Rome—Diego Maradona’s younger brother Hugo has died in Naples at the age of 52 just a year after the Argentine football legend passed away, Italian football club Napoli confirmed on Tuesday.
“Hugo Maradona has died,” Napoli said in a brief statement on their website, confirming reports in the Italian press the former footballer had suffered a heart attack.
The club said Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis and the team “come together around Maradona’s family and unite with them in the pain of Hugo’s death”.
A former Argentine youth international midfielder, Hugo Maradona played in Italy, Austria, Spain, Argentina and Japan, before returning to Italy to settle there permanently and had a brief coaching career with amateur clubs in Naples.
Maradona, who had three children, recently ran on a right-wing list in municipal elections, which the left ultimately won.
Hugo Maradona was signed by Napoli in 1987—joining Diego—before being loaned to Ascoli.
On September 20 of the same year, the two brothers played against each other with Diego’s Napoli coming out on top 2-1.
Diego Maradona widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, passed away in November 2020, aged 60.
