Diego Maradona: Separated At Birth...

...And The Story Behind His Doppelganger

Abi Atici on the 12/19 episode of "Topfgeldjager"

I have to say, this post should be chalked up to the Gods of Serendipity. In my profile, I mention that I'm on a quest to learn German as a second language and that I'm a soccer fanatic. This hub is the intersection of those two interests. My wife is a German citizen. And, we hope to move back there one day, provided the Euro crisis doesn't blow up the German economy. As a part of teaching myself the language, I watch German TV and/or listen to German podcasts/radio shows.

Today, I watched a German cooking show, called "Topfgeldjager." Long story short, 2 teams have a set amount of time to cook an appetizer, main course, and dessert. The meals are then judged by another chef, and the winner gets a monetary prize and the option to come back for more money. Loser goes home. Imagine my surprise today, when one of the members of the men's team, was a dead ringer for Diego Maradona. He even wore a Maradona jersey for the show. He has tattoos matching those of Maradona. This is "Single White Female" to the ninth degree. I just hope he hasn't taken on Diego's issues with the nose candy, to help sell his gimmick. At first, I thought it was Diego. I thought maybe they were having him on as a special guest. Once the Maradona ringer spoke perfect German, I knew we had a doppelganger on our hands. I decided to investigate further.

The gentleman's name is Abi Atici. He is a Turkish-born German citizen and he has carved out quite the career as the soccer legend's look-a-like. From what I could work out from the show (again, my German is a little rough), he has done appearances as Maradona. He has gotten VIP treatment at clubs. Atici has tricked members of the press. He's even tricked ex-soccer players. Atici has tricked fans as well. When he arrives in different towns/countries, he willingly signs autographs, once he's mobbed by fans. Here he is at a Bayern Munich match taking pictures with unknowing fans. This appearance was synergistic. On the night, Bayern Munich was playing one of Diego's ex-clubs, Napoli. So, it would have made sense to the fans that he'd be in attendance.

Atici is not doing this without Maradona's knowledge or approval. On Atici's site, he is pictured with Maradona in Cuba (text is in German). If you have time, definitely take a look at that site. It even seems that he fluctuates his weight to match with that of Maradona. There's a picture of each of them shirtless as well, so you can see the matching tattoos. There's videos of him fooling the press as well.
All in all, just a strange story. I figured I'd share it with you all.

I only wanted to get a quick German lesson in today and learn some foods and new words. I stumble upon a Maradona look-a-like. What are the odds? I fear that the jig is up for Atici though. He was outed at the Bayern Munich-Napoli match a couple of weeks back. He goes on German TV this week. And, now I'm spreading the word to America. So, if you see someone who looks like Maradona, in some odd place, take a good look at the guy. Atici may be putting one over on you.

If you are German or can speak the language, you can see the show here for yourself. And, you have to watch this particular show (December 19th's). Fake Diego's team lost, so they will not be back. Hope you enjoyed this nugget of useless information. I got a kick out of it myself. I guess you just never know what you're going to run into on a given day.

See you next time,

James