Livewire football legend Diego Maradona has gone AWOL from his chairman role at Belarusian club Dinamo Brest to take up a coaching role with Mexican second-tier side Dorados de Sinaloa.
Maradona had been due to begin work with Brest this season after penning a three-year deal to be the club’s chairman, and was even unveiled to fans while being paraded in a huge military vehicle in mid-July.
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As recently as late August, Maradona was filmed sitting atop a car singing along merrily with Brest fans, even falling over and flashing his nipples, and sent birthday wishes to the club president and promised to start work Monday.
But the fairy tale turned out to be a pipe dream as Maradona has now been revealed as head coach of Dorados, nicknamed ‘The Great Fish and based in Culiacan, who released a statement on the 57-year-old’s appointment on Thursday.
“Dorados Club of Sinaloa informs that Diego Armando Maradona is the new technical director of the Big Fish,” the club said in the statement, with a picture of the former La Albiceleste number 10.
“Considered by many as the best soccer player of all time, Diego was characterized in his stage as a player for leading teams of claw and fight to take them to achieve successes that few believed could be achieved.
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“With 13 finals in only 15 years of history, Dorados is a club that in a short time has made a place in Mexican football based on much effort and being accompanied by various figures of world football that have marked an era by its passage in Sinaloa.”
The move sees Maradona return to the country where he drove Argentina to 1986 World Cup glory, scoring the infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal versus England on the way. The city is also at the heart of Mexico's drug trafficking and is home to The Sinaloa Cartel, the most powerful drug cartel in Mexico.
Although he has reportedly abstained from substance abuse in recent years, cocaine addiction has dogged Maradona since his playing days, and Twitter users have been quick to poke fun at the perceived connection.
Maradona has steadily and consistently made headlines during and since the World Cup, where he was photographed flipping off fans during Argentina’s match with Nigeria, as well as being helped from his seat by staff and also kissing his fiance, 28-year-old Rocio Oliva.