A favourite in the UAE and a favourite across the world, the Argentina legend celebrates his 56th birthday and if you check out Sport360.com you’ll see video proof his sublime touch has not deserted him.

For the uninitiated, Maradona is among a trio of players widely argued to be the greatest footballer of all time – the other two being Pele and Lionel Messi. El Pibe de Oro almost single-handedly won the 1986 World Cup and guided Argentina to the final four years later.

He also took an unfancied Napoli side to its only two Italian titles after breaking the world-record transfer fee for the second time when he signed for the Partenopei Gli Azzurri from Barcelona in 1984. He brought his playing career to an end in 1997 before managing Argentina at the 2010 World Cup and of course here in the UAE with Al Wasl.

More sport star birthdays on this day:

1973: Adam Copeland, better known by his ring name‘Edge’, he is a former WWE wrestler (43).

1983: Iain Hume, Canadian striker who survived a nasty skull fracture after being elbowed in a game (33).

1986: Thomas Morgenstern, Austrian former ski jumper with three gold medals at the Winter Olympics (30).

1989: Nastia Liukin, retired Russian-American gymnast and the 2008 Olympic individual all-around champion (27).