The first hypothesis predicted that men would show a greater degree of involvement (parasocial interaction and identification) with Diego Maradona than would women. In order to explore if gender influenced involvement with Diego Maradona, t tests were performed between men and women for both parasocial interaction and identification. Results for parasocial interaction indicated that men (M = 33.5, SD = 11.7) reported greater parasocial interaction with Maradona than did women (M = 28.3, SD =11.3). This difference was statically significant (t (357) = 4.3,p < .001).