“I didn’t kill anyone, and I respect Japanese laws. I didn’t drop a nuclear bomb on them. It’s a contradiction: if they want to protect the Japanese, they should not allow U.S. players to enter”
With the ongoing immigration crisis in the United States, it’s worth remembering the case of soccer legend Diego Armando Maradona, who was denied a visa on multiple occasions.
First, it was due to Maradona’s failed drug test at the 1994 World Cup, and later for criticizing President Donald Trump during his first term, calling him a “puppet”—a term that translates to someone who serves other interests.
After taking a drug test at the 1994 World Cup in the United States, Maradona tested positive for five substances with stimulant effects: ephedrine, norephedrine, pseudoephedrine, norpseudoephedrine, and metaephedrine. However, Maradona denied having taken drugs.
“I didn’t take drugs; it was the flu medicine. They cut off my legs,” is one of the most iconic phrases that has spread around the world, marking the words with which Maradona said goodbye to the Argentine national team.
Entry to the United States Prohibited
After testing positive in 1994, Diego Armando Maradona lost his visa to travel to the United States. The U.S. government canceled the visa of the legendary Argentine footballer, preventing him from returning to the United States since that tournament.
Maradona tried again to obtain a visa in 2018. He wanted to travel to Miami in March of that year to attend the trial of his ex-wife, Claudia Villafañe. However, the U.S. government again denied the ‘Ten’ his request. This time, it was President Donald Trump who refused to grant the historic Argentine player a visa. The president denied Maradona a visa after he insulted him in an interview with the Venezuelan network Telesur, calling the U.S. president a “chirolita.”
“When we were trying to get the visa, Diego said Donald Trump is a chirolita. So imagine if my request ended up in the second basement of the Embassy,” said MatÃas Morla, Maradona’s lawyer.
“I didn’t kill anyone, and I respect Japanese laws. I didn’t drop a nuclear bomb on them. It’s a contradiction: if they want to protect the Japanese, they should not allow U.S. players to enter,” complained the former Argentine national team captain.
In a telephone interview with the cable channel Fox Sports, “El Pelusa” ruled out the possibility that his visa had been rejected for formal reasons. “I applied for the visa six months in advance. There’s no mismanagement here, nor is there anything missing—just a huge stupidity that goes beyond the soccer player. My conscience is clear because I didn’t harm anyone. There’s cruelty. They also denied my mother permission to go to the United States,” he revealed.
