Buenos Aires( EFE) – Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona on Tuesday blasted FIFA president Sepp Blatter and one of the men hoping to succeed him as head of the world governing body for the sport.
"Some FIFA people should be in jail. I continue supporting the project of Ali Bin al-Hussein, the Jordanian prince, to make FIFA transparent," Maradona said from Dubai in a telephone conversation with Argentine daily Ole.
Maradona also had some tough words for Michel Platini, a former FIFA official who now heads the European soccer association, UEFA, and who is vying with Al-Hussein and several others to succeed Blatter in a special election.
Al-Hussein's bid for the FIFA presidency in the regular FIFA election earlier this year fell short, but U.S. and Swiss indictments of more than a dozen soccer executives since May prompted Blatter to announce another ballot for early 2016.
"I have said that a man who is alongside a corrupt person like Blatter cannot play the fool. Let us remember, Platini said he would leave FIFA as a stratagem, and that he would give the votes to Prince Ali. He is a liar," said Maradona, who led Argentina to the World Cup title in 1986 and who has flirted with the idea or running to succeed Blatter himself.
Last week, the Swiss judiciary opened an investigation into an allegedly improper payment of roughly $2 million from Blatter to Platini "that harmed FIFA."
"And now the Swiss court will investigate him," Maradona said. "The neighborhood shoemaker always has a kid watching him and learning the trade, and Platini learned from Blatter."
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