The Argentine Football Association (AFA) decided not to extend Diego Maradona's contract as national team coach on Tuesday, AFA spokesman Ernesto Cherquis Bialo said.

The Argentine Football Association announced that his contract would not be renewed after Maradona had said he would only accept the AFA's offer of a new four-year deal through to the 2014 World Cup if his entire staff also remained.

Doubts had surrounded the 49-year-old's future ever since a tense meeting with AFA president Julio Grondona on Monday and newspapers had spent the day speculating on who would succeed the man who led the team to victory as star player at the 1986 World Cup.

As an inexperienced coach, Maradona's record over 18 months was less than stellar and the team only qualified for the World Cup finals by the skin of their teeth.

 "The executive committee... has resolved unanimously not to renew the contract of Diego Armando Maradona as coach of the national team," AFA spokesman Ernesto Cherquis Bialo told a news conference after the meeting of soccer bosses.

The AFA would likely need to announce an interim coach for the friendly against Ireland on Aug. 11 in Dublin.

Maradona became Argentina's coach in November 2008, replacing Alfio Basile and taking over a team he led to the 1986 World Cup title. His results were mixed.

The Argentine team suffered two of the worst losses in history, a 6-1 hammering at Bolivia in World Cup qualifying, and a 4-0 battering by Germany in the quarterfinals of the World Cup.

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