Diego Maradona was born on 30 October 1960, at the Policlínico (Polyclinic) Evita Hospital in Lanús, Buenos Aires Province, but raised in Villa Fiorito, a shantytown on the southern outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina,[17] to a poor family that had moved from Corrientes Province. He was the first son after three daughters. He has two younger brothers, Hugo (el Turco) and Raúl (Lalo), both of whom were also professional football players. Maradona is of Italian, Spanish, Croatian, Indigenous-Argentinian ancestry.[18][19] His surname originates from the Spanish region Galicia.[18][20][21]
He was the fifth child and first son of Diego Maradona 'Chitoro' and Dalma Salvadora Franco 'Doña Tota' (1930–2011). Both his parents were illegitimate children. His father took the family name of his mother because his father did not recognise him as his own. Maradona's mother was not recognised by her father, Atanancio Ramón Edisto Franco, until she was eighteen years old. Maradona's parents were both born and brought up in the town of Esquina in the north-east province of Corrientes Province, living only two hundred yards from each other on the banks of the Corriente River. In 1950, they left Esquina and settled in Buenos Aires.
At age eight, Maradona was spotted by a talent scout while he was playing in his neighborhood club Estrella Roja. He became a staple of Los Cebollitas (The Little Onions), the junior team of Buenos Aires's Argentinos Juniors. As a 12-year-old ball boy, he amused spectators by showing his wizardry with the ball during the halftime intermissions of first division games.
When Diego came to Argentinos Juniors for trials, I was really struck by his talent and couldn't believe he was only eight years old. In fact, we asked him for his ID card so we could check it, but he told us he didn't have it on him. We were sure he was having us on because, although he had the physique of a child, he played like an adult. When we discovered he'd been telling us the truth, we decided to devote ourselves purely to him.
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— Francisco Cornejo, youth coach who discovered Maradona.[16]
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