An Iranian play on the life of late football star Diego Maradona will be shown at Tehran's Neauphle-le-Château Theater starting Friday.

The play is the culmination of a project Iranian director Mehran Ranjbar has been planning since Maradona's death in 2020. The legendary football player was one of the director's heroes since childhood, he told Iranian Mehr news agency, and his death made him want to pay homage to him in his work.

“Now, with great contributions and help from my crew, we are ready to bring the play on stage,” Ranjbar said. The director has also previously directed biographical plays on innovator Steve Jobs and film icon Marlon Brando.

“Since childhood, I was an ardent fan of Maradona and the Argentina national football team and by this play, I want to pay tribute to the late legendary soccer who took great pains to enter the world of football and become a champion for many people of the world and football aficionados,” he added.

Ranjbar had also planned to stage a play on the life of Che Guevara in 2020. However, the emergence of the pandemic kept him from realizing it.

Ranjbar's previous play, Marlon Brando, won the award for best costume design in 2020's 38th Fajr International Theater Festival in Tehran.