Diego Maradona launches scathing attack on "incompetent" Sepp Blatter

Football legend Diego Maradona has hit out at FIFA president Sepp Blatter, calling him "dodgy" and "a thief".

The 79-year-old is expected to win the presidential election next week and serve a fifth term in charge, but Maradona believes that football is "drowning in a sea of contempt" with him in charge.

He wrote in The Telegraph: "Why is this dodgy 79-year-old running for a fifth term at FIFA anyway? His cronies have stolen everything but the furniture in his office and he has claimed to know nothing. Perhaps we should call him Saint Sepp the Innocent. What a joke.

"If leadership matters, then no national football association could, in good conscience, support Blatter for a fifth term. He is incompetent. When you are knee deep in massive financial losses and bribes and notice nothing, you are a fool or a thief.

"All these corruption investigations are bleeding the life out of FIFA, and international football is drowning in a sea of contempt. Few sports in history have suffered the bad press football has faced in recent years and much of that press is owed to Blatter."

Blatter has been in charge of FIFA since 1998.