CELEBRITY
FOOTBALL ALL-TIME GREAT, PELÉ CLOCKS 80
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
World’s greatest footballer of all time, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé clocks 80 this Friday.
At 17 years and 239 days, he became the youngest scorer at the World Cup when he found the net in 1958 duel with Wales.
Five days later he added another record as the youngest player to score a World Cup hat trick in the Sweden ’58 duel with France.
He went on to become the first player with three World Cup winning medals after successes with Brazil in 1958, 1962 and 1970.
He is so popular that he is well known and had met with several heads of states.
On one instance, he was meeting with the US President, Ronald Reagan who introduced self thus:
“My name is Ronald Reagan, I’m the President of the United States of America. But you don’t need to introduce yourself, because everyone knows who Pelé is.”
In 1999, he was voted World player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics and along with Argentina’s Diego Maradona, he won the FIFA Player of the Century Award.
Still in 1999, the International Olympic Committee elected Pelé as Athlete of the Century. Goal scoring was his habit, as he became the most successful league goal-scorer in the world, scoring 1281 goals in 1363 games, which included unofficial friendly matches and tour games. Among those goals were the two he scored against Nigeria’s Green Eagles during his first visit to Nigeria.
The match ended 2-2 as the then 28-year old Pele scored both goals in the match played on 26 January 1969 at the then Lagos City Stadium. Muyiwa Oshode and Baba Alli scored the goals for Nigeria.
Eight days later at the then Ogbe Stadium in Benin, Pele’s Santos beat the Midwest selected side 2-1. At the 4 February 1969 duel, Pele did not score. Santos goals came from Edu and Negreiros.
During his playing days, Pelé was for a period the best-paid athlete in the world. He began his playing career for Santos Club of Brazil at age 15 and the national team at 16. He has visited Nigeria many times, the last being in 2000 shortly after the Sydney Olympics.
One of his most traumatic experiences was in February 1976 when he, along with some international tennis players was in Nigeria during the abortive coup against the regime of General Murtala Muhammed.
The sportsmen had to seek diplomatic channels to sneak out of Nigeria as all borders were closed.
Even with the advent of modern day strikers, Pelé with 77 goals in 92 games, is still the all-time leading for Brazil.
Pelé also featured as a prisoner of war in the Hollywood classic ‘Escape to Victory’.
In spite of the athleticism in him, Pelé has health challenges. He attended the draw for the Russia 2018 on wheelchair to which he is still confined. He also for long has just one kidney as in 1977 the Brazilian media reported that he had his right kidney removed.
In November 2012, Pelé underwent a successful hip operation. Early this year, Pelé collapsed from exhaustion and was taken to hospital.
Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first footballer to reach billionaire status, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which has valued the Portugal great’s net worth at an estimated $1.4 billion.
The 40-year-old striker’s financial ascent comes after he signed a new contract with Saudi side Al-Nassr in June reportedly worth more than $400 million.
Bloomberg said that Ronaldo earned more than $550 million in salary between 2002 and 2023, supplemented by a decade-long Nike deal worth nearly $18 million annually, and lucrative endorsements with Armani, Castrol and others that added more than $175 million to his fortune.
Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr from Manchester United in 2023 had already made him the highest-paid player in football history, with an annual salary of 177 million pounds ($237.52 million), plus bonuses and a reported 15% share in his Saudi Arabia club.
Argentina and Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi has earned more than $600 million in pre-tax salary during his career.
Ronaldo’s billionaire status places him among a rare group of athletes that includes basketball greats Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James, golfer Tiger Woods and tennis player Roger Federer.
Ronaldo suggested he is not considering retirement any time soon.
“I still have a passion for this,” he said at the Portugal Football Globes gala on Tuesday. “My family says it’s time to quit and they ask me why I want to score 1000 goals if I’ve already scored 900-something. But I don’t think that way inside.
“I’m still producing good things, I’m helping my club and the national team. Why not continue? I am sure that when I finish I will leave full because I gave everything of myself. I know I don’t have many years left to play, but the few I have left, I have to enjoy them to the fullest.”
-Reuters
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Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles’ annual birthday honours list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honour.
Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.
He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.
His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.
Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama “Darkest Hour”.
He also had roles in the “Dark Knight Trilogy” and the “Harry Potter” movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama “Slow Horses”.
Other famous names receiving honours included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.
Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.
More than 1,200 people received honours for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.
King Charles’ official birthday will be celebrated with the annual “Trooping the Colour” military parade in London on Saturday. His actual birthday is on November 14
-Reuters
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One of three judges in Diego Maradona’s closely scrutinized homicide trial in Argentina resigned on Tuesday amid a scandal triggered by the alleged filming of an unauthorised documentary, bringing uncertainty to the future of legal proceedings.
The high-profile trial over the death of soccer star Maradona began on March 11 in the South American country where the World Cup winner is still revered.
-Reuters
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