Argentine football superstar Diego Maradona died on November 25, 2020. His passing sent ripples through Argentina and the world of sport. Over a million people attempted to enter his funeral, while journalists, former teammates, and international stars mourned as they shared their memories of El Diez.

Questions about the circumstances of his death and the care he received in his final days emerged almost as rapidly as the tributes. An investigation promptly followed, but nearly five years after Maradona’s passing, and a botched trial already in the rear view mirror, questions remain unanswered.

With the case over Maradona’s death now set to go to a retrial, here’s a step by step chronology of events after the star’s passing as we try to understand how the legal process was derailed and why so many lingering questions remain.

September 2019 – November 2020: Maradona’s final days

Maradona returned to Argentina in September 2019 following an eight-year stint coaching in the United Arab Emirates and Mexico, and signed a contract to coach Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata — Gimnasia for short.

The team was battling relegation at the time. Ever the natural motivator, Maradona started off his new campaign by creating a feel-good atmosphere around the club, although results didn’t always go their way. It also proved a farewell tour of sorts, with most clubs which hosted the team presented Maradona with homages, tributes and even a throne to watch the game from.

He withdrew from the public eye shortly after, as the Argentine football championships halted on March 17 when the Covid-19 pandemic swept the world. He would only reemerge for his  60th birthday on October 30, 2020 — part of the celebrations as football kicked-off again. It was obvious to everyone Maradona wasn’t doing well. He looked lost and confused, and struggled to move as two people had to help him onto the pitch.

Three days later, it was announced he would be undergoing surgery to remove a subdural hematoma on November 2 and that he’d move to the San Andrés closed neighborhood in Tigre, Buenos Aires Province, to recover.

The Argentine star was found unconscious around midday on November 25, 2020 and pronounced dead two hours later.

November 2020 – April 2023: Investigation over Maradona’s death

Following Maradona’s death, President Alberto Fernández declared three days of national mourning. His body was taken to the Casa Rosada early in the morning of November 26 for an open house funeral. 

Over a million people attended, but Maradona’s family decided to end the ceremony at 4:30p.m., with large numbers of people lined up in the streets to bid farewell to the former star. Incidents broke inside and outside the Casa Rosada, with fights between violent organized fan groups known as barrabravas, leading to police repression.

Family members questioned the circumstances of Maradona’s death, as well as the care he was given in the years prior and the responsibility of those in charge of his well-being. An investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death started shortly after. 

On April 18, 2023, the San Isidro Criminal Chamber of Appeals and Guarantees decided to elevate the case to a trial, based on the findings of a medical board that examined Maradona’s file.

The judges found that Maradona’s main medical advisor, Leopoldo Luque, as well as his psychiatrist, Agustina Cosachov, and psychologist, Carlos Díaz failed to administer proper medical care for their patient despite being in full knowledge of the former star’s condition. 

They charged them, along with medical care coordinators Nancy Forlini and Mariano Perroni, designated doctor Pedro Di Spagna. and nurses Ricardo Almirón and Dahiana Madrid, with involuntary manslaughter.

March, 2024 – March, 2025: Trial dilations

The trial fell via random draw to the San Isidro 3rd Criminal Court, headed by judges Maximiliano Savarino, Verónica Di Tommaso and Julieta Makintach. On March 18, 2024, the date for the trial was set for June of that year, but the process was delayed twice again.

Nurse Dahiana Madrid requested a trial by jury, instead of Argentina’s established proceedings led by a judge. The request was granted in October 2024, which meant there would be two trials over Maradona’s death. 

This, in turn, forced prosecutors Laura Capra, Cosme Irribarren, and Patricio Ferrari to ask for a second delay, due to the differences in preparation required for the different trialling systems. The trial finally began in March 2025.

March 2025: Talk of Maradona’s health

The trial over Maradona’s death started on Tuesday, March 12 amid a tense environment. The first audience was the only one legally filmed and broadcast through the court’s YouTube channels. 

Prosecutor Patricio Ferrari shocked the world by showing the judges a picture of the former player’s corpse. “Maradona died like this,” he said, holding up the image.

The first witnesses were Colin Campbell, a medical doctor and neighbour of Maradona’s, and first responder Juan Carlos Pinto. Both agreed that Maradona’s corpse showed signs of death by the time they arrived, with Campbell estimating that the star had been deceased “one to two hours” by the time he arrived. 

Pinto explained that the time signed in the certificate was the time Maradona “was confirmed dead, not the time he died.”

A week later, director of forensic medicine at the Buenos Aires Province police science department Carlos Cassinelli testified. He was adamant that the amount of water found in Maradona’s body — over four liters — could not have formed quickly, insisting the condition is “something that progresses for at least ten days.”

April 2025: Home care and entourage take center stage

Maradona’s former partner Ojeda took to the stands in April, taking aim at the former star’s entourage and their role in his demise. She claimed they “held Diego hostage, he was scared of everything,” adding that she felt wouldn’t let her near him and pushed him away from their son.

“[Maradona] asked me why I wouldn’t let him see [Diego Fernando],” she said, adding that she explained to him that it wasn’t her call.  She admitted later meeting Maradona, but described his demeanor as “very languid and pale.

Maradona’s eldest daughter Dalma testified, adding to the picture of a former star confused in his final days, who “wouldn’t laugh” and looked lost. 

She also criticized the state of the house where the star lived his final days, calling it a “disgusting” place with a “stench of urine” and covered windows that prevented the entrance of sunlight.

Surgeon Rodolfo Benvenuti, who led the team that operated on the former star days before his death, also took aim at the state of the home care installations. He said he had warned the star’s medical team Maradona “wasn’t a regular patient” and that his problems “required a lot more than is normally necessary for a home care situation.”

It later became known that the star had been sedated for 24 hours during his hospitalization at Clinica Olivos, when ICU chief Fernando Villarejo testified Maradona’s medical team  requested he do it, before claiming he was “impossible to manage from a behavioral point of view, due to withdrawal.”

May 2025: Cosachov takes the stand against the family

May arrived with the surprise testimony of psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, the only of the accused to give her version of events.

She looked to rebut suggestions that Maradona’s team led the star’s relatives on, arguing that hospital directors, family members, chief medical adviser Leopoldo Luque, and others from Maradona’s entourage were part of several meetings where the decision was made. 

She also claimed that “rehabilitation in a medical center was a good choice” but that the player was against it and that the family refused going against his will “because of previous bad experiences.”

Later that month daughter Giannina said she tried to take her father under her care, but that his entourage refused before calling the police to report her. She added her father “could not recognize himself in a photo” in the days leading up to his death.

May 2025: Trial suspended, documentary controversy and process annulled

It all came crashing down later that month, as the controversy surrounding judge Julieta Mackintach and a documentary started.

On May 20, the lawyers representing the family presented a complaint against Mackintach, who was suspected of allowing the illegal entry of video cameras to the trial. The prosecution requested the trial to be suspended for a week to investigate the judge’s connections with the production of a documentary on the trial.

When hearings resumed, Mackintach accepted the prosecutor’s request for her recusal. The prosecutors presented evidence to back their request, including several clips from a clandestine, unauthorized documentary on the proceedings, with the judge in the spotlight. 

The footage showed Makintach entering the first day of the trial and inside the hearing, when filming was not allowed. Several excerpts where the magistrate carried out several takes reading a script by a production team were also shown.

Two days later, it was announced the case was set to go a retrial, as judges Maximiliano Savarino and Verónica Di Tommaso came to the decision to annul the trial claiming Makintach had taken part in “multiple discussions with witnesses and lawyers” during breaks in the daily proceedings, “in detriment of all parts, and marking the nullity of the debate.”

The judge was given a 90 day suspension from duties by the Buenos Aires Province Supreme Court, and later had an impeachment complaint filed against her by San Isidro Bar Association. Universidad Austral, the university where she taught criminal law, announced they had suspended her and started an internal investigation.

A new date for the trial will be set after the case is assigned to a new court, expected to happen later this June.