Julio Grondona who served as the president of the Argentine Football Association (AFA) has passed away as the South American football confederation (CONMEBOL) confirmed through an announcement. The Argentine executive was recently suffering from a number of health issues and at the age of 82 it was over for the man that afflicted by the death of his wife back in 2012.

Lionel Messi and Michel Platini were some of the major football superstars that reacted to the death of Grondona as they displayed their displeasure through social media.
The Frenchman Platini wrote on his twitter account: “Very sad for the loss of a great friend. Julio Grondona has left us at 82. Rest in peace.”

While the star of Barcelona, Lionel Messi sent his condolences with a message on his facebook account which stated: “It’s a very sad day for football, for all of Argentina and for me,” the Barcelona forward wrote on his Facebook account. “Our president, Julio Grondona, you have left us. I want to send my sincere condolences and a large hug to all his family members and friends.”

With Grondona in charge of the AFA, Argentina claimed the World Cup title of 1986 as well as reaching the finals of the 1990 and 2014 edition.

Grondona selected Maradona as the head coach of the Argentine national team but after a series of questionable actions from Maradona his time in charge of the team did not last very long as he was removed from his managerial position. Maradona made his way into the headlines of websites and newspapers all over the world when Argentina sealed their qualification spot for the 2010 World Cup and during the post-game press conference he told reporters to: “suck it and keep on sucking it”. This concluded with Maradona and his team being banned for 2 months from all football activities.

After losing against Germany in the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Cup, Maradona was fired and replaced by Sergio Batista and now the current coach of the Argentine team is Alejandro Sabella but he has already revealed his desire to step down and resign.