Buenos Aires-based daily Clarin said the 60-year-old was found dead in his bed at 11.30am and that several ambulance crews failed to resuscitate him.

"The only thing that Maradona was able to do like a normal person was die," it said, under the headline "World Upheaval: Diego Armando Maradona has died".

It reported that major Buenos Aires landmarks, such as the Obelisk, the planetarium and the Lezama palace, were illuminated in the colors of Argentina's flag on Wednesday night as a mark of respect.

Rival newspaper La Nacion said football had provided a refuge for Maradona amid his long battle with drug and alcohol dependence.

"It didn't matter if it was hell outside. When he walked onto the pitch he forgot his worries," it said.

Jorge Valdano, who was Maradona's teammate in the Argentina side that won the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, said Maradona had struggled with the public spotlight like few other footballers before him or since.

"There is something perverse about a life in which dreams are fulfilled and Diego suffered the generosity of his destiny like no one else," Valdano wrote in a column published in La Nacion.

Valdano quoted Maradona's former physical trainer, Fernando Signorini, who once said: "With Diego I would go to the end of the world, but with Maradona I wouldn't even go to the corner shop."

The Ole sports newspaper ran the headline, "Long live Diego," adding that Maradona's profound impact on all walks of life in Argentina made him eternal. "He will never finish writing his story. He is alive," it said.

TNT Sports said a wake for the former Napoli and Boca Juniors star would be held at the Casa Rosada presidential palace on Thursday and Friday. It cited estimates from officials that the event would attract more than a million mourners. 

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