Maradona says corruption scandal proves he was right all along

Dubai: Football legend Diego Maradona has reiterated that his stand about a corrupt Fifa has been vindicated. On Thursday, Fifa President Sepp Blatter was battling to save his post at the Fifa Ethics Committee he helped create, and ironically, whose authority he does not recognise in his case. The suspended top boss is expected to tell four judges he is innocent of wrong-doing during the hearing at Fifa’s headquarters in Zurich. This will be the first time that Blatter has entered the building since he was banned for three months in October.

There is a chance Blatter could receive a life ban, possibly next week, if he is found to be guilty of approving a payment of about $2 million (Dh7.34 million) from Fifa to now suspended Uefa President Michel Platini way back in 2011. There is also a likelihood that Blatter could be banned for several years for a conflict of interest between the two top football officials.

“I have been shouting hoarse about the crooks and corruption in Fifa for the past so many years, but no one heard me. Today, everything is out in the open and we all know who the saints are and who the crooked ones are. Some of these people [an oblong reference to his long-time opponent Blatter] don’t have any experience in football. This is our sport and we need to guard this part of it,” Maradona told Gulf News during the announcements of the 10 Dubai International Sports Conference yesterday.

“Everything is so crystal clear at the moment. He [Blatter] has to face the same committee that he had formed to clean Fifa. And now he says he does not recognize the same committee that he formed. How ironical is that?” he questioned.

“But I am not really surprised with this sort of response as this is the way these people have been behaving all the time, and nothing will change in them even in the future,” he added.

Not one to pass a single opportunity to have a jab at Blatter, the Argentinean legend insisted that the world of football should not allow this opportunity to reform the sport pass by. “We have a chance to change our sport and we should not let this opportunity slip away. We must do everything to root out the evil affecting football. We were players and none of the officials even spoke about our welfare, leave aside doing something good for the sport. We need a transparent body to run football and now is our chance to have a non-corrupt chief who will head Fifa into the future,” Maradona fumed.

Nominations closed at the end of October for next February’s elections to pick the new Fifa president. And Jordan’s Prince Ali Bin Al Hussain, who lost 133-73 against Blatter earlier this year before the corruption scandal hit the world governing body, is Maradona’s choice for the hot spot.

“My candidate is Prince Ali. He is an honest man and he can do a good job as Fifa president. If he does not, then maybe I should become the president,” Maradona joked.