Rio de Janeiro abandoned plans to rename its famous Maracanã Stadium in tribute to Pelé on Thursday after a widespread outcry from fans.
The official proposal to give Pelé’s name to the ground that hosted the final of the 2014 World Cup and the opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympic Games was vetoed by state governor Cláudio Castro.
A recent Netflix documentary about the legendary Brazilian soccer player Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as Pelé, tells a compelling story of the athlete’s rise to fame from 1950 to 1974. The 99-minute documentary, which includes interviews with the 80-year-old Pelé, shows Pelé’s spectacular life against the backdrop of Brazil’s politics. But the film fails to address deeper questions of race and class.
There are some crazy superstitions and lucky charms that soccer players make sure they have before any match they may play in. Some players have lucky underwear, some have to put a certain cleat on before the other and some have to step on the pitch with a certain foot first. These may seem out of the ordinary, but these are real things players make sure they stick to before each and every game or practice for good luck.
Brazil's world famous Maracanã stadium is to get a new name, after the Rio de Janeiro state legislature voted on Tuesday to change its official title to the Edson Arantes do Nascimento-Rei Pelé stadium.
The 80-year-old Pelé, whose full name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento, played at the stadium many times for Brazil and scored his 1,000th goal there in 1969 — for Santos against local club Vasco da Gama.
We live in a golden age of soccer documentaries. From the “Diego Maradona” documentary in 2019 to Amazon’s All or Nothing series and Netflix’s “Sunderland ‘Til I Die,” soccer fans have never had so many great inside looks at the players and clubs we’ve watched on the pitch for all our lives.
SAO PAULO — Former Brazilian soccer star Pele was vaccinated against Covid-19 on Tuesday, the same day that a record 1,641 people were reported to have died in the South American nation after contracting the virus.
Pele posted a picture of him receiving the vaccination on Instagram giving a thumbs up sign.
A new movie about Brazilian soccer great Pelé is the latest in a series of documentaries in what has been described as a golden age of sports film.
Documentaries about American basketball player Michael Jordan, Argentine footballer Diego Maradona and Brazilian Formula One driver Ayrton Senna have transfixed fans with their insider look at the performance and personality of the biggest global sports stars.
Is Pelé the greatest of all time? Did Diego Maradona’s accomplishments surpass the Brazilian’s? Are Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the same conversation? All of these questions are hard to answer because most soccer fans alive today never watched Pelé play in his prime. That could change with this upcoming Netflix documentary, and the official Pelé trailer was released on Thursday.
You know that one friend that always has to ruin a special moment with some snarky comment? That one ass-hat who still has to make it about themselves no matter the situation? On Sunday morning, Brazilian club Santos woke up and decided to be that person.
Lionel Messi made history on Saturday, equaling a record that never would have been possible if he had left Barcelona as he wanted over the summer. With a rare headed goal in first-half stoppage time, Messi tied Pelé’s record for most goals with one club with the Argentine’s 643rd for Barça.
Moments before the record-tying goal, Messi had a penalty kick saved by Jaume Doménech, but Jordi Alba sent the ball back in off the rebound. Eventually the cross looped to the back post where Messi headed in.
MESSI!