Key Points
- FIFA wants every country to have a Pelé Stadium.
- There is no existing venue with a link to Pelé in Australia.
- It is not clear how this proposal will work in practice as few national federations own their own stadia.
FIFA will ask every country in the world to name a stadium in honour of Pelé, the governing body's president Gianni Infantino has said.
The Brazil great, who won the World Cup three times and scored over 1,000 goals in his career, died on 29 December aged 82 after a battle with cancer.
Mr Infantino, who was in Brazil for Pelé's funeral in Sao Paulo, told local reporters: "We're going to ask every country in the world to name one of their football stadiums with the name of Pelé."
It is not clear how this proposal will work in practice as few national federations own their own stadia and the ones that do are more likely to name them after local heroes or sponsors.
The only Australian stadium Pelé played in, the Sydney Sports Ground in 1972, has since been demolished. The site is part of the Sydney Football Stadium (Allianz) car park.
He later attended a function at the Sydney Football Stadium constructed in 1988, but that was knocked down to make way for the Allianz Stadium.
However, there may be clubs or cities who welcome the idea of naming their stadium after such an iconic figure, even if there is no obvious connection.
In April 2021 Rio de Janeiro abandoned plans to name the famous Maracana Stadium after Pelé after it was vetoed by the state governor.
Brazilian soccer legend Pele (L) and Argentinian soccer legend Diego Maradona (R) during a match between Italy and Argentina in Zurich, Switzerland, 10 June 1987. Source: AAP / STR/EPA
He described Pelé as an "exemplary sportsman" and added: "Pelé had a magnetic presence and, when you were with him, the rest of the world stopped.
"His life is about more than football. He changed perceptions for the better in Brazil, in South America and across the world. His legacy is impossible to summarise in words."
