In Argentina he is famous for being Diego Maradona’s “biographer.” His books about Diego, written together with the player, have been translated into several languages.

Daniel Arcucci, sports journalist for ESPN, shares how his life is closely intertwined with that of the legendary Argentine footballer and with Italian-ness.

Born in a rural province with traditional values almost 60 years ago, he arrived in Buenos Aires in 1982 as a young man to study journalism.

“Italy has always been a great attraction to me,” he revealed. “I used to look for copies of Guerin Sportivo, an Italian magazine that set the standard, at newsstands that received foreign newspapers.”

Not surprisingly, he always preferred to study Italian over English. “So much so that when I took an exam,” he recalled, “I discovered that I knew more than I thought I did. I had been self-taught.”

The grandson of Italian immigrants, he is certain of one thing: his identity, embedded in his blood.

In 1985 he had a meeting that changed the course of his life.

“I was working for El Gráfico magazine,” he explained. “It was December 23, and my boss told me that I should find a way to spend Christmas Eve night with Maradona and his family, and then write an article. Only the new guy, which was me, could be asked to do such a crazy thing!”

Arcucci did not give up. The next day he went to the airport to wait for Diego, who was arriving from Italy. Somehow, he got the family’s home phone number and spoke to Diego’s wife, Claudia. Arcucci explained, apologised, begged. Finally, he snatched an invitation for Christmas.

Arcucci interviewing Maradona

“It was the beginning of a 34-year relationship,” he said excitedly. “A story of friendship and loyalty, not only with him but also with his family.”

Arcucci lived through the glorious era of Italian football. He covered the 1986 and 1990 World Cups, as well as Napoli’s Scudetto in ‘90.

“That’s why I experienced this year’s Napoli victory as a very special event,” he said.

Napoli and Maradona are the two cornerstones of Arcucci’s journalistic career, and are inextricably linked.

“Napoli has been a metaphor for Diego’s life,” he explained, “The fall, the glory.

“Him being on that team is also fundamental from a sociopolitical point of view, for the construction of the Maradona myth, for the city’s self-esteem and for my life.”

Arcucci in Naples celebrating Napoli’s second Scudetto

As a correspondent during Italia ‘90, Arcucci spent more time in the Italian team’s hotel than with the Argentines. “I met Vialli, Baggio, Baresi,” he recounted, “[also] journalists of the calibre of Roberto Cerruti of the Gazzetta. They treated me like one of them.”

This was enough to feel at home. “It’s like I was born there,” he said, “I’d land in Rome and start talking with expressions like dunque e allora.”

Not surprisingly, he was the first in his family to apply for Italian citizenship. “It was a complicated process, a real pain,” he joked.

“I always say that I was ‘born Italian’ in 1989.”

Another memory from that year was when his ex-wife was pregnant with their first daughter.

“During Easter vacations I went to visit my grandmother Maria, to tell her that I had started the paperwork to obtain [Italian] citizenship,” he recalled.

“She, who as a child had chosen to speak only Spanish so as not to be discriminated against as an Italian, was not thrilled. In fact, she told me that I was Argentinian, just like her.”

It was then that Maria told her grandson things she had never before revealed.

The fact that she cried as she arrived from Italy in Puán, a small town about 500 kilometres southwest of Buenos Aires. Details of her childhood in poverty, adopted by a kind family who had access to more opportunities than her own.

“Then she gave me a box full of old photos,” shared a now emotional Arcucci.

“We went back to Buenos Aires and that same evening I received a phone call from my mother telling me that Grandma had felt sick, lost her memory and no longer recognised anyone.”

Some time later she came to her senses and immediately asked for news of Daniel’s daughter, who was about to be born.

“I told her I would name her Malena Maria, in her honour. A few days later she was born, and my grandmother died.

“Maria dreamed of going back to Italy, now Malena Maria lives in Europe with that Italian passport and citizenship obtained thanks precisely to her grandmother,” he said. 

Arcucci too has a dream to fulfill. “This year I turn 60 and would like to live in Italy for a while,” he shared.

“We are a family of migrants, it’s the call of the blood.”