20/06/2026
A few days ago we had a short stop over in Naples, where Maradona arrived in July 1984. A local newspaper stated that despite the lack of a „mayor, houses, schools, buses, employment and sanitation, none of this matters because we have Maradona“
Prior to Maradona’s arrival, Italian football was dominated by teams from the north and centre of the country, such as AC Milan, Juventus, Inter Milan and Roma, and no team in the south of the Italian Peninsula had ever won a league title. This was perhaps the perfect scenario for Maradona and his working-class-sympathetic image, as he joined a once-great team that was facing relegation at the end of the 1983–84 Serie A season, in what was the toughest and most highly regarded football league in Europe.
Led by Maradona, Napoli won their first ever Serie A Championship in 1986–87.
Napoli would win their second league title in 1989–90, and later won the 1990 Italian Supercup, beating rivals Juventus 5–1. When asked who was the toughest player he ever faced, AC Milan central defender Franco Baresi stated it was Maradona, a view shared by his Milan teammate Paolo Maldini.
On 25 November 2020, Maradona suffered cardiac arrest and died in his sleep at his home in Dique Luján. In Naples, the Stadio San Paolo—officially renamed Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on 4 December 2020—was illuminated at night in honour of Maradona, with numerous fans gathering outside the stadium placing murals and paintings as a tribute. Prior to Napoli’s Europa League match against Rijeka the day after Maradona’s death, all of the Napoli players wore shirts with „Maradona 10“ on the back of them, before observing a minute of silence.
Today, Maradona is all over Naples, on murals and as touriste souvenirs.
