The Maracaña will remain the Maracaña.
The president of the Local Legislative Assembly of the State of Rio, André Ceciliano has announced that he will ask Governor Claudio Castro not to promulgate this law aiming to rename the enclosure “King Pelé Stadium”.
This same Assembly had yet validated this bill on March 9.
The proposed name change had been criticized by football fans and by many Brazilians, deeming this change completely inappropriate and inappropriate currently in a country overwhelmed by Covid-19 (330,000 dead).
The Maracaña, a mythical stadium
Built for the 1950 World Cup, the Maracaña has become over time one of the most famous stadiums in the world.
The venue hosted two World Cup finals (1950 and 2014), and the greatest exploits of Flamengo and Fluminense, the legendary clubs of the city of Carioca, took place there.
Although the name Maracaña is the most common, the stadium is actually named after Mario Filho, a Brazilian journalist who convinced public opinion of the necessity of the construction of the stadium for the 1950 World Cup.
An attempt to pay homage to Pelé
"I wanted to pay tribute to our king of football, while he was alive" declared André Ceciliano defending his project.
Before the back-pedaling of the assembly, the bill provided for keeping the name Mario Filho for the sports complex as a whole but renaming the stadium in homage to the legend of the round ball.
The 80-year-old Pelé won the 1958, 1962 and 1970 World Cups and is considered by many to be the greatest footballer in history.
Read also
The legendary Maracana stadium could bear the name of "King Pelé"