Argentina to debate new bank note showing Maradona goal against England

Diego Maradona scores against England in the quarter final of the 1986 World Cup

Credit: Reuters/Juha Tamminen/File Photo

Next year, Argentinians may be able to slide “a Maradona” into their wallets. 

A senator has presented a bill to the National Congress to put the face of one of the most famous football players in the world on the country’s $1000 peso (£9) banknote.   The other side would feature the second goal Diego Maradona scored against England in the 1986 World Cup, dubbed the “goal of the century.” 

A similar idea was floated on social media last year, and took on renewed interest in the wake of Maradona’s death, two weeks ago, of a heart attack. 

His sudden death at 60 years old triggered an outpouring of grief around the world, as fans and sports figures commemorated his excellence and audacity both on and off the pitch. 

“The idea is to recognise Maradona, with his pros and his cons. We can’t neglect to recognise that he is the most famous Argentine in the world, idolised,” Senator Norma Durango, who presented the proposal on Monday, said in an interview on radio in Argentina. 

“I feel that the project has had a great acceptance, even if everyone may not be in favour.” 

The proposal calls for 50 per cent of all 1,000 peso banknotes printed by the Central Bank next year to bear his effigy. It would extend to a collection of commemorative stamps that reflect Maradona’s career as a player and a coach.

The 1986 quarter-final match against England also featured Maradona’s infamous "hand of god" goal. But it is the second one, where he swerved past defenders, that legislators are seeking to enshrine.

Argentina went on to win the World Cup that year, the last time it has hoisted the coveted trophy. 

Ms Durango said the group that proposed the bill considered putting Maradona’s face on the 100 peso note, in a nod to his humble beginnings in an impoverished barrio of Buenos Aires. But in the end, the “economic factor” convinced them to go with a higher value. 

“We think that when tourists come, they will want to take ‘a Maradona’ back with them,” she said.