Retrial over death of Argentina legend Maradona begins

The first trial - which saw members of Maradona’s medical team accused of poor care - collapsed after a judge let cameras into the court.

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The first trial - which saw members of Maradona’s medical team accused of poor care - collapsed after a judge let cameras into the court.

A retrial into the death of the football legend Diego Maradona began on Tuesday, a year after the first case collapsed in a mistrial.

Seven members of his medical team are charged with negligent homicide after he died from a heart attack, aged 60. They have denied the allegations. If convicted, they face between eight and 25 years in prison.

The first trial collapsed last May when one of its three judges resigned after allegedly allowing unauthorised filming in court for a documentary.

Maradona died in 2020 at his home in Tigre, Buenos Aires province, while he was recuperating from surgery to remove a brain blood clot.

Investigators classified the case as culpable homicide - a crime similar to involuntary manslaughter - because they said the accused were aware of the seriousness of Maradona’s health condition but did not take the necessary measures to save him.

The heart failure caused him to suffer acute pulmonary oedema, when fluid builds up in the lungs, the preliminary autopsy confirmed.

A panel of medical experts, asked by prosecutors to investigate Maradona’s medical team, said the treatment he received at his home was “deficient and reckless”.

It concluded that the footballer “would have had a better chance of survival” with adequate treatment in an appropriate medical facility.

The seven people on trial include his main medical adviser, Leopoldo Luque, and his psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov. His former nurse, Dahiana Gisela Madrid, will stand in a separate trial.

Around 100 people are set to testify in front of a new set of judges at a court in San Isidro, including Maradona’s daughters. The trial is expected to last until July.

When the footballer died on 25 November 2020, then President of Argentina Alberto Fernandez declared three days of national mourning.

“Thank you for having existed, Diego. We’re going to miss you all our lives,” he said.

Maradona started his career with Argentinos Juniors. He went on to represent Argentina in four World Cups, scoring 34 goals, including the infamous “Hand of God” goal against England in 1986.

During the second half of his career, he struggled with cocaine addiction. He was banned for 15 months after testing positive for the drug in 1991.

He retired from professional football in 1997, on his 37th birthday, during his second stint at Argentine giants Boca Juniors.

Maradona was appointed head coach of the national team in 2008 and left after the 2010 World Cup, where his side were beaten by Germ

— A new trial over the death of Argentine football legend Diego Maradona begins Tuesday a year after a scandal involving a judge caused the first trial to collapse.

Maradona, considered one of the world’s greatest players ever, died in November 2020 at the age of 60 while recovering from brain surgery at a private residence.

He died of heart failure and acute pulmonary edema – a condition where fluid accumulates in the lungs – two weeks after going under the knife.

His seven-person medical team were indicted over the conditions of his convalescence in the northern Buenos Aires suburb of Tigre, described by prosecutors as grossly negligent.

But two and a half months into their trial, after hours of sometimes tearful testimony from witnesses, including Maradona’s children, the proceedings came to a halt.

The trial was annulled in May 2025 after it emerged that one of the judges overseeing the trial was involved in a documentary about the case, potentially breaking ethics rules.

The judge, Julieta Makintach, was later impeached.

The new trial, which will hear from some 120 witnesses, will again seek to determine if Maradona’s medical team is responsible for his death.

Seven health care professionals —- doctors, psychologists, and nurses – who were treating him at the time of his death are accused of homicide with possible intent – pursuing a course of action despite knowing it could lead to death.

They risk prison terms of between eight and 25 years if convicted.

The defense maintains the larger-than-life Maradona, who battled cocaine and alcohol addictions, died of natural causes.

“If there’s one thing that has been ruled out, it’s a malicious criminal plan to kill Maradona. Anyone who continues to maintain that is cruel to the family and the accused,” Vadim Mischanchuk, lawyer for psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, told Radio Con Vos on Sunday.

News of the death of the 1986 World Cup champion brought hundreds of thousands of Argentines onto the streets in mourning in the midst of the Covid pandemic.

The trial is expected to last until July.

— Dalma Maradona, right, and Gianinna Maradona, second left, daughters of late soccer star Diego Maradona attend the first day of the trial over allegations of homicide by negligence against the medical team that treated their father in San Isidro, Argentina, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. Credit: AP/Rodrigo Abd

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — The trial of seven health care professionals accused of negligence in the death of soccer great Diego Maradona resumed on Tuesday, nearly a year after the original proceedings collapsed when a presiding judge stepped down after appearing in a documentary about the case.

The negligence case centers on seven medical professionals accused of failing to provide adequate care in the weeks leading up to Maradona’s death five years ago at a home outside Buenos Aires. Maradona, widely regarded as one of the greatest soccer players of all time, died at age 60 from cardiac arrest while recovering from a procedure to treat a blood clot on his brain.

The seven defendants are charged with culpable homicide, a crime similar to involuntary manslaughter that alleges that the accused were aware that their reckless conduct posed a risk and failed to prevent it. If convicted, they face prison sentences ranging from eight to 25 years.

Defense attorneys argue that the captain of Argentina’s 1986 World Cup-winning team suffered from multiple serious medical conditions and that no cr…