Funeral home sacks workers for posing alongside Maradona coffin

A funeral home in Argentina has sacked three of its workers ahead of the burial of late football legend, Diego Maradona.

The legendary former Napoli and Barcelona star died earlier in the week after suffering a cardiac arrest at his home outside Buenos Aries.

Funeral home sacks selfie trio 

It is reported that during preparations for the wake, workers at Sepelios Pinier funeral parlour in the Argentine capital decided to pose for pictures next to the 60-year-old’s coffin.

The trio included a father-and-son pair, Claudio and Ismail Fernandez, along with their co-worker Diego Medina, who appear in images next to the casket smiling with their thumbs raised.

Diego Maradona fans fuming

The photos were widely circulated in social media, attracting outrage from Maradona fans worldwide.

The older Fernandez, Claudio claimed to have known the 1986 World Cup-winning captain. He was on radio apologising for the incident.

“We were getting ready to take Diego to the wake and my son, being a typical youngster, made the thumbs-up sign and had his photo taken,” he told the radio station, Radio Diez.

“I ask for everyone’s forgiveness. I’ve worked for Maradona’s father and his brother-in-law. I’ve been close to Diego while he was alive. I would never have disrespected him while he was alive because he was my idol, and it was not my intention after he died.

“I know a lot of people have been very offended and have taken it badly. I know it upset them. I ask all of them to forgive us.”

Claudio Fernandez

News of Maradona’s death was made public on Wednesday, 25 November.

He had been coach of Argentine Primera División club Gimnasia de La Plata from 2019, having also mentored the national team, most famously guiding them to the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa.