The Argentine Football Association, which hired Diego Maradona in November 2008 to coach the national football team, has announced his contract will not be renewed.

Luis Segura, an executive committee member of the AFA, said on Argentine television that Maradona shut himself off to any change and has the right to do what he wants, but added that the AFA also has the right to do what it thinks is best.

The association had offered Maradona a four-year contract through to the 2014 World Cup, but Maradona said he would stay on only if his entire staff remained. This was unacceptable to AFA president Julio Grondona who had asked for several assistants to be replaced, including Maradona's close friend Alejandro Mancuso.

The association said its executive committee unanimously decided not to keep Maradona.