Diego Maradona says Argentina players took banned drugs before a qualifying match for the 1994 World Cup.

He accuses FIFA vice president Julio Grondona, the head of Argentina’s Football Association, of being in on the scheme.

Maradona says there were no drug controls for the 1993 qualifier against Australia in Buenos Aires.

He claims the team doctor put a banned stimulant in their coffee.

Argentina won 1-0 and advanced to the tournament in the United States, where Maradona was later expelled for a positive drug test and team lost in the quarterfinals.

Maradona said Monday on television that Grondona had to know all about it. Grondona had no immediate comment.

Grondona on Monday denied the accusations.

“We never gave (the players) anything,” he told the German Press Agency dpa.

Maradona, who was recently named coach of Dubai club al-Wasl, has long had an acrimonious relationship with Grondona, which hit rock bottom after his dismissal from coaching the national squad after Argentina’s poor performance at the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.

“They gave us a fast coffee,” Maradona told Argentine television. “They put something in the coffee, and maybe you could run faster.

“Do you know why there was no doping test in the tie Argentina-Australia either in Australia or in the River Plate stadium? Because otherwise Argentina would not have made it to the World Cup,” he added.

Grondona retaliated by saying the lack of doping tests was accorded with Australia, as Maradona had at that time just returned to playing following a lengthy ban after failing a drug test.

Maradona said earlier he will go to court after Grondona hinted that he continued to be addicted to drugs.

Maradona stresses that he has been clean for seven years.