FIFA President Gianni Infantino will ask every country in the world to rename a stadium after Pelé
The FIFA President’s idea of the week this time comes in the form of a homage to one of football’s greats, Pelé.
Oh no, it seems like Infantino’s been talking to a microphone again. Surely you have got enough advisors that one of them can say to have a really good think about something before making it public this time, Gianni?
Alas, that is not the case. Yes, Gianni Infantino is in Brazil after Pelé, one of the greatest footballers to have ever lived, sadly died at the age of 82 after a long battle with illness. The FIFA President, however, has turned the spotlight away from the Santos stadium, where Pelé's body is currently resting, to himself, saying “we’re going to ask every country in the world to name one of their football stadiums with the name of Pelé.”
A bit of an impractical idea?
On the face of it, a worldwide recognition of the player who was the first world superstar, the first ever great of a generation, is an honourable thing to do. However, the practicalities of renaming a stadium in every country across the world very quickly turns from ingenious to impossible. Who decides on which stadium is renamed? Do we change Macclesfield’s or Manchester United’s? Would the Middelfart Stadion in Denmark need a rethink?
Infantino - the FIFA President that became the star of the show at the World Cup, saying he felt “disabled” while at a tournament in which people watched football in stadiums built by workers who died doing their job, one in which fans had to use desert caravans for hotels; in a country where it is illegal to be gay and was not OK for players to wear a rainbow armband - said “we are going to ask that all countries in the world have at least one stadium with the name of Pelé. I am here with a lot of emotion, sadness, but also with a smile because he gave us so many smiles. As FIFA, we will pay a tribute to the ‘King’ and we ask the whole world to observe a minute of silence.”
A minute of reflection has been held before football matches across the world and black armbands have been worn by players in various countries in honour of the 3-time World Cup winner, who has left a huge whole in the world of sport all over the globe.