Maradona's relationship with Naples went beyond football
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard
WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2022
WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2022
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
Maradona's relationship with Naples went beyond football

Sports

Reuters
26 November, 2020, 12:15 pm
Last modified: 26 November, 2020, 12:17 pm

Related News

  • Milan close in on first Scudetto in 11 years after win over Atalanta
  • Maradona's shirt gets bid of £4 million
  • Milan beat Genoa to hold Serie A summit amid takeover talk
  • Diego Maradona's 'Hand of God' shirt for sale with USD 5.2 million estimate
  • Top two face off as unpredictable Serie A title race hots up

Maradona's relationship with Naples went beyond football

Few players have had such an extraordinary influence on a club as Maradona had during his seven years with the Partenopei.

Reuters
26 November, 2020, 12:15 pm
Last modified: 26 November, 2020, 12:17 pm
A banner with a painted image of Argentine football legend Diego Maradona is displayed as people gather to mourn his death outside San Paolo stadium in Naples, Italy November 25, 2020. Reuters
A banner with a painted image of Argentine football legend Diego Maradona is displayed as people gather to mourn his death outside San Paolo stadium in Naples, Italy November 25, 2020. Reuters

Diego Maradona was raised in dire poverty and would always take the side of the oppressed which made Napoli, sneered at by the richer clubs from northern Italy, the perfect team for him.

Few players have had such an extraordinary influence on a club as Maradona had during his seven years with the Partenopei.

The club won their only two Serie A titles and their only major European trophy -- the UEFA Cup -- while he was there, but there was far more to it than those bare statistics.

Football was a very different sport in those days and Serie A, in particular, was a hostile environment for ball players such as Maradona, who died on Wednesday aged 60.

Defensive tactics and gamesmanship were the order of the day and the likes of Maradona were subjected to vicious treatment by defenders, who were allowed to hack lumps out of them with impunity.

It was against this backdrop that Maradona scored 115 goals for Napoli, including many of the best ever seen in Serie A, and set a club record which has only recently been overtaken.

Other players, such as Francesco Totti, who spent his entire 25-year career at AS Roma, and Lionel Messi, who has only ever played for Barcelona, also have remarkable ties to clubs, but nothing quite matches Maradona and Napoli.

The city, which suffered from unemployment, poor sanitation, poverty and organised crime and Maradona, with his own tough upbringing, immediately identified with each other.

When Maradona was flown in by helicopter for his official presentation, 75,000 people packed into the stadium to see him and one newspaper said that none of the city's problems matter "because we have Maradona".

 

'CRAZY CITY'

"Naples was a crazy city – they were as crazy as me – soccer was life itself," Maradona, who had previously been at Barcelona, once said.

"A lot of things reminded me of my origins. There had been hunger strikes and people had chained themselves to the fence at San Paolo stadium, begging me to come. How could I let them down?"

Together, Maradona and Napoli conquered the northern teams such as Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan, seen as the aristocratic establishment of Italian football, and briefly turned Serie A on its head.

The celebrations which followed their Serie A title win in 1987 brought the city to a standstill.

"I know all the problems they have. These people make sacrifices to buy the ticket. They are always there, always there. That made me identify with them from the first day," said Maradona.

"They believed in me, they gave me everything without knowing me and that cannot be forgotten."

When Maradona's Argentina met Italy in Naples at the 1990 World Cup, some of the home fans did the unthinkable and cheered for the South Americans.

Local politicians fell over themselves to be photographed with him and even today, paintings of Maradona still adorn walls around the city.

It was not all bliss, however. A 2019 documentary film chronicled his wild Naples years when he became addicted to cocaine and partying.

He had a son whom he only recognised after an Italian court ordered him to pay maintenance and he was pursued by the local tax authorities over unpaid arrears for years after his departure. But that is not how he will be remembered.

"Maradona is a God to the people of Naples. Maradona changed history," said Italy's 2006 World Cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro.

"In 80 years, we had always suffered, fighting against relegation, yet in seven seasons with him we won two leagues, a UEFA Cup... I'm a fan too and to live those years with Maradona was incredible."

Football

diego maradona / Napoli / Serie A

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Social safety budget to stay same despite inflation rise
    Social safety budget to stay same despite inflation rise
  • RMG makers worried over move on power tariff hike
    RMG makers worried over move on power tariff hike
  • A packet of US five-dollar bills is inspected at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington March 26, 2015. REUTERS/Gary Cameron
    Dollar hits Tk100 mark in open market

MOST VIEWED

  • Virat Kohli could be invited to play T20 league in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir
    Virat Kohli could be invited to play T20 league in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir
  • Photo: BCB
    Bijoy to get rewarded for his historic DPL season
  • Photo: Reuters
    Nadal ready for Roland Garros despite injury issues
  • Photo: BCB
    Tamim ton tames Lankan Lions
  • Photo: Salahuddin Ahmed/TBS
    Bangladesh to play tri-nation series in New Zealand before T20 WC
  • Photo: ICC
    SL fight back with three wickets in second session, Tamim keeps Tigers in hunt

Related News

  • Milan close in on first Scudetto in 11 years after win over Atalanta
  • Maradona's shirt gets bid of £4 million
  • Milan beat Genoa to hold Serie A summit amid takeover talk
  • Diego Maradona's 'Hand of God' shirt for sale with USD 5.2 million estimate
  • Top two face off as unpredictable Serie A title race hots up

Features

Despite Bangladesh having about 24,000 km of waterways, only a few hundred kilometres are covered by commercial launch services. Photo: Saad Abdullah

Utilising waterways: When common home-goers show the way

11h | Panorama
Illustration: TBS

How Putin revived Nato

13h | Panorama
The reception is a volumetric box-shaped room that has two glass walls on both the front and back ends and the other two walls are adorned with interior plants, wood and aluminium screens. Photo: Noor-A-Alam

The United House: Living and working inside nature

13h | Habitat
Pcycle team members at a waste management orientation event. Photo: Courtesy

Pcycle: Turning waste from bins into beautiful crafts

14h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

The first mosque in India was built Prophet Mohammad time

The first mosque in India was built Prophet Mohammad time

4h | Videos
After six decades ,the Archies is back

After six decades ,the Archies is back

4h | Videos
Exporters in discomfort, expatriates preferring Hundi

Exporters in discomfort, expatriates preferring Hundi

4h | Videos
Can your coworker be your closest friend?

Can your coworker be your closest friend?

14h | Videos

Most Read

1
Representative Photo: Pixabay.
Bangladesh

Microplastics found in 5 local sugar brands

2
Mushfiq Mobarak. Photo: Noor-A-Alam
Panorama

Meet the Yale professor who anchors his research in Bangladesh and scales up interventions globally

3
The story of Bangladesh becoming a major bicycle exporter
Industry

The story of Bangladesh becoming a major bicycle exporter

4
How Bangladesh can achieve edible oil self-sufficiency with local alternatives
Bazaar

How Bangladesh can achieve edible oil self-sufficiency with local alternatives

5
Govt tightens belt to relieve reserve
Economy

Govt tightens belt to relieve reserve

6
Impact of falling taka against US dollar
Banking

Taka losing more value as global currency market volatility persists

The Business Standard
Top
  • Home
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • About Us
  • Bangladesh
  • International
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Economy
  • Sitemap
  • RSS

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net

Copyright © 2022 THE BUSINESS STANDARD All rights reserved. Technical Partner: RSI Lab