worth of the most incredible goals scored by any footballer and a loving family. Ultimately Diego Armando Maradona’s life will be remembered for the tapestry he wove with a ball at his feet. He painted the game in colors that had never been seen, created a masterpiece that inspired a legion of professional football players, from Argentina to the Ivory Coast, all of whom credit the Argentine with inspiring them to first kick a ball in the hopes of making magic. They, in turn, have inspired the generations after them. For those who follow the world’s most beloved sport, Maradona’s life will always be one of the brightest golden threads holding it all together.
