'World's Greatest Footballer' Maradona Clocks 58 Years Today

By Max Wise

In the still of the night on Sunday, October 30, 1960, a modest woman lay in labour at the Polyclinic of the Evita Hospital in Lanús, Buenos Aires Province.

Dalma Salvadora Franco 'Doña Tota' gave birth to a boy, and the lad would grow to become arguably the greatest footballer to ever grace the game, and his name, Diego Amando Maradona, would become not just a household name but that which changed the fortunes of his family.

Diego Maradona is 58 years today, and Predictionboard.com brings to you the legend of the game, who celebrates his birthday today.

The highly controversial former Argentine international almost single-handedly led Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986.

His two goals against England, in the quarterfinals, are very memorable. The first goal came when he went on an outrageous solo run that saw him take on the whole England defence to score, and he followed that up with the infamous ‘hand of God’ goal.

He played 96 games for the Argentine national team and scored 34 goals.

Maradona played for the likes of Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, and Sevilla during his storied career, but made his name at Napoli, where became a cult hero.

He helped Napoli to two Serie A titles and also won the UEFA Cup during his time at the Partenopei.

Maradona retired from playing football in 1997 and veered into coaching on a full-time basis, having first tried his hands at coaching in 1994 at Mandiyu de Corrientes in Argentina.

Maradona's time in the dugout has been relatively less successful than his time on the pitch.

His best record thus far has been the South Africa 2010 World Cup, where he took Argentine to the quarter-finals but lost to Germany.

Maradona is currently the manager of Dorados in the Mexican second division.