Diego Armando Maradona, who passed away on Wednesday at age 60, was not only one of the best football players the world has ever seen, but also a great humanitarian and he showed this when he attended a humanitarian football match for children’s education in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995.

The football match was the result of a project by the Journalists and Writers Foundation.

“JWF’s project unfolded in the Ali Sami Yen Stadium in Istanbul, where soccer players from Turkey’s national team and other international teams took part in a match to support Bosnian children. Tens of thousands of people attended the match, including renowned Argentinian soccer star Diego Maradona, and millions more watched the game on TV,” the Foundation said.

“With the revenue obtained through the match, two colleges equipped with all of the requirements of contemporary education were given as a gift to the children of Sarajevo,” it said.

The match ended with Turkey’s national team beating the other team, which consisted of players from across the world, with a score of 4:1. Elvir Bolic, a member of Bosnia’s national team at the time, was the only one to score a goal for the international team.

“It was beautifully organised. He (Maradona) showed up, and I think that (Michael) Laudrup was there. Of course, it represented a great honour for all of us because of the character of the match, but also because Maradona showed up,” Bolic told N1.

“He was undoubtedly one of the greatest. This is very sad news. He is a man who left a deep mark in the world of football and for me personally because I grew up watching him play,” he said.