Rome: The mayor of Naples started Thursday the formal process to rename the San Paolo stadium for Diego Maradona. The move comes with the city in mourning for the soccer great. Diego Maradona died Wednesday of a heart attack at age 60. His sudden demise came two weeks after being released from a hospital in Buenos Aires following brain surgery.
“We are already putting it together this morning, taking the first steps to dedicate Naples’ stadium to Maradona,” Luigi De Magistris said. “It’s a process but it will be a quick process. This is because when there is such a strong desire there’s nothing that will hold us up. We’re hoping to make it coincide with the resumption of games with fans,” the mayor added.
The city operates the San Paolo stadium. It was the same venue where Maradona led Napoli to its only two Serie A titles in 1987 and 1990.
Fans were already outside the stadium late Wednesday and into Thursday morning. They were waving banners, singing songs and lighting flares in Maradona’s honor. Even though gatherings are technically banned in the city, which is located in a coronavirus ‘red zone’, fans ignored the rules.
“Maradona is like a father, like a brother, a family member for us,” said fan Raffaele Cuomo outside the stadium. “Unfortunately it’s like someone from the family died, and it’s like a part of Naples has died. It broke my heart. But Diego will always be with us, in our heart,” he added.
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When Maradona joined Napoli in 1984, the southern club had won virtually nothing. They were far removed both geographically and socio-economically from the Italy’s soccer capitals of Milan and Turin.
“It sparked the revival of a people,” De Magistris said. “He (Maradona) loves Naples and so he wanted to — via soccer — make the world know about a city full of humanity, affection, energy and fantasy. Even today I see young kids who didn’t (see him play) have Maradona in their minds and in their hearts.”
‘Il Mattino’, Naples’ leading newspaper, had a front-page headline Thursday that said simply, ‘Grazie’ — “Thank You.”
The ‘Gazzetta dello Sport’, Italy’s leading sports newspaper, dedicated its first 23 pages to Maradona.