Diego Maradona has been sacked as Argentina coach following a unanimous vote by the Argentine Football Association (AFA) board not to renew his contract, an AFA spokesman, Ernesto Cherquis Bialo said on Tuesday, July 27.
Maradona's future had been in doubt since Argentina's 4-0 thrashing by Germany in the FIFA World Cup quarter-finals in South Africa this month, less than two years since his headline-grabbing appointment.
"The executive committee, with all of its members voting unanimously, has decided not to renew Diego Armando Maradona's contract as coach of the national team," Cherquis Bialo said.
Maradona won the World Cup as a star player for Argentina in 1986. The AFA announced him as coach in 2008 and his short tenure was quickly tainted by clashes with players, coaches, directors and journalists.
"The president realized there was a wide distance separating the AFA from the possibility of continuing this contract and the legitimate requisites of Mr. Maradona. And between the requisites to give him a contract, or extend his contract, there was a wide space that made it impossible for the AFA to resolve our differences," Cherquis Bialo added.
Julio Grondona, the head of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), said that Maradona's contract was not renewed due to disagreements over his coaching staff.
"There needed to be some changes among Diego's staff, and we couldn't come to an agreement. I think that some media outlets are maliciously saying that we kicked him out. Nobody was kicked out, a contract hasn't been renewed because we didn't have the conditions to do so," he said.
Considered by many to be the best ever soccer player, he struggled for years with drug addiction, obesity and alcoholism, making his comeback at the helm of the national squad an even more remarkable personal achievement.
The team's earlier-than-expected exit from the tournament followed a shaky qualifying campaign, but the former player was still given a hero's welcome when the squad returned home and President Cristina Fernandez urged him to stay on.
Maradona, 49, said Sunday he wanted to stay on, but only if he could keep control over the choice of his assistants.
The animated coach was one of the most followed characters of World Cup competition and he enjoyed mostly loyal support from fans in his home country even after the team's decidedly early exit for a squad aspiring to be taking home the coveted cup.
Despite the team's earlier than expected exit from the tournament, Maradona, who was key to Argentina's second world title in Mexico in 1986, jubilant fans gave him a warm welcome he and the side received when thousands of fans greeted the team bus in Buenos Aires.
Local media said former Boca Juniors coach Carlos Bianchi, who led the domestic team to a string of national and continental titles in two stints between 1998 and 2004, was a popular favourite to replace Maradona.
Other names circulating as possible successors include Estudiantes coach Alex Sabella, Independiente's former coach Americo Gallego, former Argentina coach Marcelo Bielsa and ex-River Plate, Inter Milan and Argentina striker Ramon Diaz.
But Argentina's Under-20 coach Sergio Batista looks on before his team's Latin American Integration Under-20 tournament football match against Uruguay in Asuncion on Tuesday, July 27.
Batista has been named as interim coach following Diego Maradona's departure.
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