Maradona not offered new contract

Diego Maradona will no longer continue as Argentina coach after the association's executive committee unanimously agreed not to renew his contract.

Maradona met with the the Argentinian Football Association (AFA) president Julio Grondona on Monday in a bid to resolve his future, with reports suggesting a new four-year deal was on the table. The 49-year-old had said he would sign the contract as long as his entire backroom staff were retained.

However, a brief statement on the AFA website read: "The executive committee unanimously resolved not to renew the contract with Mr Diego Maradona as coach of the Argentina national football team."

Maradona said he would no longer coach Argentina after they were eliminated from the World Cup by Germany at the quarter-final stage, but on Monday morning revealed he was keen to sign a new contract, as long as he was allowed to retain his entire backroom staff.

Grondona was equally eager for the 1986 World Cup winner to pen a new four-year deal, but one of Maradona's assistants, former Argentina defender Oscar Ruggeri, has been criticised by the AFA chief in the wake of the team's World Cup exit.

Argentina's next game is a friendly against Ireland on August 11 in Dublin, and current Under-20 boss Sergio Batista has been placed in temporary charge for that fixture.

Batista took Argentina's Under-23 side to gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

AFA spokesman Ernesto Cherquis Bialo added that they hope to have a new full-time coach installed shortly.

He said: "Maradona's requirements were very far from the FA's possibilities.

"For the match against Spain, scheduled for September 7th, we may already have the new coach."