Maradona to be moved to psychiatric hospital

A flag with an image of former Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona is displayed before an Argentine First Division soccer match between Boca Juniors and River Plate in Buenos Aires April 15, 2007. Maradona, who is in the hospital being treated for alcoholic hepatitis, will be moved next week to a psychiatric clinic for alcohol abuse treatment, his doctor said on Thursday.

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Diego Maradona, who is in the hospital being treated for alcoholic hepatitis, will be moved next week to a psychiatric clinic for alcohol abuse treatment, his doctor said on Thursday.

The 46-year-old soccer great who led Argentina to the 1986 World Cup championship has been in the hospital for most of the last three weeks with ailments linked to excessive drinking.

Maradona was taken to a Buenos Aires clinic on April 13 complaining of abdominal pain, just 48 hours after being released from 10 days of treatment.

Dr. Alfredo Cahe, Maradona's personal physician, told Radio Uno that doctors had persuaded the former Argentine captain to submit to rehabilitation at a psychiatric centre.

"Diego is becoming aware of the seriousness of his condition," he said. "He didn't have any idea how the alcohol had affected him, the pains ... that he blacked out, that he was in shock, the vomiting."

Maradona, chosen by soccer's governing body, FIFA, along with Pele as the best players of the 20th century, has struggled with obesity and cocaine addiction since he retired in 1997.

Doctors treating Maradona say his current problems were not brought on by drug use but his "addictive personality."

Maradona was hospitalized in 2000 and 2004, both times with severe heart problems stemming from his cocaine use.

He underwent drug rehabilitation at a Argentine psychiatric centre three years ago before continuing his treatment in Cuba.