CELEBRITY
Italy Court Clears Maradona Of Tax Evasion Years After His Death –
![Italy Court Clears Maradona Of Tax Evasion Years After His Death -](https://sportsvillagesquare.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Italy-Court-Clears-Maradona-Of-Tax-Evasion-Years-After-His.jpg)
Italy’s highest court cleared the late Agentine soccer legend Diego Maradona of tax evasion charges, ending a 30-year-long legal battle between the ex-Napoli striker and revenue authorities.
Known as “El Pibe de Oro”, or the Golden Foot, Maradona was accused of allegedly using proxy companies in Liechtenstein to dodge legal fees when receiving payments between 1985 and 1990 from the Napoli club for his personal image rights.
“It is over and I can clearly state without fear of being contradicted that Maradona has never been a tax evader,” his lawyer, Angelo Pisani, told Reuters.
Rome’s Court of Cassation overturned a 2018 verdict in mid-December, a court document published on Wednesday and seen by Reuters showed.
Maradona died in November 2020 from a heart attack. Fans of Napoli and of the Argentine national team worshipped him as the “god of football”.
Investigations into the footballer’s tax payments started in the early 1990s and resulted in charges of 37 million euros ($40.38 million) and the confiscation of some of the player’s belongings during his visits to Italy.
Pisani added that the final verdict “does justice to fans, to the values of sport, but mostly to the memory of Maradona”.
“It places a grave stone on a persecution that he suffered for 30 years,” he said.
“…The heirs now have a legal right to claim damages,” Pisani said. “I hope that they use it, in memory of their father.”
-Reuters
CELEBRITY
Lionel Messi set to hang boots
![Messi Sets Record Straight Over Hong Kong Absence -](https://sportsvillagesquare.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Messi-Sets-Record-Straight-Over-Hong-Kong-Absence.jpg)
Inter Miami will be the last club Argentina captain Lionel Messi plays for, the 36-year-old forward said on Wednesday, adding he feels “a little bit scared” at the thought of the day he decides to retire.
Messi, a World Cup winner with Argentina in 2022, has a contract with the Major League Soccer side until 2025 following his arrival last summer after a spell with French champions Paris St Germain.
“Inter Miami will be my last club. I love playing football. I enjoy everything even more because I am aware that there is less and less left,” Messi told ESPN.
“I’m not ready to leave football. I’ve done this all my life, I love playing football, I enjoy training, the day-to-day, the matches… And yes, there’s always a little bit of fear that it’s all over.”
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi is preparing with his national team to defend their Copa America title, with the tournament kicking off on June 20 in the United States.
Argentina will take on Canada in the opening match before facing Group A rivals Chile on June 25 and Peru four days later.
-Reuters
CELEBRITY
Bidding opens for Messi napkin that defined soccer great’s career
![](https://sportsvillagesquare.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/messi-napkin.jpg)
Bidding began on Wednesday for a napkin on which soccer club Barcelona penned a promise to sign a 13-year-old Lionel Messi – who went on to become one of the game’s greatest players – with early bids reaching almost $300,000.
The napkin was signed in December 2000 when Carles Rexach, then Barcelona’s sporting director, agreed with agent Horacio Gaggioli to recruit the Argentine teenager who went on to become the club’s all-time top scorer.
Bidding for the document, described by auction house Bonhams as “blue ink on a standard Spanish waxy napkin,” was at 220,000 pounds ($274,824.00) shortly after the sale opened, according to the auctioneer’s website.
The online sale closes on May 17 and has a guide price of between 300,000 and 500,000 pounds.
“It was never legally binding, but emotionally it represents the deep link or the beginning of the deep link, that Messi had with Barcelona,” said Bonhams Chief Marketing Officer Marc Sands.
Messi helped Barcelona win 35 titles, making a record 782 appearances and scoring 674 goals. Messi left Barcelona in 2021 and now plays for Inter Miami.
“If you love football, you’ll know all about Lionel Messi and you will know that he defined football for generations. If you want a slice of that action, this is the thing to get,” Sands said.
-Reuters
CELEBRITY
Maradona’s children wants body exhumed
![](https://sportsvillagesquare.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/maradona.jpg)
Diego Maradona’s children filed a request with the Argentine Courts on Thursday to move the former football great’s body “to a much safer place” and for fans “to pay tribute” in a mausoleum.
Maradona’s remains lie in a private cemetery on the outskirts of Buenos Aires where he was carried in November 2020 in a massive funeral procession. Only family members are allowed to enter the cemetery.
The mausoleum, called “Memorial del Diez,” is located behind the Casa Rosada, the seat of the executive branch of the Argentine government, and will be open to the public, Veronica Ojeda, mother of Maradona’s youngest son, told local media.
“All the heirs request by common agreement to authorise the transfer to his next destination of eternal rest (…) in a much safer place than the current one,” said the note presented to the court signed by Dalma and Gianinna Maradona, and Ojeda on behalf of Diego Maradona Jr.
“And so that all the Argentine people and the citizens of the world can pay homage to our father who was the greatest Argentine idol.”
The relocation will take place around Oct. 30, the birth date of the 1986 World Cup winner with Argentina, one of the family’s lawyers told reporters.
Maradona died at age 60 in November 2020 from a heart attack. Fans of Napoli and of the Argentine national team worshipped him as the “god of football.”
-Reuters
-
Nigerian Football1 week ago
I prefer a foreign coach for the Super Eagles, says Amaju
-
Olympics5 days ago
Brazilian women train in Zidane’s birthplace ahead of Nigeria Super Falcons clash
-
Premier League1 week ago
Nigerian-born Man United’s new striker promises creativity and unpredictability to fans
-
Olympics12 hours ago
This is my story: Odegbami on how he is stranded in London
-
Nigerian Football1 week ago
Osimhen’s outburst was a moment of madness, says Amaju
-
Olympics6 days ago
Teams plan for lack of toilets on Paris opening ceremony barges
-
OBITUARY1 day ago
BREAKING! Former Heartland FC owner, Iwuanyanwu, dies at 81
-
Olympics1 week ago
What you need to know about the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony