Maradona faces a possible touchline ban after he let loose with a foul-mouthed tirade aimed at his critics after Argentina clinched their place at next summer's finals with a 1-0 win in Montevideo on October 14.

The former World Cup winner, whose case will be discussed in Zurich tomorrow, was asked in an interview with Spanish newspaper Madrid if he felt if he was being mistreated, to which he replied: "Yes, much worse things have been said and there are people who do terrible things in football, but....

"I don't want to talk about the matter anymore. I said what I said and that's where things are. On Sunday I will say what I have to say to FIFA and that's it."

Maradona has come in for fierce criticism in the Argentinian media for his disjointed handling of his country's qualification campaign, which saw him field over 70 players and almost miss out on an automatic spot for the World Cup.

However, last month's win over Uruguay secured the fourth and final qualifying place in the South American zone, and afterwards Maradona took a swipe at his critics with with some choice words in his post-match questioning - leading to tomorrow's date with FIFA.

Maradona, whose Argentina side take on Spain in a friendly in Madrid tonight, spoke with Marca of the criticism he has received, saying: "Since I took this post with the national team I knew that this could happen...and it did. But I'm taking refuge in my team, my family, my daughters and in the people from the street.

"Nobody should forget that the people from Argentina, from the street, are showing me a lot of affection. They greet me and love me like always.

"And I'm concentrating on that, on the people without microphones, not on the what the media says."

Maradona could be slapped with a five-game ban by FIFA if found guilty, which could see him sidelined for matches at next year's World Cup finals.