Killing Maradona
How cocaine, the Camorra, cartels and crime corrupted football's greatest talent
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Killing Maradona
Narrated by:
John Sackville
Buy Now for £17.94
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Narrated by:
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John Sackville
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By:
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David Arrowsmith
Maradona was football's ultimate genius - a magician on the pitch whose talent rivalled only Pelé. But off the field, the boy from the barrios of Buenos Aires became entangled in a dark web of criminal influence and personal demons. From the Cali Cartel's attempts to lure him into the drug trade, to the Camorra's grip on his life in Naples; from clashes with the Italian government to Pablo Escobar's sinister hospitality, Maradona's life was a battleground far beyond football.
Battling addiction, betrayal, and exploitation, Maradona's story is one of genius corrupted - a man caught between adulation and self-destruction, whose medical neglect and FBI scrutiny culminated in a tragic end. Marking the 40th anniversary of Argentina's legendary 1986 World Cup victory, Killing Maradona is a searing investigation into the forces that destroyed football's first 'Golden Boy.'©2026 David Arrowsmith (P)2026 Octopus Publishing Group Limited
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A virtually impossible feat itself, he defies and escapes slum poverty (he only learns decades later his mother’s stomach pains resulted from her missing meals so that he could eat). Revered, iconic, a saint for some, a God even for others. It’s all here - the highs and lows; there’s even a tantalising bid to secure this phenomenon within the English game. It’s not difficult to see how he provokes and divides opinions (sometimes an unhelpful distraction from the football). For me, an admirer of the great man, it’s a chequered life, both inspiring and otherwise (including hepatitis and other consequences of ‘unhealthy lifestyle choices,’ let us say..), and the extremes he subjected his body to (with injudicious medical adjuncts beginning in childhood, and later cortisone knee injections) to perform for club and country, denying him the longevity he might have enjoyed on the pitch and away from it. Is there another footballer that has been kicked and fouled as often as Maradona? - and yet, he somehow strives on, pitch after pitch, team after team. It’s a wonder he succeeded in playing for as long as he did and is perhaps what makes him special. Whilst the audiobook’s title mentions ‘killing’ a lot of living is laid before us. It’s clear the pressure to excel and provide for his family is never absent since childhood. Argentina’s oppressive military Junta see in him a propaganda asset. M’s bankability inevitably draws opportunity (for himself and others) and equally as inevitably, craziness and bad company. The ‘three C’s’ of the book’s title changed the trajectory of his life (though another ‘c’ might be ‘choice’). Ultimately this level of fame and kingship don’t come cheap, as remarked in later chapters: ‘a prisoner of his fame,’ ‘heavy hangs the head that wears the crown.’ If you’ve loosely followed his career you’ll find a lot here including what one may recall from the media and likely less familiar details such as his managerial career, never emulating Maradona the footballer. The audiobook is read well; a clear voice I found easy to listen to without distracting melodrama or sensationalising tone, that I appreciated, letting the story tell itself and included good pronunciation of Spanish names. One ultimately reflects on how singularly gifted a player and how wasteful was such an untimely loss.
Possibly the greatest story from the sporting world..
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