Diego Maradona rose from a shanty town to become one of the world's greatest sportsmen, plunged the depths of drugs abuse and, in a twist which not even he expected, bounced back to be named Argentina coach.

His appointment on Tuesday to a job which he has always coveted but for which he is barely qualified is the latest chapter in the life of a man who is loved and loathed around the globe.

In his homeland, Maradona is often considered to be greater even than Pele and has gained the iconic status of fellow Argentines Che Guevara and Eva Peron.

Best remembered for leading Argentina to 1986 World Cup victory when he scored arguably the greatest goal ever, Maradona attracted a vigil of fans outside his hospital when he spent 10 days in intensive care in 2004.

For some, however, his career will always be tarnished by his notorious "Hand of God" goal against England at the same World Cup and his expulsion from the 1994 tournament for a doping offence, one of three such bans in his brilliant, but tormented, career.

Maradona's admirers point out that he was more sinned against, as he was repeatedly hacked and kicked about the field by opponents in an age when referees often turned a blind eye to intimidation and rough play.

A stocky man only 1.64 metres tall, Maradona's almost magical reading of football compensated for injury and occasional lack of speed born of a tendency to overweight.

The fifth of eight children of a factory worker, he grew up in the Villa Fiorito town on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.

His mother Dalma saw a star reflected on the floor in the church where her son was baptised and imagined a bright future as an accountant.

But Maradona's love affair with football was apparent from the start and, when he was given his first ball as an infant, he slept with it under his arm.

Discovered in street kickabouts by the scout for Argentinos Juniors, Francisco Cornejo, the football prodigy made his league debut at 15.

His international debut followed two years later, although he was left out of the 1978 World Cup squad by Cesar Luis Menotti in a decision which causes controversy until this day.

Maradona won his only Argentine league title with Boca Juniors, the club which remains closest to his heart, in 1981 but by then his marvellous close control, free-kicks and passing had attracted the attention of wealthy European clubs.

He had two unhappy seasons at Barcelona before moving to Napoli in 1984 to begin the finest spell of his career.

Maradona enjoyed the status of a demi-god in the poverty-stricken southern Italian port and with a team built around him, helped transform a mediocre club into one of the best in Italy, winning two league titles and a UEFA Cup.

But after 1990, drugs and alcohol began taking over his life.

In 1991, Maradona was handed a 15-month suspension from football worldwide for doping and called to trial in Naples over alleged links with a vice ring.

He was banned again for 15 months after testing positive for drugs at the 1994 World Cup in the United States.

On his return to Argentina, he was convicted for an earlier incident when he fired an airgun at reporters, receiving a two-year suspended jail sentence.

In between, he had more playing spells at Sevilla, Newell's Old Boys and Boca Juniors where missed training sessions became the norm.

He also tried his hand at coaching, firstly with struggling provincial club Deportivo Mandiyu and then with more fashionable Racing Club.

His 23 games on the bench produced only three wins.

He retired from professional football in 1997 after failing another doping test and almost died from cocaine-induced heart problems in 2000.

For the next five years, he underwent drug rehabilitation living on-and-off in Cuba where he rubbed shoulders with Fidel Castro. Drug and alcohol experts called Maradona's abuse of one substance after another a slow-motion suicide.

"My main doubt is whether he has the sufficient greatness as a person to justify being honoured by a worldwide audience," Pele said of Maradona after the pair shared the FIFA Player of the Century award in 2000.

Yet, he survived it all and used his status to talk his way into the Argentina hot seat after Alfio Basile unexpectedly quit last month.

Who knows what lies in store for Maradona the coach - and for his team.