Defiant Diego Maradona offers no apology for profanity-filled tirade on live television

Defiant Maradona offers no apology for tirade

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Diego Maradona won’t apologize for a profanity-filled tirade on live TV that prompted a FIFA investigation and could result in a five-game suspension and nearly $20,000 fine for the Argentina coach.

Maradona was defiant in a television interview on state-run Canal 7. FIFA opened a disciplinary investigation last week following a 1-0 victory at Uruguay that sent the struggling Argentine team to next year’s World Cup.

Maradona said he planned to coach the team in South Africa and had no plans to resign. He said his remarks had been had been “building up” and were aimed at critics and journalists who he suggested were “anti-Argentine.”

“It was getting it off my chest, and I don’t regret it,” Maradona said in the interview Wednesday night. “I gave my mother a kiss on the forehead and told her: ‘If I was wrong I ask your forgiveness, but nobody else.’”

Maradona said after the game his use of profanities did not merit an apology, and he reiterated that Wednesday.

“I apologize to the ladies, but not to those who talk about football on television,” Maradona said. “What I said was also late — outside family viewing hours.”

FIFA’s disciplinary code says a suspension and fine should apply to any soccer figure who “lowers himself through acts or words, to discriminate or insult a person or group of persons … in a way that undermines human dignity.”

Argentine Football Association president Julio Grondona, who hired Maradona and is also a FIFA vice president, dismissed the remarks as a momentary outburst.

Maradona also denied talk he is using drugs again. As a player, he was kicked out of the 1994 World Cup in the United States after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Five years ago, he had a heart attack attributed to a cocaine overdose.

“I’m not going to put up with those who say I’m taking again, because — thank God — I’ve been clean for five years and I’m not going out clubbing at night,” he said.