‘FIFA doesn’t mean us’

By Morissa Lindsay 

The recent suggestion made by FIFA’s President Gianni Infantino does not apply to Barbados, says Barbados Football Association (BFA) President, Randy Harris who indicated that this island has only one dedicated football stadium and therefore would not fall into that bracket.

 As many local football enthusiasts ponder whether the BFA board will respond to the world governing body’s request, the BFA boss stated that there was no directive from FIFA to name the stadium after Pele.

“Many FIFA members have five, six, seven stadiums or more. We only have one facility so I don’t think that he is referring to us. But I think it was more of a sound bite but there is no directive from FIFA to name stadiums in their member country after Pele. I think he was speaking about people who have multiple stadiums to name one (after Pele),” Harris explained.

During the telephone interview with Barbados TODAY, Harris shared that they may consider naming a stand or some part of the BFA headquarters after Pele but it is a matter that will have to be further discussed with the executive committee. 

 “That is a possibility but I would have to discuss that with the executive committee. We have not had any discussions on it, but it is something that one can consider,” he added.

 While attending Pele’s funeral on Monday in Brazil, Infantino told local reporters there that FIFA was going to request that every member country in the world name one of their football stadiums after the legendary Brazilian.

“We need to make sure that we in the world of football remember Pele forever, of course we pay tribute to him by being here, we pay tribute to him by asking all the federations to pay a minute of silence and tribute to Pele,” Infantino said.

He added: “But we’re also going to ask every country in the world to name one of their football stadiums with the name of Pele.

“Because in 50 to 100 years from now when children are asking, ‘who was Pele?’ Well they need to remember him all over the world in a place where you score goals, where you feel emotions… We need to make sure this happens.”

While President Harris does not believe this applies to Barbados, at least one country has so far fulfilled FIFA’s request to name a stadium after Pele and that is Cape Verde.

Comprising a group of islands west of the coast of Senegal, Cape Verde has renamed its 15,000 capacity national facility the Pele Stadium which is located just outside the capital Praia. This is Cape Verde largest stadium and is just above the Estádio de Várzea stadium which seats 8, 000 people.

 In a statement released on Facebook, Cape Verde’s Prime Minister, Ulisses Correira e Silva said “Cape Verde and Brazil have a history and culture that go hand in hand, considering they are two sister countries, linked by language and very similar identities.

“And with the physical disappearance of Edson Arantes de Nascimento, King Pelé, who soon became a planetary figure, an icon of the masses showing that sport has the power to unite the world, it is now our wish to pay tribute to him.

“As a tribute and recognition to this figure that makes us all great, I manifest the intention of naming our national stadium as ‘Pelé Stadium’, in an initiative that, I believe, will be followed by several countries around the world.”

Interestingly, in 2021 Brazil, the home of Pele, deferred from renaming their iconic Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro after the football great and eventually kept it as is. 

morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb