As the world mourns the passing of Brazilian football icon Edson Arantes do Nascimento, famously known as Pelé, who died on Thursday aged 82 after a long battle with cancer, Mozzart Sport goes down memory lane to the time the player regarded as the greatest of all time visited Kenya back in 1976.Coming just six years after leading Brazil to their third World Cup glory in 1970, making him the only player in history to lift the prestigious accolade on three occasions after victories in 1958 and 1962, Pele’s trip to the country was expected to be a high profile event.The Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio and Wembley Stadium in London is lit with the colors of the Brazilian flag in tribute to Pelé 💚💛 pic.twitter.com/3VGg1PAGFe— ESPN (@espn) December 29, 2022 However, that was not the case as Pele, the three time World Cup winner who was making headlines all around the world, was treated to a rude awakening.According to reports, the football legend was infamously denied a chance to play an exhibition match in Nairobi and Mombasa during his Kenya tour.Pele visited Nairobi in early Feb. 1976. His visit was sponsored by @Pepsi. Admission to Jamhuri Park was 6 bottlecaps for adults & 3 for kids.Here’s a clip, courtesy @Reuters.Short thread. 1/ pic.twitter.com/yJlKOS2vfl— Derek R Peterson (@Unseen_Archive) December 30, 2022 Then President of the Kenya Football Federation (KFF) Kenneth Matiba refused to allow Pele to play an exhibition match in Nairobi as the federation would have nothing to do with him owing to the disagreement he had with the organizers of the trip who are said not to have consulted the federation honcho.”Those planning to put Pele in shame should know that nothing happens in the world of football when rules are not adhered to,” Matiba was quoted as saying then.##NAJAVA_MECA_6911184##Following the botched mission in Nairobi, the organizers tried to salvage the situation by seeking to stage the match in Mombasa but their attempts faced a similar setback when the branch head Mbarak Said refused to grant their request.When it became clear that they would not have their way, Pele went on to engage students at the Starehe Boys Centre as part of an initiative he had signed with the drinks manufacturing company Pepsi in an effort to save face after his visit to the country turned out to be chaotic.3/Pele’s visit was marred when a row broke out with Kenneth Matiba, who Pele’s aide called a ‘publicity seeker’.In retaliation Matiba held Kenya Football Federation players out of Pele’s event; & Pele was obliged to interact with students hastily recruited to play. pic.twitter.com/4ox9X1ovGC— Derek R Peterson (@Unseen_Archive) December 30, 2022 The Brazilian icon took the Starehe Boys Centre schoolboys through their paces at the Jamhuri Park Stadium.In his autobiography, Pele failed to mention Kenya in his autobiography in a probable indication of the disappointment he felt during that dramatic tour but mentioned his visits to Uganda and Nigeria.2022 Rugby Review: Year of promise ends in disarray“It was in 1973 that I signed a contract with the Pepsi Cola Company to work on a worldwide project of football workshops for children called the International Youth Football Programme, on which I would collaborate with Julio Mazzei. I decided to try it out for a year – and it turned out to be one of the best things I ever got involved with.“After the first year was done, I signed for another five. The programme was a triumph. It cost nothing to coaches, schools, or players. We produced a book and various posters of Professor Mazzei teaching, and made a coaching film called Pele: The Master and His Method, which won eleven international prizes.”FKF working hard to clean its imagePele scored 1,279 goals in 1,363 games a feat entered in the Guinness Book of Records as an absolute record.
