Diego Maradona dies aged 60: His career records and stats
What's the story
One of the greatest football players of all time, Maradona'>Diego Maradona breathed his last on Wednesday. He was 60. Tributes poured in from all over the world. The best moment in Maradona's career was the 1986 FIFA World Cup triumph, in which he contributed with several top notch performances. Here we present the key records and stats of Maradona's career.
Club career
A look at Maradona's club career stats
Maradona will be remembered for his spell at Italian club Napoli. He went on to make 259 appearances for the club across competitions and scored 115 goals. He also went on to play for Barcelona and Boca Juniors. Maradona won five trophies with Napoli, including two Serie A honors. At Barca, he found success with three trophies as well.
World Cups
Maradona represented Argentina in four World Cups
Maradona appeared in four successive World Cups for Argentina between ages of 21 and 33. He played his first World Cup in 1982 before going on to represent his country in 1986, 1990 and 1994. The attacking mid-fielder went on to accumulate 34 goals in 91 appearances for Argentina. He also led Argentina to the 1990 final, where they were beaten by West Germany.
Appearances
Most appearances for Argentina in FIFA World Cups
Maradona holds the record for the most number of appearances in the World Cup by an Argentine player (21), just ahead of Javier Mascherano (20) and Lionel Messi (19). The legend is one of just three players to captain his country in two different men's World Cup finals. He did so in 1990 as well as the 1986 tournament.
1986 World Cup
Maradona was unstoppable in the 1986 World Cup
The exploits of Maradona in 1986 will be remembered forever. He had 10 goal involvements in the tournament (five goals and five assists) in seven games. Since then, no player has achieved such statistics at a single edition of a World Cup. Notably, no other player was involved in six-plus goals in the 1986 tournament in Mexico.
Numbers
Notable records held by Maradona for Argentina
Maradona is one of only three Argentina players to have scored in three separate World Cups (1982, 1986 and 1994), alongside Messi (2006, 2014 and 2018) and Batistuta (1994, 1998, and 2002). Maradona had eight goals and eight assists in his 21 appearances over the four World Cups. Across all World Cups staged since 1966, no other player has accumulated these staggering numbers.
Records
Unique records held by Maradona
According to Opta, Maradona went on to win 152 free kicks across the four World Cup. This is the most in tournament history. Notably, Maradona was the most fouled player across three consecutive competitions from 1982 to 1990. He was fouled 54 times in the 1986 edition. This is the highest single figure from one World Cup in history of the game.