Diego Maradona, RIP - UNICEF Sports Ambassador : Horst Cerni

 Memories of Diego Maradona, RIP

Diego Maradona died yesterday at age 60 of a heart attack. Since he was a UNICEF Sports Ambassador in the eighties, I thought that the excerpt from my book "Journeying to Paradise" may be of interest.

Fans all over the world are paying tribute to him, and I heard that Italy will name a stadium after him. I am sure, Argentina will follow. He was, after all, an Argentinian world star who next to Evita Peron achieved the status of a saint.

Horst

"My new assignment at Headquarters was to be in charge of special events and exhibits, as well as our Goodwill Ambassador program. Because of my work with FIFA for the UNICEF benefit matches, we flew to Mexico City in June of 1986. FIFA had organized a major press conference, at which I represented UNICEF and Sepp Blatter FIFA, to announce the next UNICEF Benefit Match to take place at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles the following month. Some 200 journalists attended. 

  

FIFA gave us complimentary passes to see two matches of the World Cup. The first one was the historic Quarter Final match between Argentina and England. Argentina’s superstar Diego Armando Maradona, used his “magical” hand to direct the ball into England’s net. It became known as “the hand of God”. The match took place in the giant Azteca stadium with 100,000 fans in attendance. The atmosphere was tense, with armed police and military all over.  The Falklands wars were still very fresh in the minds of the Argentines, who considered the  Falkland Islands their “Malvinas””. Above us to the left was the British fan section, and they not only made a lot of noise, but also burnt the Argentine flag. 

Because of Maradona, Argentina won 2:1 and in the Final beat West Germany 3:2.  After the match, the military marched off in formation considering “mission accomplished”, but right after that once the troops had gone, a clash occurred between the Argentine and British “fans” (probably hooligans). Stones and other items were thrown and we were caught in the middle. Fortunately, we were able to go down a slope and hide behind a food vendors cart, until police arrived and separated the gangs. This was on 22 June 1986, - Anneliese’s “Sweet 16” birthday. Of course, we celebrated afterwards – with Mariachis  and a hot Mexican meal.. 

  

Since Diego Maradona was considered the best football player of the world and received a lot of media attention, UNICEF thought that soccer stars could also be good spokespersons for the world’s children. With the help of Australian soccer star Craig Johnston, who played in the English Premier league, we were able to locate Maradona, and we visited him at his home in Naples, Italy, where he played at that time for FC Napoli. He agreed to be associated with UNICEF. Diego was one of the star players at the UNICEF benefit match in Los Angeles following the World Cup in July of 1986, and our Executive Director Jim Grant met Diego and officially named him a Sports Ambassador. 

 

Unfortunately, Diego could not deal with his fame and took drugs and alcohol. In 1991, FIFA suspended him from international games, since he tested positive. Nevertheless, he was able to get back to work as a coach.  Nevertheless, he is considered the best footballer of all time. "

Argentina's Ambassador to South Africa,
Carlos Sersale di Cerisano (left), greets UNICEF Representative
 in South Africa Aida Girma and the Principal of Selelekela Secondary School, F. Lepshe.

South Africa - Diego Maradona gives a
quick lesson in football juggling during his visit.