‘Diego Maradona stole my football boot’ reveals former Aberdeen keeper

Former Aberdeen keeper Theo Snelders has revealed Diego Maradona stole his boot in frustration as he kept a clean  sheet against the legend in a long-forgotten friendly in Italy.

Whilst at FC Twente Snelders kept World Cup winner Maradona, voted FIFA Player of the Century alongside Pele, at bay when facing Napoli.

The game attracted more than 60,000 fans at Napoli’s San Paolo stadium on August 15, 1985 – yet there was little coverage in the media.

There was only a small report in the Naples newspaper that covered Napoli.

The match faded into obscurity, yet the memory remains clear for former Don Snelders.

He recalls how FC Twente’s manager looked at Maradona doing keepy-ups in the pre-match warm-up and dismissed him as “a little fat b*****d”.

‘Maradona took my football boot’

Less than a year after that friendly match Maradona would captain Argentina to World Cup glory, beating West Germany 3-2 in the final.

Pittodrie great Snelders said: “We played that friendly against Napoli in front of 60,000 we were not allowed to warm up on the pitch.

“Instead, we had to it downstairs in the stadium, on red ash.

“Maradona took my football boot after a duel and secretly walked towards the halfway line with it.

“I shouted and he threw it back to me.

“Less than a year after that friendly Maradona would go on to lead Argentina to the World Cup.

“Napoli had an amazing team as they went on to win the league in 86-87.”

FC Twente were a mid-table club in the Dutch top flight yet they played against a succession of top teams in pre-season friendlies in the 1980s.

Route to showdown with Maradona

That was primarily down to former club manager Tom Van Dalen who had been a sports journalist and agent, building up a formidable network of contacts internationally.

Van Dalen had a strong relationship with Ruud Bonewit, a well-known player agent.

Bonewit was key to the transfer of Brazilian legend Falcao from Internacional (Brazil) to Roma in 1980.

Van Dalen arranged via Bonewit for FC Twente to play Napoli.

Snelders, 62, said: “It was strange because although it was a sell-out with more than 60,000 fans there wasn’t much attention to the game beyond that.

“Tom Van Dalen had fantastic contacts and one of them was the agent Ruud Bonewitho.

“We were supposed to play a game against Manchester City but that was cancelled after the Heysel Stadium disaster (English clubs were banned from playing in Europe from 1985).

“Then a game in Naples was thrown in at the last minute.

“Twente were the only Dutch side that played against Maradona.

“Now every club has its own channel for coverage of matches but there was nothing like that back then.

“It was thought there was no footage but last year someone found a really short clip from Napoli‘s game against Twente.

“It was amazing to think back on it, playing against Maradona.

“Before the game our coach (Fritz Korbach) saw Maradona doing keepy-ups and he said ‘look at that little fat b*****d.

“And Tom Van Dalen warned ‘just wait until the game starts’.”

Fergie tried to sign FC Twente keeper

In the friendly Snelders tipped a vicious long-range free-kick from Maradona over the crossbar.

He also beat the Argentinean legend in a one-on-one duel.

Maradona, who died in 2020 at the age of 60, also hit the bar with an acrobatic overhead kick.

He could not beat Snelders who would transfer to Aberdeen three years later in a £300,000 deal from FC Twente.

Aberdeen will face FC Twente in a pre-season friendly in the Netherlands on Saturday.

Snelders, who won the Scottish Cup and League Cup double with the Dons in 1989-90, will attend the friendly.

The clubs previously clashed at Pittodrie in 2015 for Andy Considine’s testimonial, with FC Twente winning 2-1.

Moroccan international Hakim Ziyech, who would go on to win the Champions League with Chelsea, scored against the Dons.

Aberdeen also played FC Twente at Pittodrie in July 2013, with Niall McGinn and Peter Pawlett scoring in a 2-0 win.

They also met at Pittodrie in 1980 with the Dutch side triumphing 2-1 against Sir Alex Ferguson‘s newly crowned Scottish league champions.

Snelders revealed Ferguson attempted to sign FC Twente keeper Andre van Gerven.

He said: “Twente played at Pittodrie in 1980 and Fergie wanted to sign our first goalie.

“I had just joined Twente, I was 16 and our manager said ‘no I can’t sell him as I have a young talent and he is not ready yet’.”

[Source: Press and Journal]