Diego Maradona has accused Sepp Blatter of trying to force him out of football.
The football legend rallied against the President, accusing him of underhand tactics to try and keep him out of the public eye.
Maradona, who currently manages UAE side Al-Wasl and is well respected in the Middle East, made his comments known to journalists in Dubai about world football’s most powerful man:
“Blatter wouldn’t let me watch the World Cup because I had exposed him, removed his mask.
“And now I can’t manage in the UAE because he rings club presidents to stop them contracting me. That’s something they’ve told me.”
“Here they love me, they invite me to everything; I want to be the manager of one of Dubai’s biggest teams, but I realise that Blatter is waiting to see how he can drive me out of football.”
Maradona also attracted controversy in his homeland for comments made about the former head of the Argentine FA, Julio Grondona, who died recently.
Grondona and Maradona fought out a feisty war of words until the day of the former FIFA Vice President’s death, with El Diego furious about the way he left his post as Argentina coach in 2010.
And when asked about that feud, Maradona shocked onlookers by signalling to the skies and muttering “thank God they took him away.”