Riquelme beats Maradona as Boca Juniors elect new president

Former Argentina playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme has won a three-way battle with bitter rival Diego Maradona and Gabriel Batistuta after his group won elections at Boca Juniors, striking a big blow against his old foe Maradona. list headed by Jorge Ameal, who was club president between 2008 and 2011, won 52.8 percent of vote from Boca's 84,000 members, bringing Riquelme into 33-time Argentine champions' hierarchy. 41-year-old stood alongside Ameal as a prospective second vice-president and helped see off faction supported by Maradona and powerful outgoing president of Argentina Mauricio Macri, which was led by Christian Gribaldo and only gared 30.6 percent of vote.

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list supported by Batistuta came in a distant third with 16.1 percent. "It was a big party. Our fans voted for love of club colours, I'm satisfied," said Riquelme after his side's victory. re has been bad blood between pair since Riquelme snubbed Maradona, n Argentina's coach, by refusing to come out of retirement for 2010 World Cup, making it clear refusal was personal.

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Maradona, who is a hero in Argentina but won little with Boca, warned fans against voting for Riquelme's faction, saying results would worsen on pitch. re was also a concerted effort by previous club administration, backed by Macri, to block out Riquelme's presence in campaigning. A photo showing him wearing Boca number 10 was banned from ballot paper, and club warned fans ahead of election day that anyone wearing a Riquelme T-shirt would t be allowed to vote at club's Bombonera stadium.

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However, Riquelme's support was key to Ameal's victory as a highly successful playmaker for capital city club. He scored three times in 5-0 aggregate win over Gremio to win ir last Copa Libertadores in 2007, Riquelme's third for club and Boca's sixth overall. Boca reached Libertadores final again last year only to lose to fierce rivals River Plate in a controversial final that saw second leg moved to Madrid following fan trouble. River also eliminated Boca in this year's semi-finals.

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new board's priority will be to bring back international luster that Riquelme experienced as a player for one of South America's biggest clubs. loss was a second defeat for Macri in less than two months. He was Boca president from 1995 to 2006 and used that as a springboard to nationwide political success. He became president of Argentina in 2015 as head of his center-right Cambiemos party, but his rule will end on December 10 after losing October's presidential elections to leftist Alberto Fernandez.