Kingston, 25 November 2020 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, says she’s sad of the news of the passing of the football legend, Diego Maradona.

In a statement this afternoon, Minister Grange said:

“This is a sad day for world football.

Whether you supported Argentina or not, you have to admit that Diego Maradona was one of the greatest football players the world has ever seen.

Nobody dribbled like Maradona. Maradona was colourful and gifted and made the game exciting. It was a pleasure to watch him play at every level.

People will recall the ‘hand of God’ controversy and his personal struggle with substance abuse. But I want to focus on his skill that propelled him to make his international debut at age 17; his World Cup glory in 1986; his winning the FIFA Player of the Century award in 2000, jointly with another great, Pele; and just the inspiration that he was and will continue to be for football players and fans everywhere.

His passing is a great loss to the world of sports as he inspired an entire generation of youths across the world to be involved in and support football.

May his soul rest in peace. We will miss him.”

It was reported on Wednesday that Maradona, who inspired Argentina to the FIFA World Cup title in 1986, died of a heart attack. He was 60.

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