The late Brazilian soccer legend Pelé (Frank Vivi/AFP)
The popularity of the Brazilian football legend has reached pellets Most countries in the world, thanks to his many skills and goals, as well as several countries where his fans have met him, including Arab countries whose people are characterized by their great attachment to football.
visited pellets An important number of Arab countries, both during his football period and after his retirement, at the request of government leaders or organizations, he received a warm welcome from football officials and fans.
Starting with Algeria at its peak
The beginning of Pele’s visits to Arab countries was from Algeria, on the occasion of a friendly match in 1965, at the invitation of the late mujahid president Ahmed Ben Bella.
Another friendly in Egypt
Pelé’s visits to Arab countries continued through Egypt in 1973, during a friendly match in which his club Santos and the Al-Ahly club met, a summit which saw the brilliance of the Brazilians with five clear goals, in which Pelé scored two goals.
Saudi Arabia, Pelé’s first kiss in the Gulf
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia hosted Pele’s first matches in the Gulf countries, precisely in 1971, when, accompanied by Santos, he faced the Saudi “green” in a friendly match, and the Brazilian club won 3-0.
Doha hosts Pelé in a historic match
In 1973, Pele, accompanied by his club Santos, again traveled to an Arab country, Qatar, where the capital, Doha, hosted a friendly match against Qatar’s Al-Ahly, according to the Swiss site “TDG”, which is the second Gulf country he has visited.
In the mid-seventies, Pele visited Qatar and faced Al-Ahly at the Doha stadium #pellets pic.twitter.com/lc20C9iRo6
– Rashid Abdullah Al-Muhannadi (@RASHIDMOHANNADI) December 30, 2022
Pelé and the tour of the Gulf continue
Pele continued his visits to the Gulf countries in the same year, and wore the colors of his Santos club in another friendly match, this time against the Kuwaiti club Al-Qadisiyah on the ground of the “Shuwaikh” stadium, and the confrontation it ended with a goal against a goal in which the Brazilian legend scored.
50 years ago, February 12, 1973, Pele was in Kuwait and played a game at Shuwaikh High School with Brazilian club Santos against Al-Qadsia, which finished 1-1. Recorded by Pele and Jasim Yaqoub.
Then Pele said:
With six Qadisiyah players, I can defeat any team in the world.Matt Pelé yesterday the greatest footballer 🌹 pic.twitter.com/nzwVXmYQ2T
– 🇰🇼 Dr. Dhafer Muhammad Al-Ajmi (@z4alajmi) December 30, 2022
Bahrain is another Gulf station
Pele continued his visits to the Gulf countries and this time he landed in Bahrain, also in 1973. The visit took place on the sidelines of a friendly against the Bahraini national team, and Pele and his colleagues decided it with a long score and seven goals at one.
⚽️🏆
Football legend Pele visited Bahrain in the early seventies and the unforgettable visit was in 1973 when the famous Brazilian team Santos, led by its star Pele, visited Bahrain on February 16, 1973 and the Santos team played a friendly match with the team from Bahrain https://t.co/NhjXERsMkB pic.twitter.com/zRHJ5JiD4Z– H.Bahrain 🇧🇭🇸🇦 (@Hussein_Buhijji) August 21, 2022
Sudan receives a visit to the legend
The State of Sudan is considered among the Arab countries to have had the honor of visiting the Brazilian legend, as he was accompanied by Santos Club to face Sudanese club Al-Hilal, as the match saw a large crowd attendance, following Pele as he scored the only goal of the match.
The visit of the late legend “Pelé” to Sudan during the match that reunited his Brazilian club Santos with the Al-Hilal team in 1973#Sudan _ in the past#pellets pic.twitter.com/MSjOxggAP4
– Sudan in the past (@PastSudans) December 30, 2022
Let’s go back to Algeria and Egypt
Pele recorded his return to Arab countries for the second time, as Algeria was the most Arab country he visited, and his return occurred in 1969 in a match that brought together Santos and the Algerian national team, and si ended with a goal in each goal, and another in 2014 after receiving an invitation to participate in a friendly match against Slovenia.
Pele renewed the deal with the Egyptian public through a visit in 2014, after being invited to participate in an international demonstration in the area of the pyramids, and amid great public interaction.
To honor #pellets At the foot of the pyramids in the season opener of the second Coca-Cola Coca-Cola! #pellets_in_Egypt #Egypt pic.twitter.com/o2yJ61A69c
— Coca-Cola Cup (@CopaCocaCola_) February 17, 2014
#pellets Gone… goodbye, legend
The only player in history to have won three World Cups (1958, 1962 and 1970), his last visit to Algeria dates back to March 2014 as FIFA’s guest of honor for the friendly between the national team and Slovenia in preparation for the FIFA World #Brazil.#Algeria pic.twitter.com/1c2kyIMYdG– manel belala 🇩🇿 Manal Balala (@belala_manel) December 29, 2022
Visiting Lebanon: Pele’s footsteps in the Levant
Fans of Lebanese club Al-Nijmeh fondly remember the day the Brazilian wore his team’s colors in a friendly match against the French university team in 1975, an event that the “Sports City in Beirut” stadium witnessed , and led his colleagues to victory by 2 goals to one in the presence of a large crowd of various Arab nationalities.
Historic meeting with Ben Mubarak in Morocco
Pele met his Moroccan version, the legend Mahdi Ben Mubarak, in 1976, in a friendly between Santos and a team made up of the Raja and Wydad squads, but what most distinguished the event was the meeting of two stars international who shared the name “The Black Jewel”.
🔴🎙 Pelé (🇧🇷) :”Imagine if he was born later. I’m sure he would have taken football to unexplored worlds. I was inspired a lot by him, I tried to imitate him and I succeeded a lot.”
What Pele said about Al-Arabi bin Mubarak
Nicknamed “The Black Jewel”. pic.twitter.com/GedHTcpsEH— COPE (@COPE_AR) December 26, 2019
