Diego Maradona's SEVEN Doctors face 25 Years in Jail As Blockbuster Trial Over Soccer Icon's 'Homicide' Kicks Off — With Wildman's Family Claiming He Was Victim of 'Medical Mafia' Killing
The trial into the responsibility for Maradona's death is underway.
March 11 2025, Published 1:46 p.m. ET
A trial in Buenos Aires has just gotten underway for seven members of the medical team that treated Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona before his shocking death in 2020.
The health care professionals are all accused of contributing to the World Cup winner’s death, RadarOnline.com can report, which his family called a "medical mafia."
Maradona won the World Cup with Argentina in 1986.
Maradona, who was 60, suffered a heart attack at a house in Argentina in which he had been recovering from surgery to remove a blood clot on his brain weeks earlier.
The trial, which is expected to last for months, charges the medical team with homicide by negligence. They have collectively rejected the claims.
Maradona had struggled with drug addiction, obesity and alcoholism for decades, and reportedly came close to death in 2000 and 2004. But prosecutors concluded that were it not for the negligence of his doctors, his death could have been avoided.
If convicted, each could face up to 25 years in prison.
The soccer star died from a heart attack in 2020.
According to court documents, Maradona’s neurologist and personal doctor, Leopoldo Luque, first performed the surgery that removed his brain blood clot on Nov. 3, 2020.
However, his swift release of the star from the hospital to the rental home raised questions, with many wondering if he should have remained under care longer.
There was no alcohol or illegal drugs detected in the toxicology test performed after Maradona’s death. But the report said Maradona had psychotropic drugs for anxiety and depression in his system when he died. Psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov had prescribed Maradona's recovery medications.
The five other defendants include: Carlos Diaz, an addiction specialist who had overseen Maradona’s treatment for alcohol dependency; Nancy Forlini, a doctor who had helped manage Maradona’s home care; Mariano Perroni, a nursing coordinator; Ricardo Almirón, another nurse who tended to the former athlete and Pedro Pablo Di Spagna, a clinical physician.
His death kicked off periods of mourning around the world.
A medical board appointed to investigate Maradona's death found in early 2021 that the soccer star's medical team acted in an "inappropriate, deficient and reckless manner."
In an explosive 2021 report, the board concluded: "The home confinement did not comply with norms and protocols."
The experts also questioned why Maradona had been released so soon from the hospital after his operation when he was unable to care for himself and had limited or no access to critical medical devices, like an oxygen tube and a defibrillator, which administers an electric shock to restore heart rhythm.
However, the defendants described Maradona as a difficult patient who resisted treatment.
Neurologist Luque contends: "The death occurred unexpectedly, suddenly, during sleeping hours, without offering us any time." He also insisted it was Maradona himself who demanded in-home hospitalization and recovery.
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More than 100 witnesses, including doctors and family members, will take the stand beginning on March 11 in a trial expected to last four months in the Buenos Aires suburb of San Isidro.
A three-judge appeals court will hear arguments from the prosecution, which is due to present more than 120,000 messages and audio recordings from private conversations between those responsible for Maradona's wellbeing, including his neurologist, psychiatrist and nurses.
