Villas-Boas wants every No10 shirt in world retired in Maradona tribute – but which current icons would lose the jersey?

ANDRE VILLAS-BOAS called on Fifa to retire the No10 shirt for every team in the world as a tribute to Diego Maradona.

The Argentine legend wore the iconic number at Barcelona, Napoli, Boca Juniors and for his country.

Andre Villas-Boas wants Fifa to retire the No10 shirt across all of football following Diego Maradona’s deathCredit: Sports Illustrated – Getty

And after his tragic death aged 60 following a heart attack on Wednesday, the Marseille manager wants to see his legacy remembered with the jersey no longer used in world football.

Villas-Boas said of Maradona’s passing: “Yes it is tough news.

“I would like Fifa to retire the No10 shirt in all competitions, for all teams.

“It would be the best homage we could do for him.

“He is an incredible loss for the world of football.”

Maradona was wearing the No10 as he led Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986.

That includes the famous quarter-final against England where he scored the ‘Hand of God’ goal and the incredible solo effort in the Azteca Stadium, Mexico.

Since then, the likes of Ronaldinho, Francesco Totti and – most famously of all – Maradona’s compatriot Lionel Messi have become synonymous with wearing the No10.

And Villas-Boas’ appeal would see Messi, Neymar, Sadio Mane, Marcus Rashford and Luka Modric have to change numbers.

Napoli have already retired the No10 in honour of Maradona, who helped the club to their two Serie A titles in 1986-87 and 1989-90.

Argentina tried to do the same in 2001 but the request to not use the number at the 2002 World Cup was blocked by Fifa.

Others clubs have retired shirt numbers in the past to honour specific legends – such as the No10 at Brescia for Roberto Baggio, Javier Zanetti’s No4 at Inter Milan, the No14 Johan Cruyff wore at Ajax and the West Ham No6 for Bobby Moore.

Other times it has been following the death of a player who wears that shirt like Fiorentina’s Davide Astori who wore No13 and Beijing Enterprises’ No24 worn by Chieck Tiote.

Tributes poured in from across the footballing world for one of the sport’s greatest players of all time, who died exactly 15 years after his hero George Best.

Pele, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham were among those who took to social media to share their memories of the maverick and send their condolences to his family.

Thousands took to the streets in Buenos Aires, where he died, as well as Naples on Wednesday evening.

⚠️ Read our Diego Maradona death live blog for the latest news & updates

Maradona wore the No10 shirt for the famous World Cup quarter-final against England in 1986Credit: Getty Images – Getty

The Marseille boss wants to see Fifa take a stance across the whole of footballCredit: AFP or licensors

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk