WORLD SOCCER PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Diego MARADONA
1986
Iconic year…Diego Maradona owned1986
Hard man to pin down
D
iego Armando Maradona has proved a hard man to pin down – as much off the pitch as on it – since the 1986 World Cup final on June 29. Hardly surprising. After that, life could never be the same again – even for this 25-year-old who has become accustomed to persistent pursuit by the media and by his admirers in Naples in Italy in general, back home in Buenos Aires...and in the world at large. Maradona was voted World Soccer’s World Player of the Year because of his outstanding performances in leading Argentina to their World Cup victory. He had been criticised in the past and, in particular, in comparison with French star Michel Platini as being technically brilliant but lacking in career achievement. But in just a few weeks in Mexico he put all that to rights, for there can be no greater achievement for an individual in a team game than to captain your country to the World Cup. That success appeared to provide Maradona with new confidence on his return to the club game with Napoli, who currently lead the Italian league and possess an outstanding chance of taking the title for the first time in their history. In addition to Maradona’s personal accolade, Argentina’s World Cup winners were voted World Soccer’s World Team of the Year (albeit by just 0.04 per cent ahead of the imperious European Cup Winners’ Cup champions Dynamo Kiev)
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PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Goal of the century… Maradona’s solo effort v England
