According to reports in Argentina, Napoli refused to take part in the Maradona Cup for economic and organizational reasons.
The Maradona Cup will be played on December 14 in Saudi Arabia to honour the Argentinean legend, one year after his death.
Barcelona and Boca are two of Maradona’s former clubs, but Napoli is the place where he became a legend of the game, winning the only two Serie A titles in the club’s history as well as a UEFA Cup.
Therefore, many were surprised to see that Napoli were not involved in the tournament to honour Maradona’s memory.
According to reports in Italy and Argentina, there are two reasons why the Partenopei will not take part in the tournament.
The first one has to do with the packed fixture list that would make it complicated for the Azzurri to travel to Saudi Arabia in the middle of December.
Secondly, Napoli didn’t reach an economic agreement with the agency that has organized the event. Boca and Barcelona will get €1m each, while Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis reportedly requested €5m.
Infobae in Argentina confirms Napoli demanded €5m to participate in the tournament, but their request was rejected.
According to CalcioNapoli24, the Partenopei are now working on their own project to honour Maradona and could organize a friendly with Argentinos Junior in December or January.