Native name | La mano de Dios |
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Date | 22 June 1986 (Argentina v England match) |
Venue | Estadio Azteca |
Location | Mexico City |
Type | Association football goal |
Participants | Diego Maradona Peter Shilton |
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Argentine professional footballer Eponyms and public art
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"The hand of God" (Spanish : La mano de Dios) was a goal scored by Argentine footballer Diego Maradona during the Argentina v England quarter finals match of the 1986 FIFA World Cup. The goal was illegal under association football rules because Maradona used his hand to score. The referees did not have a clear view of the play and allowed the goal to stand. The goal gave Argentina a 1–0 lead. Argentina went on to win 2–1, with Maradona scoring a second goal known as the "Goal of the Century", en route to claiming the World Cup.
The goal's name derives from Maradona's initial response on whether he scored it illegally, stating it was made "a little with the head of Maradona, and a little with the hand of God". Maradona eventually acknowledged he had illegally handled the ball, stating that he considered the goal to be "symbolic revenge" for the United Kingdom's victory over Argentina in the Falklands War four years earlier.
Six minutes into the second half of the game, Maradona took the ball out of the box with his left leg and passed it to teammate Jorge Valdano. Valdano tried to take on several English defenders, but the ball was intercepted and thrown back and forth and kicked towards England's goal by English midfielder Steve Hodge.
Because of the position of the players, Maradona would have been caught offside, but as the ball came off an opponent, there was no offside offence. Alone inside the penalty box and with the ball dropping down, Maradona contested the ball with goalkeeper Peter Shilton, who stood 20 centimetres (8 inches) taller than Maradona. Shilton jumped forward with his right hand, while Maradona did so with his left arm outstretched. Maradona's fist, which was raised close to his head, touched the ball first and hit the ball into England's goal. Maradona began to celebrate while glancing sideways at the referee and the linesman for confirmation. He then fully celebrated the goal when it was given.
Tunisian referee Ali Bennaceur gave the goal, but after the English players' protests he sought the advice of his second linesman who confirmed the goal.
Mexican photographer Alejandro Ojeda Carbajal immortalized this moment in a photograph in which Maradona can be seen hitting the ball with his hand.
Ahora sí puedo contar lo que en aquel momento no podía, lo que en aquel momento definí como «La mano de Dios»... ¿Qué mano de Dios? ¡fue la mano del Diego!
Now I can say what I couldn't at that moment, what I defined at that time as The Hand of God. What hand of God? It was the hand of Diego!
In 2005, 19 years after scoring the controversial goal, Maradona confessed on a program La Noche del 10 , that the goal was actually scored with his hand.
Several world media outlets reported the news, creating controversy. [2] Even Peter Shilton rejected the apology, arguing that it was now too late. [3] Maradona, a few days after the article came out, denied everything, saying that the British newspaper The Sun had misquoted him.[ citation needed ]
A few days later, The Sun newspaper confirmed that it had modified the interpretation of Maradona's words and asked to change the name to The Devil's Hand. In the original text of the interview, it could be seen that Maradona had never asked for forgiveness for the goal.[ citation needed ]
In the 2019 documentary film Diego Maradona directed by Asif Kapadia, Maradona links the event to the Falklands War four years earlier, saying "[w]e, as Argentinians, didn't know what the military was up to. They told us that we were winning the war. But in reality, England was winning 20–0. It was tough. The hype made it seem like we were going to play out another war. I knew it was my hand. It wasn't my plan but the action happened so fast that the linesman didn't see me putting my hand in. The referee looked at me and he said: 'Goal.' It was a nice feeling like some sort of symbolic revenge against the English." [4]
Ivan Lopez-Muniz wrote in 2017 that in Argentina the "entire nation", including the Government and the Argentine Football Association, still "praises the most blatant act of cheating ever caught on tape", partly because "Argentines are humans, and humans are hypocrites" but also because of a long history of grievances against the United Kingdom, that includes not only the 1982 Falklands War, but other matters such as England manager Alf Ramsay calling the Argentine players "animals" after Argentine Captain Antonio Rattín was sent off against England in the 1966 World Cup, as well as Britain's invasions of the future Argentine capital Buenos Aires in 1806 and 1807, and its reassertion of sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (known to Argentines as Las Malvinas) "in 1832". [5] [lower-alpha 1]
The "Hand of God" became a popular phrase and is still referred to around the world. Some other famous football handballs are:
The legacy of "Hand of God" has extended beyond the realm of football. Paolo Sorrentino’s semi-autobiographical 2021 drama is named after the incident and references Diego Maradona's influence on 1980s Naples.
After the game Maradona swapped his shirt in the tunnel with Steve Hodge. After many years of requests to sell the shirt and a period of 20 years where it was on loan at the National Football Museum, in 2022 Hodge placed it up for auction with auctioneers Sotheby's. [14] On 4 May 2022, the shirt sold at auction for £7,100,000, a world record for a piece of sports memorabilia. [15]
Diego Armando Maradona Franco was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the 20th Century award, alongside Pelé.
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Peter Leslie Shilton is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
Stephen Brian Hodge is an English retired footballer who played as a midfielder. He enjoyed a high-profile club and international career in the 1980s and 1990s. One high point of his career was playing in the 1986 World Cup, another was winning two League Cups with Nottingham Forest. He was also part of Leeds United's 1992 title-winning team though his starting appearances at Leeds were limited.
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Berny Ulloa Morera is a retired football referee from Costa Rica. He officiated the match between Argentina and Bulgaria at the 1986 World Cup. He was a linesman in the famous game between England and Argentina in 1986 in which the Hand of God and Goal of the Century were scored by Diego Maradona. He was also a linesman in the final of the 1986 World Cup between Argentina and West Germany.
New Maradona or New Diego was a title given by the press and public to promising Argentine football players in reference to Diego Maradona as a benchmark. Since Maradona retired, fans had been anticipating someone to lead the Argentina national team to a World Cup final, like Maradona did in 1986 and 1990. As a consequence, very talented youngsters were quickly labeled as the New Maradona, sometimes without any similarity in playing style. The New Maradonas were predominantly players in attacking or advanced playmaking roles — forwards, wingers, or attacking midfielders. The term gradually fell out of use after Lionel Messi successfully managed to lead Argentina to World Cup finals in 2014 and 2022, winning it in the latter, arguably emulating and surpassing Maradona to become the most successful Argentine footballer ever.
Martin Hansson is a Swedish former football referee. He was a full international referee for FIFA between 2001 and 2013.
Argentina v England was a football match played on 22 June 1986 between Argentina and England in the quarter-finals of the 1986 FIFA World Cup at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. The game was held four years after the Falklands War between Argentina and the United Kingdom, and was a key part in the already intense Argentina–England football rivalry. It was also a match which included two of the most well-known goals in football history, both scored by Argentina captain Diego Maradona.
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The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
But people in Argentina continue to celebrate the Hand of God. The Asociación del Fútbol Argentino (AFA) includes the play in its promo reels. The Argentine government airs it on public TV. An entire nation praises the most blatant act of cheating ever caught on tape. ... Because Argentines are humans, and humans are hypocrites. But there is also all that history, the stuff I mentioned before, as well as our failed attempt to reclaim Las Malvinas in 1982. ... Quite simply, it means that Maradona, on that day, was an Englishman.(Link to Howler Magazine)