Napoli’s home, San Paolo stadium has been officially renamed to the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium after the late Argentina striker who led them to their only two Serie A titles and the UEFA Cup, the city\u2019s council said on Friday.<\/p>\n
Maradona died last week after suffering a heart attack at his home in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, less than a month after his 60th birthday.<\/p>\n
The city council approved the resolution proposed by Naples mayor Luigi de Magistris to change the stadium\u2019s name to honour the World Cup-winning great who scored 115 goals in seven years at the club.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been in talks with local authorities for the past 17 years, I\u2019ve always asked to buy the stadium and rename it \u2018Diego Armando Maradona\u2019,\u201d Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis told Sky in Italy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf then, for tradition, we will need to call it both \u2018San Paolo\u2019 and \u2018Maradona\u2019 so be it. It won\u2019t change much, but it\u2019s only right that Maradona has this recognition. Even if we were to build a whole new stadium, I would name it like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour years here remain indelible in the memories of the people of Naples – symbolic of a coveted redemption and yearned-for resurrection.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maradona signed for Napoli in 1984 and helped the club conquer the northern teams such as Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan — seen as the aristocratic establishment of Italian football, and briefly turned Serie A on its head.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"