No one, not even Pele, impacted one edition of a finals like he did. Here's looking at the good, the bad and the ugly side of the man who made the football talk and sing on the game's biggest stage.
Maradona after failing a dope test in 1994. Reuters
As a boy wonder, Diego Maradona said on a television programme that he had “two dreams”. The first was to play in the World Cup. The other: win the eighth division league title and “whatever follows” with Argentinos Juniors. Maradona played in four editions of the World Cup, and left an everlasting imprint on all of them, changing them and football forever.
Maradona’s story began in Lanus, a shanty town south of Buenos Aires, but his sage wasn’t just Argentina’s to own. The world held its breath till he dribbled death in 2004. And mourned as one when he couldn’t, in 2020. So what if, by then, he was a hero who, in the words of Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, became a “dirty God and sinner.” Read more
Paolo Rossi celebrates the World Cup win in 1982. Getty
Six goals. Six goals in his final three matches of a World Cup.
Six goals that made Italy champions in 1982 after 44 years, ousting arguably the best ever Brazilian team along the way. Paulo Rossi scored those six goals: a hat-trick against Brazil in the last quarter-final league game, two against Poland in the semi-final, and the opening goal in Italy’s 3-1 victory over West Germany in the final. Read more
The FIFA World Cup’s long and illustrious history entails many fascinating moments. We take a look at some of the famous anecdotes from the fourth era… Read more
Colombia’s Andres Escobar. Getty
