Paris joins big screen boycott of World Cup games from Qatar, calls on FIFA to withdraw from Russia 2
Football legend Diego Maradona is joining the growing pressure on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and FIFA to pull out of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
The Argentine striker was forced to apologise for his conduct during the 1982 World Cup final, when he threw at an official and was sent off.
Maradona, who will lead the ‘Maradona y los Cafeteros’ (Maradona and the Cafeteria Workers) demonstrations against the tournament on Saturday, said: ‘With my heart and conscience no longer with the Qatar World Cup, it is necessary to do what we can against this World Cup.’
‘I hope that FIFA and the IOC decide to pull out of the World Cup because I have the moral and ethical duty to the victims and the country to participate in protest against this disgrace,’ he said.
Diego Maradona (left) joined the Maradona y los Cafeteros protest from Argentina on Saturday
The Maradona y los Cafeteros protest is joined by players, fans and politicians from Argentina, Uruguay and Switzerland
And he called on FIFA to abandon the tournament in Russia later this year, calling it a ‘festival of lies’ and asking the IOC to revoke its invitation to FIFA headquarters.
‘It is the most expensive tournament in world football. It is more expensive than the World Cup in Brazil, it is more expensive than the World Cup in South Africa and it is more expensive than the World Cup in Mexico,’ he said.
The Maradona y los Cafeteros group of supporters are due to take part in the ‘Falklands for Peace’ protest in London on Monday as they join other groups of Argentines and other Latin American nations already protesting against the tournament, which has been criticised by human rights groups for having little if any connection with the war in Northern Ireland.
Maradona’s former team-mates from Napoli, who were denied entry