Former Argentine soccer star Diego Armando Maradona celebrates his 50th birthday this Saturday. Maradona was born on October 30th, 1960 in Villa Fiorito—south of Buenos Aires—. After the World Cup in Mexico (1986) and runner-up in Italy (1990), he became famous around the globe.
Maradona played for several teams throughout his career as a professional soccer player, including: Boca Juniors, FC Barcelona (Spain), Naples (Italy), Sevilla (Spain) and briefly in Newell’s before returning to the team where he started: Boca, he retired in 1997.
On July 3rd, Maradona stopped being Argentina’s Technical Director—a position he held since October 2008— after the Argentina was defeated by Germany in the South Africa World Cup quarter-finals (4-0).
“It’s the saddest birthday of my life. I imagined the selection diver. Having run out of chances hurts me a lot … The best gift would have been the team,” confessed Maradona during an interview Saturday the sports daily Olé.
“I know I will return to the selection one day, this is my destiny. I’m waiting,” he said on Sky Sports News on Friday.
