July 6 – After describing Colombia’s World Cup loss to England as a “monumental theft” and being wrapped over the knuckles by FIFA, for whom he is a well-paid ambassador, Diego Maradona has apologised for the comments he made about the refereeing during the last-16 tie.
Argentina’s 1986 World Cup-winning captain made his comments after England were awarded a penalty for a foul on Harry Kane.
Maradona said American referee Mark Geiger “knows a lot about baseball but has no idea about football” and also criticised FIFA for appointing him to the match in Moscow.
Maradona is reported to earn around $10,000 US dollars a game as part of Fifa’s ‘Legends’ ambassador programme and has now retracted his comments in a post on Instagram.
“Taken by the excitement of supporting Colombia the other day, I said a couple of things and, I admit, some of them are unacceptable,” he wrote. “My apologies to FIFA and its president.”
Maradona, who mostly attended World Cup games in Russia as a VIP guest of FIFA, was photographed before the game wearing a Colombia shirt.
“Even though I may frequently have differences of opinion over certain refereeing decisions, I have the utmost respect for the work that the referees and their institution do,” he added. “It is certainly not easy.”
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