How many people have a photo with Maradona?
Can there be at least 16,107, one for each day between his debut in the First Division and his death?
Argentines Damián Cukiekorn and Sebastián Schor, authors of
Proyecto Pelusa.
The life of the greatest through the eyes of the people
, they are convinced that it is so, although decades ago it was not common to have a camera at hand.
For almost two years they have been collecting photographs that Diego Armando Maradona took with those who asked for it.
They publish them accompanied by the story that made it possible.
The set is a visual, popular and collaborative biography of the biggest Argentine soccer star.
Maradona was 18 years old, played in Argentinos Juniors and lived in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of La Paternal when a teenager knocked on the door of his house on a Monday in September.
He came out to open it in his pajamas.
He was a student who wanted to interview him for an internship in his first year of high school.
The footballer invited him in.
“From then on it was two hours of talk, snack and total ecstasy.
In the middle I did the interview, which after all was the excuse to fulfill my dream.
That day I turned 13 and Diego gave me the best birthday of my life”, Javier recalls in the book along with three photographs in which he is seen posing with Maradona and with a recorder in hand.
When this fan met him in person, Argentina had just become junior champions in Japan.
The soccer player's fame began to grow and, although he was far from being the national idol he became, the procession of people looking for a photo with him had already begun.
What was the first photo that someone asked Maradona for being Maradona?
Schor believes that it is the one with which they decided to open the book, taken on the Argentinos Juniors field in 1973. The little soccer player was 12 years old at the time and played with Los Cebollitas.
In November they faced a team from the Cordoba town of Capilla del Monte.
"That day they sent me to mark it closely all game,"
Colo recalled.
Maiola narrating her story.
“Sticked, stuck,' my old man yelled at me from outside, but I couldn't even grab him.
I couldn't get a ball out of him all afternoon.
He walked me everywhere.
It was tremendous how he moved, ”continues his account.
The dance was such that one of the parents encouraged them to approach him.
"Take a picture with that short guy who is a Martian," he told them.
Almost half a century later, Colo proudly preserves the 9x9 image on the La Paternal court in which he is seen flanked by Maradona and Claudio Rodríguez.
Maradona (left) with 'Colo' Maiola, Claudio Rodríguez and Roberto at La Paternal in 1973.
“In 2010 Damián came up with the idea that Maradona was the only person whose life could be reconstructed through photos of people.
But at that time there were no networks, he asked that they be sent to him via email and it was difficult, the project was diluted, ”recalls Schor about the origin of the project.
He joined a decade later, when in one of the talks they shared during the walks they gave in the pandemic, the idea of reviving it came up.
“At that time, Diego was alive and had managed Argentina again.
We were preparing the launch on Instagram and looking for the best way to continue adding photos when he died.
We wondered if we were going to continue or not and it seemed impossible not to because it was a very strong blow.
Since then, we have received an enormous number of photos and a lot of love, a lot of back and forth from people”, says the co-author.
The archive they have gathered so far has nearly 4,000 photographs.
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Many of those who write to them and share those images they treasure confess the emotion they felt when their dream of meeting him came true and what it meant to each one of them.
“For the children of exiles, Diego gave us a beautiful feeling of belonging.
Diego was Argentina, that place that our parents spoke to us about so abstractly,” recalls Ernán Cirianni, the son of Argentine exiles in Mexico.
Cirianni, at that time a child, took a photo with the Ten during the World Cup, just four days before the match against England in which he scored two goals that made him a legend.
There are photos with Maradona at national team rallies, in airports, on the street, on the beach, at night parties and anywhere a fan recognized him and approached him.
From seeing images of him so much, at first glance the authors already know more or less what era he belongs to and what mood he was in when someone pressed the camera button.
“When Diego has a beard it usually means bard.
Not only bard of the night but with a different level of seriousness and connection.
It is also very noticeable in his smile.
You realize in which photos he is posing and in which ones he connects, ”says Schor.
He knows this from his own experience.
Maradona had a beard the day he met him.
It was 2010 and at that time he was the coach of the Albiceleste for the World Cup in South Africa.
Schor was going to direct an advertisement that would be recorded at the premises of the Argentine Football Association in Ezeiza and prepared a shirt for him to sign, but that day the coach did not want to know anything about anything and he got rid of it as quickly as possible what could
He was left without an autograph, but the meeting was immortalized.
“The photo is of the exact moment I turn to face the camera, completely shit-fucked [rebuked],” he wrote in the book.
“I love you, Diego”, ends his anecdote.
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Some stories seem like pure fantasy, like that of Roberto, a Santa Fe employee who managed to sneak into the Azteca stadium without a ticket to see the World Cup final and ended up carrying Maradona on the field of play when the team made the Olympic lap.
Others are exciting.
This is the case of Gonzalo's.
At 14 years old, he could not believe that it was Maradona who had crossed the door of his humble house in a neighborhood of Mendoza to sit at the table with his family, all Maradona fans.
The then Racing coach left the concentration hidden in a trunk to mislead the press and go meet them.
“The barbecue was all laughter, photos and nonstop talk.
Family, friends, the neighborhood butcher”, recalls Gonzalo.
“When we entered the room, he threw himself on the bed of one and broke it.
I was 14 years old and I left home at 23;
In all these years I did not allow them to fix it.
I left the supporting bricks in place for nine years”, he says proudly.
Together they are putting together the largest Maradona fan photo album in the world.
A love story between Pelusa and the people.
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