Debut at age 16 Maradona made his full international debut at age 16, against
Hungary, on 27 February 1977, only four months after his professional debut for Argentinos Juniors. He was left off the Argentine squad for the
1978 World Cup on home soil by coach
César Luis Menotti who felt he was too young at age 17. On 3 November 1978, just a few days after turning 18, Maradona played for the U20 Argentina team in a friendly match against
Franz Beckenbauer's
New York Cosmos, scoring twice in a 2–1 win.
1979 World Youth Championship and Copa América in the
1979 FIFA World Youth Championship Final in Japan At age 18, Maradona played the
1979 FIFA World Youth Championship in Japan and emerged as the star of the tournament, shining in Argentina's 3–1 final win over the
Soviet Union, scoring a total of six goals in six appearances in the tournament. On 2 June 1979, Maradona scored his first senior international goal in a 3–1 win against
Scotland at
Hampden Park. He went on to play for Argentina in two
1979 Copa América ties during August 1979, a 2–1 loss against
Brazil and a 3–0 win over
Bolivia in which he scored his side's third goal. Maradona appeared at the
1979 Copa América, where Argentina had a poor performance, being knocked out in the first round. Maradona exited the tournament having scored once in a 3–0 victory against Bolivia.
1982 World Cup Maradona played his first
World Cup tournament in 1982 in his new country of residence, Spain. Argentina played
Belgium in the opening game of the 1982 Cup at the Camp Nou in
Barcelona. Maradona did not perform to expectations, as Argentina, the defending champions, lost 1–0. Although the team convincingly beat both Hungary and
El Salvador in
Alicante to progress to the second round, there were internal tensions within the team, with the younger, less experienced players at odds with the older, more experienced players. With a team that also included such players as
Mario Kempes,
Osvaldo Ardiles,
Ramón Díaz,
Daniel Bertoni,
Alberto Tarantini,
Ubaldo Fillol and
Daniel Passarella, the Argentine side was defeated in the second round by
Brazil and by eventual winners
Italy. The Italian match is renowned for Maradona being aggressively
man-marked by
Claudio Gentile, as Italy beat Argentina at the
Sarrià Stadium in Barcelona, 2–1. Maradona played in all five matches without being substituted, scoring twice against Hungary. He was fouled repeatedly in all five games and particularly in the last one against Brazil at the Sarrià, a game that was blighted by poor officiating and violent fouls. With Argentina already down 3–0 to Brazil, Maradona's temper eventually got the better of him and he was sent off with five minutes remaining for a serious retaliatory foul against
Batista. Throughout the tournament, Maradona asserted his dominance and was the most dynamic player of the competition. He played every minute of every Argentina game, scoring five goals and making five assists; three of the assists came in the opening match against
South Korea at the
Olímpico Universitario Stadium in
Mexico City. His first goal of the tournament came against Italy in the second group game in
Puebla. Argentina eliminated
Uruguay in the first knockout round in Puebla, setting up a match against
England at the
Azteca Stadium, also in Mexico City. After scoring two contrasting goals in the
2–1 quarter-final win against England, his legend was cemented. The majesty of his second goal and the notoriety of his first led to the French newspaper ''
L'Équipe'' describing Maradona as "half-angel, half-devil". This match was played with the background of the
Falklands War between Argentina and the United Kingdom. Replays showed that the first goal was scored by striking the ball with his hand. Maradona was coyly evasive, describing it as "a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God". Maradona's second goal, just four minutes after the hotly disputed hand-goal, was later voted by
FIFA as the greatest goal in the history of the World Cup. He received the ball in his own half, swivelled around and with 11 touches ran more than half the length of the field,
dribbling past five English outfield players (
Peter Beardsley,
Steve Hodge,
Peter Reid,
Terry Butcher and
Terry Fenwick) before he left goalkeeper
Peter Shilton on his backside with a
feint, and slotted the ball into the net. This goal was voted "
Goal of the Century" in a 2002 online poll conducted by FIFA. A 2002 Channel 4 poll in the UK saw his performance ranked number 6 in the list of the
100 Greatest Sporting Moments. " goal) against England in Mexico 1986. In 2022, his shirt sold for £7.1 million ($9.3 million), the highest for a piece of sports memorabilia. Maradona followed this with two more goals in a semi-final match against Belgium at the Azteca, including another virtuoso dribbling display for the second goal. In the final match, West Germany attempted to contain him by double-marking him, but in the 84th minute he nevertheless found space past West German player
Lothar Matthäus to give the final pass to
Jorge Burruchaga for the winning goal.
Argentina beat West Germany 3–2 in front of 115,000 fans at the Azteca with Maradona lifting the World Cup as captain. During the tournament, Maradona attempted or created more than half of Argentina's shots, attempted a tournament-best 90 dribbles—three times more than any other player—and was fouled a record 53 times, winning his team twice as many free kicks as any player. Maradona scored or assisted ten of Argentina's 14 goals (71%), including the assist for the winning goal in the final, ensuring that he would be remembered as one of the greatest names in football history. By the end of the World Cup, Maradona went on to win the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament by unanimous vote and was widely regarded to have won the World Cup virtually single-handedly, something that he later stated he did not entirely agree with.
Zinedine Zidane, watching the 1986 World Cup as a 14-year-old, stated Maradona "was on another level". In a tribute to him, Azteca Stadium authorities built a statue of him scoring the "Goal of the Century" and placed it at the entrance of the stadium. after winning the final to West Germany Regarding Maradona's performance at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, in 2014, Roger Bennett of
ESPN FC described it as "the most virtuoso performance a World Cup has ever witnessed", with Steven Goff of
The Washington Post dubbing his performance as "one of the finest in tournament annals". In 2002, Russell Thomas of
The Guardian described Maradona's second goal against England in the 1986 World Cup quarter-finals as "arguably the greatest individual goal ever". In a 2009 article for
CBC Sports, John Molinaro described the goal as "the greatest ever scored in the tournament – and, maybe, in soccer." In a 2018 article for
Sportsnet, he added: "No other player, not even
Pel[é] in
1958 nor
Paolo Rossi in 1982, had dominated a single competition the way Maradona did in Mexico." He also went on to say of Maradona's performance: "The brilliant Argentine artist single-handedly delivered his country its second World Cup." Regarding his two memorable goals against England in the quarter-finals, he commented: "Yes, it was Maradona's hand, and not God's, that was responsible for the first goal against England. But while the '
Hand of God' goal remains one of the most contentious moments in World Cup history, there can be no disputing that his second goal against England ranks as the greatest ever scored in the tournament. It transcended mere sports – his goal was pure art."
1987 and 1989 Copa América At the
1987 Copa América in Argentina, he scored three goals in four matches, including a brace in a 3–0 victory against Ecuador, but Argentina lost the semi-final 0–1 against eventual winners Uruguay. In the
1989 Copa América in Brazil, Maradona played six games but would not score any goals. Argentina would finish the tournament third.
1990 World Cup Maradona captained Argentina again in the
1990 World Cup in Italy to yet another World Cup final. An ankle injury affected his overall performance, and he was much less dominant than four years earlier, and the team were missing three of their best players due to injury. After losing their opening game to
Cameroon at the
San Siro in
Milan, Argentina were almost eliminated in the group stage, only qualifying in third position from their group. In the round of 16 match against Brazil in
Turin,
Claudio Caniggia scored the only goal after being set up by Maradona. In the quarter-final, Argentina faced
Yugoslavia in
Florence; the match ended 0–0 after 120 minutes, with Argentina advancing in a penalty shootout even though Maradona's kick, a weak shot to the goalkeeper's right, was saved. The semi-final against the host nation Italy at Maradona's club stadium in Naples, the Stadio San Paolo, was also resolved on penalties after a 1–1 draw. This time, however, Maradona was successful with his effort, daringly rolling the ball into the net with an almost exact replica of his unsuccessful kick in the previous round. At the
final in Rome, Argentina lost 1–0 to West Germany, the only goal being a controversial penalty scored by
Andreas Brehme in the 85th minute, after
Rudi Völler was adjudged to be fouled.
1993 Artemio Franchi Cup On 24 February 1993, Maradona returned to the national team when Argentina played the
1993 Artemio Franchi Cup against
Denmark in
Mar del Plata. Argentina won 5–4 in a
penalty shoot-out after a 1–1 draw.
1994 World Cup At the
1994 World Cup in the United States, Maradona played in only two games (both at the
Foxboro Stadium near
Boston), scoring one goal against
Greece, before being sent home after failing a
drug test for
ephedrine doping. After scoring Argentina's third goal against Greece, Maradona had one of the most remarkable World Cup
goal celebrations as he ran towards one of the sideline cameras shouting with a distorted face and bulging eyes, in sheer elation of his return to international football. This turned out to be Maradona's last international goal for Argentina. In the second game, a 2–1 victory over Nigeria which was to be his last game for Argentina, he set up both of his team's goals on free kicks, the second an assist to Caniggia, in what were two very strong showings by the Argentine team. In his autobiography, Maradona argued that the test result was due to his personal trainer giving him the energy drink Rip Fuel. His claim was that the U.S. version, unlike the Argentine one, contained the chemical and that, having run out of his Argentine dosage, his trainer unwittingly bought the U.S. formula. Maradona also separately claimed that he had an agreement with FIFA, on which the organization reneged, to allow him to use the drug for weight loss before the competition in order to be able to play. His failed drug test at the 1994 World Cup signalled the end of his international career, which lasted 17 years and yielded 34 goals from 91 games, including one winner's medal and one runners-up medal in the World Cup.
Unofficial internationals Alongside official internationals, Maradona also played and scored for an Argentina XI against the
World XI in 1978 to mark the first anniversary of their first World Cup win, a year after that captained the 'Rest of the World' against the English
Football League XI to celebrate the organization's centenary (after reportedly securing a £100,000 appearance fee) ==Player profile==