Diego Maradona’s younger brother, Hugo, has died in Naples at the age of 52 just a year after the death of the Argentine football legend, the Italian football club Napoli has confirmed.
“Hugo Maradona has died,” Napoli said in a brief statement on Tuesday, confirming reports in the Italian press that the former footballer had suffered a heart attack.
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The club said that the Napoli president, Aurelio De Laurentiis, and the team “come together around Maradona’s family and unite with them in the pain of Hugo’s death”.
A former Argentine youth international midfielder, Hugo Maradona played in Italy, Austria, Spain, Argentina and Japan before returning to Italy to settle permanently. He had a brief coaching career with amateur clubs in Naples.
Maradona, who had three children, recently ran on a rightwing list in municipal elections, which the left ultimately won.
Hugo Maradona was signed by Napoli in 1987 – joining Diego – before being loaned to Ascoli.
On 20 September of the same year, the two brothers played against each other with Diego’s Napoli coming out on top 2-1.
Diego Maradona, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, died in November 2020 aged 60.
