Hugo Hernán Maradona (9 May 1969 – 28 December 2021), also known as El Turco, was an Argentine

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and coach. He was the younger brother of

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

. He played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for clubs in South America, Europe, Japan, and Canada, and was a member of the Argentina U-16 national team.

Career

In 1985, Maradona was a part of the Argentina U-16 national team's squad that competed at the U16

South American South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

and

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

s in China. In Argentina's first round match against Congo, he scored two goals to help the team to a 4–2 win, which however was one goal short of what Argentina needed to advance past the group stage. During 1987, Hugo Maradona was bought by Ascoli to play in the Italian Serie A championship. He played just 13 matches without scoring a goal and was sold at the end of the season to

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in the Villa de Vallecas district of Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish foot ...

in Spain. During 1989 he moved again, that time to

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English, is an Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the f ...

, and after that experience he went back to Argentina. In 1992, he moved to Japan to play for the

PJM Futures The was a former Japanese football club that played in the Japan Football League between 1994 and 1996. History PJM Futures was founded in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka in 1987 as the team of PJM Japan, a company based on Paul J. Meyer's U.S. academy S ...

(renamed as Tosu Futures after changing their hometown in 1994), which was aiming to promote to the newly inaugurated

J.League The , commonly a.k.a. shortened to the , and officially known as the for sponsorship with Meiji Yasuda Life, is the men's association football league in Japan. It is responsible for organizing Japan's major professional football tournaments, in ...

. After playing for Futures for three seasons, he played for

Fukuoka Blux is a Japanese professional football club based in Hakata, Fukuoka. They currently compete in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. History Earlier years in Fujieda The club were originally based in Fujieda, Shizuo ...

(known as Avispa Fukuoka since 1996) in the 1995 and 1996 seasons and

Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo is a Japanese professional football club based in Sapporo, on the island of Hokkaido. They will play in the 2025 J2 League, the second tier league of Japanese football, after relegation from the J1 League at conclusion of the 2024 season. Th ...

in the 1997 and 1998 seasons. After retiring from association football as a player, Maradona lived a relatively quiet life in Argentina. In 2004, Hugo Maradona moved part-time to

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, where he became part of that country's association football federation's attempt to invigorate the sport among Puerto Ricans by becoming the head coach of the

Puerto Rico Islanders The Puerto Rico Islanders were a professional association football team based in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. They played in several different leagues from 2004 to 2012, when they suspended operations. In their last two seasons they played in the Nort ...

, a team in the American

USL First Division The USL First Division (USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It was organized by the United Soccer League as its premier league for men from 1996 to 2010, above the USL Second ...

. He then moved back to Italy, working for a number of youth and amateur teams in the

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

region.

Personal life and death

Maradona was born in

Lanús Lanús () is the capital of Lanús Partido, Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. It lies just south of the capital city Buenos Aires, in the Greater Buenos Aires conurbation, metropolitan area. The List of cities in Argentina, city has a populati ...

on 9 May 1969, as the youngest sibling of brothers

and Raúl Maradona, both noted footballers in their own right. His father Diego Maradona "Chitoro" (1927–2015), who worked at a chemicals factory, was of

Guaraní Guarani, Guaraní or Guarany may refer to Ethnography * Guaraní people, an indigenous people from South America's interior (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia) * Guarani language, or Paraguayan Guarani, an official language of Paraguay * G ...

(Indigenous) and Galician (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

) descent, and his mother Dalma Salvadora Franco, "Doña Tota" (1929–2011), was of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

descent. He died from a heart attack at his home in Monte di Procida, near

, on 28 December 2021, at the age of 52, a year after his brother Diego. He has 3 kids with ex-wife, Delia Occhionero. Fraternal twins, Nicole and Thiago Maradona, and Melina Maradona.

References

External links

*
About Hugo Maradona
(Italian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Maradona, Hugo 1969 births 2021 deaths Argentine football managers Argentine men's footballers Argentine people of Guaraní descent Argentine sportspeople of Italian descent Argentine people of Basque descent Ascoli Calcio 1898 FC players Men's association football midfielders Avispa Fukuoka players Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo players Deportivo Italia players J1 League players Japan Football League (1992–1998) players La Liga players Footballers from Buenos Aires Province C.A. Progreso players Puerto Rico Islanders managers Rayo Vallecano players Sagan Tosu players Serie A players SK Rapid Wien players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Toronto Italia players USL First Division coaches Maradona family Argentina men's youth international footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Venezuela Expatriate men's footballers in Venezuela Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Uruguay Expatriate men's footballers in Uruguay Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Puerto Rico Expatriate football managers in Puerto Rico 20th-century Argentine sportsmen