Twenty-two years ago, three grown men from Rosario founded the 500,000-member strong Iglesia Maradoniana to praise the love of fútbol legend Diego Armando Maradona above all things.
Fans of the football icon started a religion for him in the year 1998 and the religion currently has more than a million followers in more than sixty countries. The supporters of the Maradonian Church count the years since the football legend Maradona’s birth in 1960.
“I have two daughters, Mara and Dona. When the doctor told my wife we were expecting twins, we knew their names immediately”. Walter Rotundo, an ardent Maradonian was quoted saying by The Bubble.
Rotundo’s adoration for Diego knows no boundaries. As a member of the Maradonian Church since 2011, he handled ticket sales for the Christmas Mass held at Ocampo Futbol in Palermo on a Sunday. This was attended by around 200 Maradonians.
The Maradonian Church boasts approximately half a million worshipers worldwide, its cofounder Alejandro Verón estimates. “This is Argentine folk culture, Diego is the religion of the heart and it’s born out of love”, Verón attests.
Each year’s mass sees new members baptized and handed their certificate after successfully proving their Maradonian worthiness: scoring a goal with their left fist, imitating the infamous 1986 World Cup Hand of God goal against England.
Children, women and men alike are put to the challenge and anointed with holy water from a 4-litre plastic container that read Argentina 1-Brazil 0, Mundial 1990, in a reference to the classic game from the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
To enter the holy Church of Maradona, one must perform the sacred rite of scoring a ‘Hand of God’ goal.
Adherents hail from countries across the Americas and even Europe. This includes believers from Bolivia, Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay, France and Canada received their Iglesia Maradoniana membership on Sunday night.
