When sociologist Laura Ximena Márquez Ramírez, 35, told feminist colleagues at the National University of Colombia that she was conducting a study of male Maradona fans, the reaction was one of astonishment.
The macho reputation of the Argentine idol, a womanizer and a troubled family life, indicated a contradiction. Laura responded with findings from her work. “I’ve done interviews about the Colombian armed conflict and other sensitive topics, and I’ve never had a man cry. In this one, the majority of the interviewees cried,” he says. “Talking about Diego, very beautiful repertoires of pain and emotions emerged.”
Laura’s research is one of 42, from seven countries, that will be presented at the 1st International Congress on Diego Armando Maradona – “Approximations to an infinite universe”, from 6 to 8 November, at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA).
Part of the programming will be broadcast via streaming. Among the topics of the debates, which range from “Diego as a universal political fact” to a “Maradonian philosophy”, football is the least highlighted subject.
Coach Monica Santino, 60, promoter of a “feminist football” social project in an Argentine favela, remembers that Diego’s death, on November 20, 2020, was a turning point for the movement.
Those who, like her, publicly mourned him were targeted for cancellation, charged with accusations of violence against women and his refusal to recognize children outside of marriage.
But Monica also remembers that, years before, Maradona spoke out in favor of abortion and supported women’s football. “I think I was more feminist than I thought, in terms of fighting for rights and against oppression, which for me is the central point of feminism”, she says.
Objections to a “Maradonian” affiliation, however, are not restricted to gender issues. They may be related to nationality and rivalry.
Professor Marcelo Argenta Câmara, 54, from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), says that he was mocked after each failure of the Albiceleste team. That changed in 2022, when many Brazilians like him, in the South, supported Messi’s team in the World Cup final.
“Today there are a lot of people out there wearing Argentina shirts, but in the past I was supporting alone”, says Câmara, who will speak about “Maradonian Geographies”.
“Maradona embodies this periphery that is so common in Latin America. He is not disconnected from his origins, from political problems. He is a type of footballer that, unfortunately, we see very little of”, he says, remembering his work in left-wing causes.
The admiration is so great that Câmara keeps a small altar in the living room, with objects related to Maradona. And it’s not exactly an exception, according to Argentine journalist Gabriela Saidon, 64, author of “Superdios – La construcción de Maradona como santo layo” (2021, not published in Brazil), which emerged following research into popular and pagan saints venerated in the interior of the country, such as Gauchito Gil.
Gabriela found similarities in devotion to Maradona, such as offerings in exchange for requests. “There are people who light candles for him, who touch his image before leaving the house. There are factories of Maradona ‘saints’. There is a sanctuary at the Argentinos Juniors stadium (the club that revealed him) that has benches for praying, all the characteristics of a church”, says Gabriela, without forgetting the famous Maradoniana Church.
“I’m an atheist, and I have a critical view of how they deified him. But, for people, it gives them strength. There is a religion there”, he says.
The fervor for Maradona will also be shown in the exhibition of 18 social action projects inspired by the former player; at the 1st Maradoniana Book Fair, with 30 authors; and in the art and photography exhibition, with 60 artists.
“Diego didn’t study at university, but somehow he got there”, says journalist Fabián D’Aloisio, 55, one of the organizers of the congress and creator of the “Catedra Maradoniana Diegologías”, an extension course that debuted this year at UBA.
Fabián highlights that Maradona continues to be present in popular struggles. In the protests by retirees against the Milei government, a phrase from the former player, “You have to be a real shithead not to defend retirees”, is usually used on posters.
Union leader Maradona, who in 1995 created, alongside players like Brazilian Raí, the International Association of Professional Footballers (FIFPro, in its acronym in English), will be remembered by his former physical trainer Fernando Signorini. “Football has to belong to footballers, once and for all. Today, (players) are docile sheep. Power needs them like that, frivolous, if possible also stupid, rude, insensitive, selfish”, he told Sheet.
Signorini, 74, will participate in the congress with the primacy of an ace, free to act at all tables and conferences and speak as a sportsman, a friend and an activist. “Sporting achievements remain, but transcending through your convictions, by facing power without kneeling, is much more admirable than goals and the best of all titles”, he says.
