Current Biography Excerpts: Soccer

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BERLOSCONI, SILVIO
MARADONA, DIEGO

BERLOSCONI, SILVIO
(buhr-loo-SKOH-nee, SIL-vee-oh)
Sep. 29, 1936- Prime Minister of Italy; businessman.

The Italian business tycoon Silvio Berlusconi saw his almost lifelong string of successes capped when, in March 1994, a political coalition headed by his four-month-old Forza Italia Party triumphed in the Italian general elections and led to his replacing Carlo Azeglio Ciampi as prime minister. Berlusconi had previously enjoyed an international reputation as the dominant force in Italian television, with three national networks under the umbrella of his Fininvest holding company, which also controls some 150 other businesses. Berlusconi formed Fininvest in 1975, after having established himself as a developer of residential villages. He entered the television business in 1980, when he launched Italy's first commercial network, then went on to become the owner of an array of other enterprises, including the largest department-store chain in the country and a publishing company that produced newspapers and more than thirty magazines. Fininvest is also involved in film production, having provided nearly half the investment in Italy's film industry.

Berlusconi cemented his celebrity in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the purchase of the soccer team AC Milan, which he developed into Europe's most successful sports franchise. According to Ed Vulliamy, writing in the Manchester Guardian Weekly (April 3, 1994), the word Berlusconism thus "entered the Italian vocabulary, meaning a way of life where people live in houses built by Berlusconi, watch TV controlled by Berlusconi, shop at supermarkets owned by Berlusconi, relax on tennis courts and in restaurants built by Berlusconi, and adore a soccer team bought by Berlusconi." The entrepreneur's victory in the 1994 elections paved the way toward his leadership of a country exhausted by a two-year corruption scandal that ended the half-century reign of the coalition led by the Christian Democrats. "I'm happy," Berlusconi declared, "about...the choice of something new."

Copyright © 1996 by The H. W. Wilson Co.

The complete article can be found on the Current Biography CD-ROM and in the 1994 Current Biography Yearbook.

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MARADONA, DIEGO
Oct. 30, 1960- Argentinian soccer player.

The most famous, the most highly paid, and the most controversial soccer player in the world is Diego Maradona, an Argentinian who, like other top international soccer stars, plays both for his country's national team in major tournaments, such as the World Cup, and for a team in a professional league--in his case, Naples of the Italian League. Although he stands only five feet, five inches tall and weighs just 150 pounds, Maradona has the compensatory assets of heavy shoulders, a thick chest, and massive thighs. "Speedy, compact, and strong, with great dribbling skills, he controls play, forcing the game to swirl around him" George Vecsey wrote in his New York Times Magazine (May 27, 1990) profile of Maradona. "Roaming more than half the field, he is a constant threat with or without the ball, capable of escaping box' defenses, racing past defenders, muscling his way into position near the goal mouth....His shots, mostly left-footed, are brutal." A midfielder, Maradona signed his first professional contract when he was just fifteen and, at sixteen, became the youngest player ever to make Argentina's national team. Three years later he signed a six-year, $12 million contract--at that time the most lucrative agreement in sports history--with Barcelona of the Spanish League. Maradona led Argentina to the finals of the World Cup in both 1986 and 1990, each time against West Germany. His team took the crown in 1986 but was dethroned four years later.

While Maradona's skills on the soccer field are beyond dispute, his proficiency in the art of interpersonal relations, especially with members of the media, is quite another matter. In his profile of Maradona for Sports Illustrated (May 14, 1990), Rick Telander described the Argentinian as "a petty little slug of a man," an assessment that has been endorsed by countless other sportswriters around the world, who have used such adjectives as "petulant," "stubborn," "boorish," "vulgar," "indiscreet," "spoiled," and "unrepentant" to describe him. "Diego Maradona...is the best soccer player in the world, but he is also among the worst at dealing with the world," Telander commented. "For some veteran observers, Maradona is a symbol of all that has gone wrong with the sport of soccer. He is aloof and mercenary, whereas most great former players were supposedly kind, grateful, and dedicated beyond the limits of monetary reward....At times he appears to have no allegiance to anything except his paychecks." In his own defense, Maradona said, as quoted by Ron Arias and Logan Bentley of People magazine (June 18, 1990), "I have made enemies, but it doesn't matter. They can say what they want about me....Remember, it's the players who bring 90,000 people to the stadium. I am Maradona, who makes goals, who makes mistakes. I can take it all, I have shoulders big enough to fight with everybody."

Copyright © 1996 by The H. W. Wilson Co.

The complete article can be found on the Current Biography CD-ROM and in the 1990 Current Biography Yearbook.

Search for another athlete