FIFA Bribery Scandal: Soccer Legends Maradona and Romário Call For More Arrests

“Swiss authorities raided a rat’s nest [and] arrested various authorities of global football,” Romário, a current Brazilian Senator and former 1994 World Cup champion said on Wednesday in response to the recent arrests of top FIFA officials by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). For years, soccer stars who now command considerable public attention have criticized blatant corruption in FIFA and its closely-aligned national partner organizations. Joining Romário’s glee was Argentinian soccer legend Diego Maradona who basically told local radio “I told you so.”

"I was treated like a crazy person," Maradona told radio station Radio La Red in Buenos Aires. "Now the FBI has told the truth."

A DOJ indictment named 14 suspects in a case that could involve dozens more. Defendents were chared with bribery, money laundering and other crimes. Maradona and Romário both appear to hope for the arrest of Sepp Blatter, FIFA’s 4-term president, who oversaw the organization during the most corrupt years of it’s history. Blatter has ignored calls to withdraw from a Friday election that was expected to win him a 5th term. He has not been charged with any crime. Back in Latin America, Maradona and Romário hopped that action by the U.S. would help clean up soccer corruption at home.

"Embarrassingly, one of those detained is the vice-president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), Romário told his fellow senators in a hearing. “Many of the corrupt people and thieves who do harm to football were arrested. Including one of the country's largest, named Jose Maria Marin. He's one of the rats I've been denouncing for a long time. This was the man next to President Dilma [Roussef] and received heads of state at World Cup gatherings."

Only days before the indictment, Maradona wrote an opinion-editorial denouncing FIFA and Blatter. He called him a “dictator,” who made FIFA into a “playground for the corrupt.”

“Under Sepp Blatter, Fifa has become a disgrace and a painful embarrassment to those of us who care about football deeply,” he wrote. “There is a sick admiration for Blatter much like that accorded to an old Mafia boss who has somehow managed to stay out of jail.”

Romário called for more arrests as well, saying that the current CBF leader who just replaced Marin should be investigated. The CBF is not a part of FIFA, but operates similarly as an NGO, and is known to have a revolving door of nepotism between the two organizations.

“I hope that the investigation results in the completely cleansing soccer of these corrupt officials, like Marco Polo Del Nero. The current state of Brazilian soccer is the fault of these officials, that aren’t even a bit interested in helping. They only think about money,” he said.

Both soccer stars suggested that corruption at FIFA and the CBF are was a roadblock to solving the larger issues facing soccer, like gender discrimination and racism. Romario went on to say that Brazilian officials don't support female soccer as much as they should, either because there's not enough money in the sport to seek bribes and get rich, or because the money invested in women's soccer is embezzled.

“Recently he pledged to follow through in addressing racism in football and promoting women in the sport. That made me laugh.” Maradona wrote. “My question is: ‘Sepp, what were you doing in your last four terms?’ We all know the answer to that: surrounding himself with crooks who lined their pockets at the expense of the sport. If he were an honest man, surely he would not have spent half his time blocking outside investigations into Fifa finances?”