Diego Maradona Resigns as Argentine Football Coach

Thus ends the role of Diego Maradona as coach for Argentine National Football Team. His contract was ended yesterday (27th July, 2010). This decision was taken by the country's soccer association, AFA, because Maradona wasn’t prepared to accept changes to his coaching staff.

The Argentine Football Association’s executive committee “unanimously resolved” not to renew the deal after AFA President Julio Grondona relayed details of his meeting with Maradona a day earlier, the governing body said in a statement.

Differences between Maradona and Grondona “were impossible to resolve,” association spokesman Ernesto Cherquis Bialo told reporters in Buenos Aires. Maradona, 49, said on Argentine television this week that he wouldn’t continue in the post he took in late 2008 if the association insisted on him changing his coaching staff.

Diego Maradona had led Argentina through some impressive performances during the World Cup 2010 before being demolished by Germany 0-4 in the quarter-finals.