SPORT-ARGENTINA: Maradona Stars in Encore Dispute with FIFA

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 7 2000 (IPS) - Argentina’s former footballer Diego Maradona will not go to Rome on Monday to receive the prize for best player of the 20th century if the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) does not respect the vote that made him the winner, and instead pursues its plans to also give the award to Brazil’s former star, Pele.

Maradona expressed his satisfaction Thursday with having won in the FIFA-organised survey. He was followed by Pele (Edson Arantes do Nascimento), and fellow Argentine Alfredo Di Stéfano, who played in the 1950s for a team in Spain.

“I knew that if I won they would want to change the rules, but they should have done it earlier, not after the people already voted. If Pele had won by popular vote, I would have accepted it, like I accepted that the FIFA leadership’s vote put me in twelfth place,” he said with irony.

Maradona’s bitterness is in response to comments made by FIFA representatives after the results of the international survey were unofficially released, a move that upset the organisation’s executives.

FIFA leaders said it was a mistake to have held a popular vote via the Internet to determine the best player of the 20th century.

“I know that I won” by a landslide, Maradona affirmed Thursday in Buenos Aires, on the eve of his return to Cuba, where he is undergoing medical treatment for heart problems and drug addiction.

The results of the vote, which concluded Nov 20, were published this week by the Spanish sports magazine “As,” though they were not officially released by FIFA, and the number of votes received by each football star is not known.

Coaches, players and fans in Brazil rejected the outcome of the FIFA Internet poll.

But beyond personal preferences is the difference between the top two vote recipients: Maradona was always considered a rebel in the football world, while Pele never questioned FIFA’s policies or regulations.

This in part explains why the former Argentine football star refuses to share the prize, and threatens to boycott Monday’s award ceremony if he does not receive assurances that he is the only winner.

The controversy arose when the FIFA leadership made the mistake of organising an election for best player without differentiating between the major periods of football history, thus tipping the balance toward younger fans – the predominant Internet users – and their votes for Maradona, who is best known among younger age groups.

A poll of FIFA Football Commission members reportedly gave the number-one player status to Pele, and the organisation now debates whether or not to organise a new election, this time to pick the best player from each major period of football.

“If the young people had only voted for the best known player, Di Stefano would not have come in third,” pointed out Maradona, who throughout his career had serious run-ins with FIFA

On various occasions he referred to FIFA as “corrupt” and “mafioso,” words he extended to its officials, and accused them of poorly organising football tournaments and putting player health at risk.

The first problem occurred when Maradona refused to shake hands with then-president of FIFA, Brazil’s Joao Havelange, during the awards ceremony at the 1990 World Cup in Italy.

Maradona also lashed out against the institution when he was suspended from the 1994 World Cup in the United States for testing positive for a stimulant banned under FIFA rules.

But the greatest tensions between FIFA and Maradona occurred when the Argentine player led a movement of top footballers from numerous countries to form an international players union.

Despite his differences with Pele, Maradona applauded the fact that the three most-voted players for the award are all South Americans.

He pointed out, however, that he is not going to say “please” in asking the FIFA to award him the prize for best player of the 20th century, nor is he going to beg, he said.

He recognised Pele’s merits as a great football player, but maintained that he and the Brazilian cannot be compared because in the 1960s, when Pele played, football was not such a fast game.

“I played the best I could, and I played in Italy, where the best scorers in the world train,” stated Maradona, adding, “you have to give the people credit, the public that votes, because it is the people who make us stars, not the (FIFA) leaders.”

He said he was proud that French player Michael Platini had once said the best player in football history was Pele. Platini had added that “Maradona plays something else,” alluding to his unsurpassed playing ability.

Maradona’s talent took him to the summit of international sport, but from there he began his fall due to drug addiction, problems with the law and disputes with world football officials – a history that is a far cry from that of Pele, now 60 years old.