{"id":5259,"date":"2026-10-02T09:15:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T09:15:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icons.com\/news\/?p=5259"},"modified":"2026-10-02T09:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T09:17:09","slug":"icons-and-diego-the-story-of-maradonas-exclusive-signing-partner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.icons.com\/news\/2026\/10\/02\/icons-and-diego-the-story-of-maradonas-exclusive-signing-partner\/","title":{"rendered":"Icons and Diego: The Story of Maradona\u2019s Exclusive Signing Partner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Forty years after Mexico 1986, Diego Maradona is still the player every great is measured against. Icons.com was his worldwide exclusive signing partner; the last contract Diego ever signed was with us, and today we still hold the exclusive licence to sell his signed memorabilia. This is the story behind our Diego Maradona signed memorabilia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Icons and Diego<\/h2>\n\n\n
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\"Diego<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Our relationship with Diego ran for almost two decades. When our CEO Dan Jamieson and our late chairman Edward Freedman met him in Buenos Aires in May 2010, Icons.com already held a worldwide exclusive signing contract with him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That first meeting is part of Icons history. Late one night, the call came, \u201cDiego will see you now\u201d, and the team grabbed every item they could carry and headed to, of all places, his mum\u2019s house. He was manager of Argentina at the time, weeks away from taking Lionel Messi to the FIFA World Cup\u2122 in South Africa, and he even added a dedication for Wayne Rooney. Two more sessions followed after he moved to Dubai, where Dan was a guest at Diego\u2019s house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was never simple. One session took a full week because Diego had let his whole team go and wasn\u2019t seeing anyone. A later attempt to bring him back left us holding boxes of unsigned shirts, boots, and photos for three years. We waited.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The last contract<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In July 2020, at the end of a 20-month negotiation, Diego re-signed a worldwide exclusive contract with Icons.com. The world was in lockdown, and we couldn\u2019t be in the room, as we usually are, so the shirts, boots, photos and footballs were shipped directly to him. On 5 August 2020, the confirmation arrived: photos and videos of Diego signing our products, cigar in hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A second shipment followed in September. After his brain surgery that November, Diego spent part of his rehabilitation signing the rest of our products. He died on 25 November 2020, aged 60, with the work all but finished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe must be proud that it was the last contract he signed, and that he worked on it to the end.\u201d<\/em>
Sport & Life, Diego\u2019s agents<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read Dan\u2019s full account in From Our CEO: The Inside Story of Diego & Icons<\/a>, or browse the Diego Maradona signed collection<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Mexico 1986, forty years on<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This summer marked forty years since Diego captained Argentina to the FIFA World Cup\u2122 in Mexico. Against England in the quarter-final at the Azteca, he scored twice in four minutes, the second a solo run later voted FIFA\u2019s Goal of the Century. Two more followed against Belgium in the semi-final, and he set up Jorge Burruchaga\u2019s winner in the 3-2 final against West Germany. He left with the Golden Ball as the best player at the tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At club level, he made Napoli champions of Italy twice, in 1987 and 1990, and won the UEFA Cup in 1989, after spells at Boca Juniors and Barcelona. His standard still holds: in July, Jude Bellingham became the first player since Diego in 1986 to score twice in consecutive World Cup knockout matches.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Proof in every piece<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Icons.com holds the exclusive licence to sell Diego Maradona signed memorabilia. Every Maradona piece on Icons.com is hand-signed by Diego Maradona and comes with a certificate of authenticity from Icons.com and our lifetime guarantee. Our 2020 signings were recorded in photos and video of Diego at work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIcons is the only place to buy genuine products hand-signed by Diego.\u201d<\/em>
Dan Jamieson, CEO of Icons.com<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The collection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Available now:<\/p>\n\n\n\n