Diego Sinagra
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Diego Armando Maradona Sinagra | ||
Date of birth | 20 September 1986 | ||
Place of birth | Naples, Italy | ||
Height | 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) | ||
Playing position |
Forward Midfielder | ||
Youth career | |||
1997–2004 | Napoli | ||
2004–2005 | Genoa | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2005 | Cervia 1920 | 11 | (0) |
2006 | Puteolana 1902 | 2 | (0) |
2007 | Quarto | 9 | (1) |
2007–2008 | Venafro | 14 | (1) |
2008 | Mare di Roma | 8 | (14) |
2008 | Boys Caivanese | 1 | (0) |
2009 | Napoli Beach Soccer | 8 | (6) |
2009–2012 | Quarto | 2 | (0) |
2012 | A.S.D San Giorgio 1926 | 0 | (0) |
National team | |||
2001 | Italy Under 17s | 1 | (0) |
2008– | Italy Beach Soccer | 11 | (3) |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
Diego Armando Maradona Sinagra (born 20 September 1986) is an Italian footballer and beach soccer player, who plays for A.S.D San Giorgio in Italy. He is the son of Argentine national footballer Diego Maradona.
Biography
Born in Naples, Diego Armando Maradona Sinagra was the result of an affair between Diego Maradona and a young local woman, Cristiana Sinagra. He was brought up by his mother. His half-brother is called Diego Fernando (Maradona), born to his father in 2013.
Diego Junior had a passion for football and started playing at a young age showing promise by emulating the skills of his father. At eleven years old he was a part of the Napoli youth squad. Diego Junior represented the Italian national team at under-17 age level. In 2004, the young Sinagra joined the youth squad of Genoa for a season.
A Italian court recognized the Maradona's paternity in 1993, but Sinagra met his father for the first time in 2003, during a golf tournament in Fiuggi.[1]
Only in 2007, Maradona recognized Sinagra, the child was born from his relationship with Cristiana Sinagra.[2]
There were rumours that Pope Francis, at that time the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, asked to Diego Maradona to recognize Diego Maradona Sinagra as his son.[3] Maradona's have lawyer denied this fact.[4]
On 10 July 2015, Diego Maradona Sinagra married Nunzia Pennino in a Roman Catholic church in Naples and received the Pope Francis' blessing.[5][6][7]
On 25 August 2016, Diego Maradona publicly recognised Sinagra as his son and declared “I love him a lot and he’s very like me.” in front of the media in Buenos Aires.[8] [9][10][11]
Playing in Eccellenza and in Serie D
His start in first team football came in the amateur leagues during 2005 when he joined Cervia, a team of the Eccellenza division of Emilia-Romagna, which was the subject of a national reality show, named Campioni - Il sogno.
He joined Internapoli, from Eccellenza Campania, in January 2006; after having been without a team for the first half of the 2005–06 season, he only played two games for the club as he suffered an injury which kept him sidelined. In 2007 he joined Quarto, another club in the Campanian Eccellenza;[12] Quarto were victorious in the Eccellenza playoffs that season and were promoted to Serie D. He then agreed to stay at Quarto for the 2007–08 Serie D season, but left the club by mutual consent on 16 November 2007 following a head coach replacement which caused him concerns about his role in the team.[13] He then signed for Venafro, a Molisan Serie D team, a few weeks later.[14] On 21 January 2008, Sinagra scored the first goal with Venafro from 30 metres.[15] At the end of the season Sinagra left Venafro and he was bought by a beach soccer team, A.S.D. Mare di Roma.
On 2 December 2008, he signed for F.C America – (Eccellenza Campania).[16] In August 2009 he then signed for Juve Stabia, but on 11 September 2009 he left the team.[17] He then played for U.S. Arzanese.[18]
Beach soccer
On 29 April, Sinagra joined the Italy national beach soccer team for the Beach Soccer World Cup's qualifications which will be held from May 11 to 18 in Spain.[19] On 12 May, Sinagra made his debut in the national team in the match against Greece.[20] Sinagra played four matches in the FIFA World Cup's qualifications and eventually Italy placed fourth, qualifying to the World Cup. In June 2008, Sinagra left Venafro and he was bought by a beach soccer team, A.S.D. Mare di Roma. He made his debut in Beach Soccer's Serie A on 27 June 2008 in the match against Alma Juventus Fano, scoring a goal. He scored six goals in three matches for Mare di Roma, convincing Italy's Coach Magrini to include him for the Beach Soccer World Cup.
Italy eventually placed second in the World Cup, losing 5–3 in the final against Brazil. Sinagra scored two goals for Italy in the competition (one in the final). In the championship Sinagra scored a dozen goals allowing his team, Mare di Roma, to advance to the final phase for the Italian title. Mare di Roma was however eliminated in the quarterfinals.
In 2009, Sinagra. was bought by Napoli Beach Soccer. Sinagra scored eight goals, allowing his team to win the Italian beach soccer championship for the first time in its history.
Honours
- 2006–07 – Eccellenza Playoff Winner (Quarto)
- 2008 Beach Soccer World Cup: runner-up
Diego Sinagra's Official Social Networks
- Official Website DiegoMaradonaJunior.com
- Official Twitter account @DiegoMaradonaJr
- Facebook Fan Page > Diego Maradona Jr
- Instagram Official Page > @diegomaradonajunior
- YouTube Official Page > Diego Maradona TV
References
- ↑ repubblica.it
- ↑ ilgiornale.it
- ↑ La Nacion
- ↑ Diario Popular
- ↑ El Intransigente
- ↑ El Intransigente
- ↑ Ciudad
- ↑ Couzens, Gerard (26 August 2016). "'I love him': Diego Maradona accepts love affair child as his son". The Daily Telegraph.
- ↑ bigbangnews.com
- ↑ sports.inquirer.net
- ↑ mirror.co.uk
- ↑ TuttoMercatoWeb
- ↑ "Maradona jr lascia il Quarto" (in Italian). ReSport.it. 2007-11-16. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
- ↑ "Maradona jr acquistato dal Venafro, serie D" (in Italian). Corriere del Mezzogiorno. 2007-12-06. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
- ↑ Diego Jr, gol e marchio di fabbrica
- ↑ "Diego Armando Maradona jr passa alla Boys Caivanese" (in Italian). interno18.it. 2008-12-02. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
- ↑ Juve Stabia, Maradona Jr lascia il gruppo
- ↑ "Ufficiale: Arzanese preso Diego Armando Maradona Jr." (in Italian). notiziariocalcio.com. 2011-02-01. Retrieved 2011-02-01.
- ↑ http://www.datasport.it/leggi.aspx?id=4990072
- ↑ http://www.beachsoccerlnd.com/dettaglio_news.asp?id_news=634
External links
- Diego Maradona Jr – FIFA competition record
- Futbolero - @Futbolero_tv Twitter.com/futbolero tv