Search on for Argentines born in 1981 and named after Maradona

A major sports manufacturer launched a campaign on Monday to find 1,703 Argentines named after football icon Diego Armando Maradona, who died last year following a heart attack.

German brand Adidas wants to offer a free replica jersey of Maradona’s former team Boca Juniors to the people born and named “Diego Armando” in 1981, the same year the late great won the Argentine title with the Buenos Aires giants.

Last week, Boca and Adidas unveiled the club’s strip for the new season, which was inspired by the one worn by Maradona, who was 21 at the time, and his teammates forty years ago.

That was the year in which authorities registered the largest number of new born babies named Diego Armando, said Adidas in a statement.

Maradona was a fanatical Boca fan after his retirement and even owned a private box at the club’s Bombonera stadium.

He enjoyed two short stints with Boca at the beginning and end of his playing career.

His first spell at Boca was enough to earn him a move to Spanish giants Barcelona in 1982 and two years later he moved on to Italians Napoli where he enjoyed the best years of his career.

He inspired Argentina to World Cup gory in 1986 and then helped them reach the final again four years later, while Napoli won their only two Serie A titles while Maradona was their star.

He finished his career at Boca in 1997 and four years later returned to the Bombonera for his official retirement from football, uttering a memorable phrase about the substance addiction he suffered from.

“I made mistakes and I paid for them but the football was never stained,” he said.

Maradona died of a heart attack on November 25, 2020 aged 60 while recovering from an operation to remove a blood clot from his head.