Buenos Aires (dpa) - Diego Maradona's contract as national coach will not be renewed, the Argentine football association (AFA) announced late Tuesday.

AFA spokesman Cherquis Bialo announced the coach's departure in Buenos Aires, after talks on Monday between Maradona and association chief Julio Grondona failed to produce an extension for a contract that expires on Saturday.

The AFA could not accept the conditions that Maradona had set before he would sign a contract extension to remain at the helm of the national team through the 2014 World Cup in neighbouring Brazil, Bialo said.

A legendary striker, who led Argentina to a world championship in 1986, the 49-year-old Maradona coached a team that struggled to qualify for the 2010 World Cup.

Once in South Africa, though, Argentina raised expectations by running overshod in the group stage with three straight wins. They followed with a 3-1 victory over Mexico in the Round of 16 before being knocked out in Cape Town with a 4-0 humiliation against Germany.

After such a strong start to the tournament, the quarter-final exit was considered a disappointing outcome by many observers in Argentina.

Maradona's departure follows reports by Argentine media last week that the mercurial coach had reached a verbal agreement with Grondona ahead of Monday's meeting, where negotiations apparently broke down.

Ahead of the meeting questions remained about whether the association would agree to Maradona's demands to keep the team's assistant coaches in place. He had threatened to leave if the association changed so much as the equipment manager or team masseuse.

Sergio Batista, coach of Argentina's national youth team, was named to temporarily guide the men's squad for a friendly next month against Ireland. He has already acted as interim coach before Maradona took over the coaching duties two years ago.