Sociological Cultural Studies

Sociological Cultural Studies

Soccer as a Ritual of Equality and Brotherhood: "The Hand of God" – Divine or Diabolical? An Anthropological Analysis of the Mythos Surrounding Maradona

Document Type : .

Authors
Alireza Hassanzadeh 1
Mansur Moradi 2
1 Associate Professor, Anthropology Research Institute, Cultural Heritage and Tourism Research Institute, Tehran, Iran,
2 Assistant Professor, Anthropology Research Institute, Cultural Heritage and Tourism Research Institute, Tehran, Iran.
10.30465/scs.2024.49989.2909
Abstract
Abstract:
Diego Armando Maradona, the Argentinian football star, is a prominent contemporary figure whose role in modern sports has attained a significant mythological dimension. Maradona’s legendary status positions him as one of the most iconic athletes of the modern era. The myth surrounding Maradona is not solely based on his extraordinary skill and influence on the football field, but also on his actions both before and after matches. He represents a powerful symbol of national identity within the socio-historical context of Argentina, while simultaneously embodying a transnational identity in relation to post-colonial discourses, club football, and the global nature of the sport. Maradona’s persona thus transcends local, national, and global identity levels, uniting them in a complex interrelationship. Soccer, as an area of study, has become increasingly significant within the subfield of the anthropology of sport. Anthropological analyses of football explore its social and identity-shaping roles, examining the myths that emerge from the sport. Contemporary folklore and associated myths are crucial in shaping urban culture, influencing diverse groups such as youth, women, and local communities, by constructing compelling narratives around various forms of identity. Maradona, in particular, stands as a figure who successfully crafted modern myths within the world of football. Through soccer, he facilitated a form of equality and fraternity at the level of existential communitas. This article examines Maradona’s mythos through an anthropological lens, focusing on the discursive structures that underpin it within the context of Argentina’s contemporary history. It draws on the theoretical contributions of scholars such as Christian Bromberger, Richard Giulianotti, and Victor Turner, employing J.P. Gee’s discourse analysis methodology. The findings of this study offer insight into the sociopolitical and cultural functions of football in Iran, particularly in relation to how the sport intersects with broader political and social movements—movements to which Maradona was intricately linked.
Keywords: Diego Armando Maradona, Mythos, Subversion of Dominant Narratives, Anti-Structural Liminality, Ritual of Equality

Introduction
One of the most iconic figures in modern sports, who has taken on a powerful mythical dimension, is Diego Armando Maradona, the legendary Argentine footballer. His mythological status as a football player is so significant that he can be considered one of the most legendary athletes of the contemporary and modern era. The mythic aspects of Maradona’s character represent not just his extraordinary skills on the football field but also his roles in both pre-game and post-game contexts. Maradona stands as a symbol of national identity within the fabric of Argentina’s modern history and culture. Simultaneously, he embodies a transnational identity, linking with postcolonial discourses, club football, and the global dimensions of the sport. Maradona does not only represent three layers of identity—local, national, and global—but also interconnects these levels. Today, in the subfield of sports anthropology, football studies hold an important and distinct position, focusing on the social and identity-related roles of the game and analyzing its myths.

Research Question and Hypothesis
This study examines the cultural, social, and political context in which the myth of Maradona emerges (Blanchard 2008). As Derrida (Meindl 1996:8) suggests, the metaphysics embedded in Maradona’s mythological narratives forms a central aspect of this study's approach and methodology (Blanchard 2008). In anthropological literature, this is referred to as context (ibid). Myths, including personality myths, are considered context-dependent (Magoulick 2022). For this purpose, Maradona’s life over different periods is studied, while simultaneously reviewing the political and social history of those periods to understand the myth of Maradona (ibid). This context is analyzed through discourse analysis (ibid). In this discourse analysis, not only history and text are treated as contextual elements, but also popular culture and football fandom are analyzed through Bakhtinian and Turnerian lenses (ibid). Studying modern and contemporary popular culture, especially through films and digital media, offers additional insight into the mythic dimensions of Maradona’s persona. This article seeks to answer the following main question:
How have the sporting, social, and political contexts contributed to the emergence of the Maradona myth, and how has this influence shaped Maradona’s anti-structural actions?
The subsidiary question of this article is to what extent football fan culture has been influenced by Maradona's personality myth, and whether Maradona's liminal actions across the domains of game, pre-game, and post-game have fostered a sustainable anti-structural community and a ritual of equality (and fraternity) among fans.
In the classification of world myths, personality myth (Bahrami 2020) is recognized as an important category of myths (Bond 2019; Thompson 1955; Reynolds 1994).


Materials and Methods
This article employs James Paul Gee’s (Gee 2011a, 2011b) discourse analysis methodology. According to Gee's approach (Gee 2011a:38), discourse has several characteristics: (1) it can be a combination of multiple discourses; (2) discourses can overlap; (3) they evolve within interpretive cycles; (4) new discourses emerge and old ones fade; (5) discourses coexist in harmony or conflict; (6) they contain meta-narratives; (7) combinations of discourses create hybrid discourses; and (8) they are numerous.

Discussion and Conclusion
Unlike the classical definition of myth, which refers to creation stories (Behar 2018), modern myths are associated with constructing grand narratives, such as nationality (Ball 2021:6). Maradona’s mythic status, due to his creation of global narratives like the "Hand of God" and his embodiment of a mythic personality, has powerful dimensions. He became a part of Argentina’s national identity. This mythic personality can be understood through several distinctive traits. On one hand, as noted, he symbolizes rebellion and defiance against dominant narratives and power structures.
Maradona’s liminality and anti-structural character position him in opposition to prevailing narratives within domains like sports and politics.

Conclusion
As observed in classical models of liminality, there is a profound link between the experience of poverty, anti-structuralism, and liminal actions—an association identified by Turner, Francis, and Gandhi (Turner 2009: 133). The characteristic and function of liminality, akin to carnival-like expressions and its associated identity element, is equality and egalitarianism. Maradona’s lived experience of deprivation and inequality connected him to the liminal and anti-structural world of football, where the stages of play (pre-game, game, and post-game) and fandom transformed him into a symbol of liminal and rebellious action. Thus, liminality became part of Maradona's lived experience, shaped by values such as egalitarianism and anti-structuralism. His childhood, adolescence, and youth are marked by resistance to dominant structures, symbolized by encounters with countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, which imposed bitter experiences on Argentines—first, through the U.S. support of Argentina’s military regime (1976–1983), and second, through the British occupation of the Malvinas/Falkland Islands.
Moreover, Maradona belongs to the poetic school of football in South America, characterized by spontaneity, emotional fervor, and a counter-position to result-driven play. Just as Latin America reinterpreted the Western realist novel into magical realism, so too did countries like Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay transform this Anglo-Germanic sport from a purely rational game into a poetic and performative spectacle.
Keywords
Diego Armando Maradona"
Mythos
Subversion of Dominant Narratives"
Anti-Structural Liminality"
"
Ritual of Equality"
Subjects
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Sociological Cultural Studies
Volume 16, Issue 4 - Serial Number 58
Winter 2026
Winter 2026
Pages 347-394

  • Receive Date 22 September 2024
  • Revise Date 05 October 2025
  • Accept Date 04 November 2024
  • Publish Date 20 February 2026