Diego Armando Maradona was born on October 30, 1960 in the poor neighborhood of Villa Fiorito on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Diego grew up with soccer and was nicknamed “the golden boy”. He started in Argentinos Juniors, then Boca Juniors and then went on to play for the national team. He went to Barcelona and played in Spain for some years. In 1984 he went to play for Napoli and won here two Italian championships in 1986/87 and 1989/90, a Coppa Italia (1987), an Uefa cup (1989) and a Supercoppa Italiana (1990).  At age 17 he was considered one of the best 25 Argentine players, but not mature enough to be a part of the team that brought Argentina its first world cup in 1978.
He became world champion in 1986, awarded three times the best South American player (1979, 1980 and 1986) and considered one of the best soccer players of all times.