Diego Maradona(1960 — 2020)

On 22 June 1986, in the World Cup quarter-final against England, Maradona scored two goals in four minutes that would become legendary. The first, illegal, was scored with his fist: he would later call it “the Hand of God.” The second, in which he dribbled past half the English team over 60 metres, would be voted “Goal of the Century” by FIFA.

A poor child from the Villa Fiorito neighbourhood, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, little Diego was given a leather ball at the age of three and never let go of it. As a teenager, he was already juggling a ball at half-time during professional matches to dazzle the crowd.

When he signed for Naples in 1984, nearly 75,000 supporters welcomed him to the San Paolo stadium just for his presentation. There he became a true demigod, giving the club its only two Italian championship titles (1987 and 1990), in a southern Italy long looked down upon by the wealthy north.

His career was overshadowed by excess: he tested positive for cocaine in 1991 and then for ephedrine at the 1994 World Cup, and was suspended and expelled. He battled addiction for the rest of his life, becoming a tragic symbol of genius broken by fame.

When he died on 25 November 2020, Argentina declared three days of national mourning. Millions of people wept for the man nicknamed “El Pibe de Oro” (“the Golden Boy”), and his coffin was laid out at the Casa Rosada presidential palace.