Diego Maradona net worth
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What is Diego Maradona’s net worth and salary?
Diego Maradona was an Argentine football coach, manager and former professional football player. He had a net worth of US$500,000 at the time of his death. Maradona died on November 25, 2020, at the age of 60.
During his career as a player and coach, Diego earned tens of millions of dollars from salary and endorsements. In the early 1980s, he was one of the highest paid athletes on the planet, earning millions of dollars each year from the salaries and endorsements of companies such as Hublot, Puma, and Coca-Cola. Unfortunately, he encountered some financial problems in his later life, which we will introduce in detail later in this article.
Many people think he is the best football player of all time (the choice is usually narrowed to Pele or Maradona). Diego amazed the fans with his thrilling running and more defenders. His dribbling skills are very good. He is also an excellent organizer and instinctive shooter who can easily sink set shots. Maradona is the hero of the Argentine people. He promoted the Argentine national team to the 1986 World Cup champion.
Although Diego often has many shortcomings in terms of sportsmanship on the court, his personal life outside of sports completely exceeds his professional life in terms of controversy. Throughout his life, Maradona has struggled with drug addiction, financial problems, health problems and the pressure of international visibility. After retiring from football, the Argentine legend began his management career.
Occupational income
Between 1984 and 1991 alone, Diego Maradona’s salary reached $43 million. After adjusting for inflation, this is equivalent to earning about 100 million U.S. dollars in today’s U.S. dollars.
financial problem
Diego Maradona (Diego Maradona) was involved in a tax dispute with the Italian authorities, the history of which can be traced back to when he played in Naples. The accumulated fines and fees for unpaid taxes exceed 30 years. In 2009, Italian officials publicly announced that Maradona owed 37 million euros in taxes, including 23 million euros in interest.
The police confiscated some of Diego’s jewelry to pay off the debt, about 42,000 euros. Most of the remaining debt is still outstanding. Maradona insisted that he had no intention of paying taxes and claimed that he had been unfairly abused by the Italian authorities. Because of these statements, Diego was accused of defamation.
early life
Diego Armando Maradona was born on October 30, 1960 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Diego grew up with six siblings in a shanty town on the outskirts of the city. He lived in poverty during his childhood. When his early skills were discovered by scouts, the situation changed and he started playing for the youth team.
Profession
At the age of 15, Diego completed his career debut for the Argentine youth team and became the only provider of his impoverished family. In 1981, the Boca Youth Team bought him for US$4 million and quickly made a deep impression across the country. In 1982, after losing the World Cup campaign, he moved to Barcelona, where he only stayed for a year in the club he supported as a child.
When he arrived in Barcelona, people were full of expectations, and the team signed the young star for a record $7.6 million. Although Maradona is admired by Spanish fans and he continues to perform well for the team, his tenure in the Catalan city has been damaged by some controversial events. In 1984, a fierce confrontation saw Diego attack several Athletic Bilbao players. He put his knee against the head of one of them. The fight triggered a full-scale riot in the stadium, and Maradona was subsequently fired by FC Barcelona.
Naples broke the world record for transfer fees set by Diego earlier, paying about $10.5 million for the Argentines. It was here that Diego reached his peak and led the team to two championships (including the first in history) in their true golden age.
During this time, Diego helped Argentina win the 1986 World Cup. He is known for hitting the ball with his hands, with a controversial 2-1 victory over England. When asked about this later, Maradona denied handball, but suggested that it was the “hand of God.” This sentence has become one of the most frequently repeated moments in football history.
At some point, his personal life off the court caused his career to decline rapidly. The 1990 World Cup disappointed Maradona and Argentina. In 1992, he was forced to leave Naples because he tested positive for cocaine. In 1994, he was kicked out of the World Cup again for failing a drug test. In the next few years, he played for Sevilla and Newell’s old boys and other teams, and then returned to the Boca youth team to end his career.
Addiction problem
Diego Maradona is notorious for smoking cocaine. Allegedly, from the mid-1980s to around 2004, he was completely dependent on this drug. Unfortunately, his continued use of this drug impaired his ability to play football, which eventually became apparent after his transfer to Naples.
While in the Italian city, he accepted the protection of members of the Mafia, who provided him with drugs and women, allowing him to walk through the streets free from harassment by obsessed fans. Eventually, he tested positive for cocaine in 1991 and left Naples in shame. After playing two games in the 1994 World Cup, he tested positive for ephedrine.
(Juan Mabroma Tower/AFP via Getty Images)
Health problem
The decline in Maradona’s health and fitness began even before he retired from football. While in Naples, his lifestyle began to get out of control, and he went to parties between games most of the week. He also started to gain weight and began to look increasingly unhealthy towards the end of his career. After retiring, Diego’s health deteriorated further. He quickly became obese, weighing 280 pounds at one time. Finally, he underwent gastric bypass surgery in 2005 to treat his obesity.
However, Maradona continued to drink heavily, and in 2007 he was admitted to the hospital for hepatitis and alcohol abuse. News of his death soon came out, but Diego came out of the mental hospital after receiving treatment for the addiction problem. In 2007, he stated that he had not consumed alcohol or drugs for many years. In 2018, he fell in the stands while watching the World Cup in Argentina, and he needed treatment from a paramedic. Throughout the game, Diego drank white wine, swears to nearby fans, and raised his middle finger to the camera that recorded the incident. In 2019, he was treated for internal bleeding caused by hernia.
Legal Issues
In the 1990s, Maradona struggled with many noteworthy legal issues. The first time was after Diego cautiously tried to meet with prostitutes in Naples in 1991. He unknowingly called an illegal service agency to organize an appointment on a line monitored by the Italian authorities, and they recorded the entire conversation. Because he shared cocaine with prostitutes, he was eventually charged with a series of crimes, including distribution and possession of cocaine. After Maradona tested positive for cocaine that year, he tried to avoid the police and fled to Argentina, but was taken back by the Italian authorities in tears.
Another major problem appeared during the 1994 FIFA World Cup. In addition to failing the drug test and being expelled from the game, Maradona also made headlines in the early stages of the game when he fired at reporters with a projectile gun at a hotel. Several reporters were injured. Four years later, he was sentenced to two years and ten months of probation.
