Diego Maradona warms up for Fujairah gig with some game time in Switzerland

Argentina football hero, who signed to become Fujairah manager, has a bit of fun before he gets into serious business ahead of the 2017/18 season.

Diego Maradona was involved in Fifa's 'Legends Programme' on Friday. Jean-Christophe Bott / EPA

As far as pre-season friendlies go, this was something a little out of the ordinary.

Diego Maradona, set to this week take up duties as manager of Fujairah in the UAE First Division, warmed up for his new role by mixing it with some of the great and the good from football’s past on Friday, when he played in a legends match for Fifa president Gianni Infantino.

The Argentine, appointed Fujairah manager in May, was one of a number of ex-pros invited to Brig, Switzerland, with an all-star cast that included Brazil’s Ronaldo, Paolo Maldini, Clarence Seedorf and Marco van Basten. Maradona featured for the World XI.

At 56, the former World Cup winner may not be quite the player he was back in 1986, but he still impressed the crowd with a few of the skills (see below) that make him widely recognised as one of the greatest footballers of all time.

His next stop is the UAE, where he will begin in earnest to plot Fujairah’s path back into the Arabian Gulf League. How about Ronaldo up front, for starters?