The greatest footballers of all time - No. 1

And finally, it’s time to reveal the player at the No. 1 position in our series on the greatest footballers of all time!

No. 1 – Diego Maradona

On the 30^th of October 1960 began the renaissance of Argentinian football when Dona Dalma Salvadora Franco Maradona gave birth to her son – Diego. He was born in pitiable conditions, in a suburb of Buenos Aires called Avellaneda. His first gift wasn’t a teddy bear, a toy car, or a nice pair of clothes; instead, it was something that would change the footballing world as we know it – a sparse leather football, given to him by his uncle Cirilo. And perhaps, as Maradona himself puts it, he wouldn’t have been the Golden Boy if he wasn’t born in a shanty. The shanties gave him “the space to play what they liked”, he says, something most city kids nowadays find hard to get.

Football fans can be broadly divided into two types – Maradona lovers, and Maradona loathers. The latter point to his woefully erratic lifestyle, his messed up personal life, his irresponsibility and inconsistency on the pitch, and (of course), his well documented “Hand of God”. And their case is extremely strong. Sure, Diego Maradona was in all probability the most talented footballer to ever step foot on this planet – he could score from behind the goal – but no team could ever depend on him for too long. Exceptions remain, most notably the Argentinian World Cup team of 1986, and his two Scudetto-winning Napoli teams. But more often than not, Diego would injure himself, fall short of stamina, or simply not give enough on the field because his thoughts were taking a sabbatical from football.

And yet, it is the former class of fans, who ignore his life outside the pitch and love him for the pleasure he brought to the spectators whenever he had a ball at his feet, that put up a more persuasive argument.

Maradona’s first “break” came when one of his friends, Goyo Carizzo, sang praises of Diego to his youth team’s coach Francisco Corneja. Corneja coached the Cebollitas, which was the youth wing of the then first-division team Argentinos Juniors. Corneja reluctantly agreed to give Diego a try, but his reluctance disappeared soon when this lanky slum-dweller with a mop of noodly hair showed him what he could do.

The youngest player in history to play a first division match, Diego began his career with Argentinos Juniors on 20^th October, 1976 – a mere ten days before he turned sixteen – against Talleres. He went on to spend five years at Juniors before he transferred to Boca Juniors for £1m midway through 1980, and spent another year and a half at the club he had dreamed of playing for. He won his first league championship with Boca, and played in the 1982 World Cup, where his team only reached the second round. For Diego, it was a mixed affair, as he played all his teams games and scored two goals, but also got sent off against Brazil in the second round.

Another transfer beckoned soon after the World Cup, and this time, he broke another record while at it. His friend and infamous agent Jorge Cyterszpiler had, after long-drawn negotiations, arranged for an unprecedented, world record £5 million transfer to La Liga giants, FC Barcelona. Unfortunately, though, Maradona’s time at Barcelona was an unhappy one and he generated headlines more for his tiffs with the Barcelona directors than for his dribbles past the hapless Spanish defenders. Curtailed by recurrent injuries and an erratic lifestyle, Maradona showed Spain only glimpses of what he could achieve, and in truth, what he was to achieve. His last game for Barcelona was a second leg Cup Winners Cup tie against Manchester United at Camp Nou. He started the game despite suffering another of his niggling injuries, but he attempted to play through the pain. As was expected, his performance was woeful, and at the end of the first half, he was chastised by the 80,000 present at the Nou Camp. That was the last Barcelona fans ever saw of him in Blaugrana colours, as the coach Cesar Menotti prudently substituted him in the break.

He transferred to Serie A team Napoli in 1984, surprisingly for another record £6.9 million. But this time, the investor club seemed to earn rich dividends, as the greatest player of all time showed Neopolitans what the boy with a tattered image was actually capable of. And yet, his time at Napoli is more well-known because it coincided with him winning a certain World Cup in 1986, and scoring two of the most famous goals of all time in the process.

If Lionel Messi is criticised for his international performances today, then the fault entirely lies with Diego Maradona, as he more or less single-handedly won an average Argentinian team the FIFA World Cup in 1986. He took individual performance to a whole different level, as he scored 5, and assisted 5 more, culminating in 10 of the 14 goals the Argentinians scored throughout the tournament. Of course, his quarterfinal performance against England is the most well-known because of the manner in which he scored two goals. The first came through an absolutely cheeky push of his hand. After an England defender miscued his clearance, England ‘keeper Peter Shilton ran out to catch the ball, but Maradona got to him first, and neatly pushed it in with his left hand. Everyone except the referee saw the hand-ball; Maradona’s own teammates saw it too. In fact, his teammates didn’t celebrate at first, but then he urged them, because he knew the goal wouldn’t be given if they didn’t celebrate. The goal stood, and the stadium stood still.

His second goal, though, was the Goal of The Century; starting from just beyond the halfway line, he dribbled past half the England team. No strings attached to this one – every Argentine fan leaped up in ecstasy as Maradona thudded the ball into the net. It wasn’t the World Cup winning goal, but it very well deserved to be. Nevertheless, Diego Maradona did go on to bring the World Cup home a couple of matches later. Unfortunately for him and Argentina, it was the only one he ever won, though the team came very close in 1990.

Fast forward to current times, and a perilous stint as Argentine manager ended with the 2010 World Cup, after Germany humiliated Argentina in the quarters, and Diego could do nothing but sit back and watch. Widely criticised for his top-heavy tactics and his inability to use Messi in a more central role, Maradona failed to land a job as the manager of another big team. Instead, he went on to become the coach of UAE Football League club Al-Wasl FC, a stint that didn’t have a happy ending either. True to his character, he has made his fair share of friends and foes there as well!

Maradon may not have had too many shining moments off the pitch, but on it, he was certainly the Golden Boy of football.

Just in case you’ve never been bewitched by the Maradona genius before, take a look at some of these moments of magic.

These are the other players who made it to the list:

No. 20 – David Beckham; No. 19 – Oliver Kahn; No. 18 – Jurgen Klinsmann; No. 17 – Luis Figo; No. 16 – Romario; No. 15 – Marco van Basten; No. 14 – Eusebio; No. 13 – Lionel Messi; No. 12 – Zico; No. 11 – Paolo Maldini; No. 10 – Michel Platini; No. 9 – Puskas; No. 8 - Lothar Matthäus; No. 7 – Franz Beckenbauer; No. 6 – Alfredo Di Stefano; No. 5 – Johan Cruyff; No. 4 – Ronaldo; No. 3 – Zinedine Zidane; No. 2 – Pele

Read the detailed write-ups on all the players in this list here:

The greatest footballers of all time