Diego Maradona is eying a FIFA vice presidency if Jordanian Prince Ali bin al Hussein wins the presidency, vowing to “clean out” corruption in world football.
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Prince Ali is vying to succeed Sepp Blatter as FIFA chief in new elections, after failing to unseat him in a vote on May 29 – only to have Blatter resign four days later amid sweeping US and Swiss investigations into corruption at the heart of world football’s governing body.
“If Prince Ali wins, there’s a good chance I’ll be vice president of FIFA. If I get there, I’m going to clean out all of them,” Maradona said in a telephone interview with Argentine TV programme “Show del Futbol.”
The outspoken Argentine legend, who has a long-standing enmity with Blatter dating back to his playing days, said the FIFA supremo resigned “because he was afraid of the FBI and the Swiss police.”
“He was afraid they were going to take him out of FIFA in handcuffs,” he said.
Maradona, who remains based in Dubai, is currently back in Argentina visiting his ailing father, who is in a Buenos Aires hospital.
In typically brash style, the 1986 World Cup champion also lashed out at other likely contenders for the FIFA presidency.
Michel Platini, the Frenchman who heads European football body UEFA, “has to clarify the 187 matches he rigged, which he told me about in Dubai,” he said.
As for Luis Figo, the retired Portuguese star, Maradona said: “I respect him, but his word is worth less than Zorro’s friend’s” – a reference to Bernardo, the masked hero’s mute servant.
If given a post at FIFA, Maradona said he “would not go with a thirst for revenge,” but to build football fields in needy communities.
Meanwhile, Olympic chief Thomas Bach has said that scandal-plagued FIFA needs “painful” but necessary reform. The IOC president said the crisis at football’s world governing body was bigger than the bribes-for-votes furore over the awarding of the 2002 Winter Games to Salt Lake City.
“We know from our experience that putting everything on the table can be painful but it’s absolutely necessary. We’ve seen that in our past,” he said at the IOC’s Lausanne headquarters.
“It’s only by doing that that the IOC restored its credibility. We can only encourage FIFA to pursue the reforms that it has chosen to carry out.”