Argentina's soccer superstar Diego Maradona appeared in a Beijing court Friday, suing two Chinese Internet firms over the unauthorized use of his image in an online soccer game.

The Beijing Municipal No. 2 Intermediate People's Court heard the case against Beijing Sina Internet Information Service, operator of the country's portal sina.com, and Shanghai No. 9 City Information Technology.

Maradona showed up at the hearing, court sources said.

The 51-year-old onetime star accused the two firms of running an online gaming site, "Hot Blooded Soccer," using his cartoon image and his name without his consent, sources said. Maradona is seeking 20 million yuan ($3.2 million) in compensation.

Maradona's cartoon image, showing him in a white-striped blue Argentinean national team shirt could still be found at the game's website qiuqiu.9c.com, on Friday.