Palestinian names stadium in Belém after Pelé – 05/10/2023 – Sport

Jibril Rajoub was one of the Palestinian authorities who visited the Brazilian diplomatic office in Ramallah to sign the book of condolences opened by the death of Pelé. Minister of Sports and Youth, Rajoub adored the mythical player, killed on December 29.

It was there that he approached Ambassador Alessandro Candeas, who leads the Brazilian delegation to the West Bank, and raised the ball: he wanted to honor the star by naming a soccer field after him.

The plan materializes on the 14th with the inauguration of the Pelé International Stadium. It is close to Bethlehem – where Jesus was born, according to the biblical narrative.

The stadium already exists, with the name of al-Khader – which is the name of the region where it is located. It was inaugurated in 2007 with capacity to house around 6,000 people. Now, it will be renamed as Pelé.

The Olympic soccer teams from Palestine and Jordan will play a friendly match during the event. The Brazilian diplomatic office should organize a caravan of Brazilians to watch the game.

The presence of Gianni Infantino, president of Fifa, who recently said that every country should have a stadium named after Pelé is expected. Places like Cape Verde have already followed this suggestion.

“Pelé was an icon, a legend,” says Rajoub. The minister claims to have met the player several times, including in 2014, during the World Cup in Brazil. “I was impressed by their sympathy for our cause,” he says, referring to Palestinian efforts to create their state. The West Bank is now under Israeli occupation.

The stadium’s baptism in Belém is part of a broader process of strengthening relations between Brazilian and Palestinian authorities. For Ambassador Candeas, football can be one of his main diplomatic axes.

Brazilians and Palestinians have been negotiating a memorandum of technical cooperation in the field of football for almost two years. The agreement did not go ahead during the government of Jair Bolsonaro, who approached the Israelis and distanced himself from the Palestinians. The expectation is that, now, in Lula’s administration, the text can be signed soon.

“We want to exchange athletes, coaches and even directors to structure a Palestinian league and championship,” says Candeas. “One of my dreams here is that Brazil can help the Palestinians to have competitive soccer teams, both men’s and women’s,” she says. He has been at the post since the end of 2020.

The memorandum to which the ambassador refers can be turned into concrete support, such as the construction of courts and the acquisition of material. But the emphasis for now is this transfer of experience.

“People love Brazil here”, says Candeas. He says that, during the last World Cup, the diplomatic office even helped set up an organized crowd —today, there are around 6,000 Brazilians living in the Palestinian territories. The ambassador even traveled to the south of the Gaza strip to follow one of the matches of the national team.

The inauguration of the Pelé Stadium takes place on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, the name given by the Arabs to the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, which resulted in the expulsion and flight of 700,000 Palestinians. The word means “disaster”. In this sense, it is the opposite perspective to that of Israel, which celebrates what it considers a key date of its self-determination.

“I believe that, through sport, we can expose the suffering of our people and our values”, says Rajoub, about the fact of naming the stadium well these days.

The invitation for the inauguration of the field, sent to the reporter, includes a quote attributed to Pelé: “The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness of winning”.

As in the rest of the world, the player has a legend in the Middle East. He even visited Lebanon in 1975, playing a friendly match with the Nejmeh team, in Beirut.

The match took place days before the start of the Lebanese Civil War, fought until 1990. There is even a rumor —never confirmed, but not forgotten—that the presence of the Brazilian player made militias drop their weapons for a few days and unite in a unified celebration of the ace Pelé.