The 'king' of stadiums named after the 'O Rei' of football.
The Maracana - barring last-minute political unforeseen events - will be called '' Pele ', uniting in one place evocative myths from the history of the entire world football.
"It is a fitting tribute to a person known all over the world for his connection with Brazilian football and for having brought prestige to our country with his achievements".
With this motivation, the president of the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro, André Ceciliano, explained the approval, by the Assembly itself, of its draft law number 3.489 / 21.
Perhaps the most famous stadium in the world, the Maracana, is named after Pelé.
Now the governor of the state of Rio, Claudio Castro, has 15 days to give the green light, and it is assumed that he will do so, despite the protests of the family of the journalist Mario Filho to whom so far the plant was named and who had been the promoter of the campaign for the construction of the megastadio inaugurated in view of the 1950 World Cup, then lost in the decisive match against Uruguay.
In a poll by the Carioca newspaper 'O Dia' 96.3% of readers say they are against it but the process will go on, and Mario Filho will be entitled to the Maracanazinho, where volleyball and basketball are played and where artistic gymnastics competitions are held , and the athletics stadium adjacent to the imposing carioca arena renovated for the 2014 World Cup, which will be called "Estádio Edson Arantes do Nascimento - Rei Pelé".
An accelerated approval of the law, demonstrating the eternal dispute between who was better between Pele and Diego Armando Maradona, was the fact that the Naples stadium in recent months has taken the name of the Argentine champion, and therefore the Brazil could not be outdone.
Here then is the most famous one with the name of O Rei Pelé, a denomination that will continue to have also the little-known 19 thousand-seat plant in the northeastern city of Maceiò.
On the other hand, in Brazil, and also in other countries of South America, it is normal to name stadiums and plants after people still alive, just think of the Nelson Piquet racing circuit (still alive and well) that was in Rio before it was decommissioned. to build the Olympic Park for the 2016 Games. "Naming public facilities after people still alive - explained Ceciliano - serves to protect them and prevent their privatization".
And what does Pele say?
For now he has not made any comments, limiting himself to announcing on social networks the opening of an online shop on the Foundation website that bears his name.
The proceeds from the objects designed by O Rei will be used to finance charitable projects.
