São Paulo – Palestine will rename a football stadium after Brazil’s Pelé, who passed late last year and was dubbed the King of Football The initiative came from the Arab country’s Youth and Sports minister Jibril Rajoub. He is also the president of the Palestine Olympics Committee.
The former Al-Khader Stadium is located in the homonymous town, only 5 kilometers from Bethlehem. The stadium will now be called Pelé International Stadium Al-Khader.
In an interview with ANBA, ambassador Alessandro Candeas, head of the Representative Office of Brazil in Ramallah, explained the idea to honor the footballer had arisen in 2022. “In the [2022’s] World Cup, we watched all matches with the Brazilian community, and the minister used to participate. When Pelé passed, we opened a condolence book in the Embassy. Rajoub was one of those who came to sign it, and he already had this [idea of naming a stadium after Pelé] in mind,” said Candeas.
The opening ceremony under the new name will be on May 14. The moment was chosen to coincide with the visit of the International Association Football Federation (FIFA) president Gianni Infantino. “There’ll be a ceremony, then a friendly match between Palestine’s and Jordan’s Olympics teams. A small caravan of the Brazilian community living in Palestine is organizing to watch it, and other authorities will be there, too,” said the ambassador. There’re now some 6,000 Brazilians living in the Middle Eastern country.
King of Football
Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé, was the greatest name of the Brazilian football. The former player died at 82 in São Paulo. Before that, however, Pelé had been honored during Qatar’s World Cup, when two buildings were lit with projections of Brazil’s three-time World Cup winner.
The word “pelé” has recently been added to Portuguese-language dictionary Michaelis, one of the most popular in Brazil, as an adjective meaning “exceptional, incomparable, unique.”
Cooperation
The cooperation in sports, and particularly football, between Brazil and Palestine is a demand that the Palestinian minister has taken to Brazil’s ambassador to the Arab country. “The idea would be that Brazil helped Palestine professionalize its sports here. We know the relevance of football, especially for the youth of the country,” said the diplomat. According to Candeas, the goal is to establish a partnership in both men’s and women’s teams.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
