Contesting global hierarchies through football. Diego Armando Maradona and the Association Internationale des Footballeurs Professionnels

Diego Armando Maradona is unanimously considered the best player of all time, alongside Pelé. However, while the Brazilian has always represented the establishment, Maradona positioned himself as the critical consciousness of world football, fiercely criticising the most important football institutions. Many aspects of Maradona’s life have been extensively explored, both journalistically and academically. There is, however, a lesser-known event that serves as a perfect metaphor for his relationship with power: the establishment of the Association Internationale des Footballeurs Professionnels (AIFP), which he founded in 1995. Despite having generated significant media attention, AIFP ultimately failed to challenge the role of players within the global football system. This chapter aims to investigate the development of AIFP, as well as the factors that contributed to its dissolution. Moreover, it attempts to show how the agency of top-level athletes can expose structural injustices within sports organisations and contribute to institutional change.