It was in his new costume that he welcomed a Belgian, François Van der Elst. The Anderlecht striker, hero of Mauves’ first Coupe des Coupe victory in 1976 against West Ham (he scored 2 goals out of 4), joined the New York Cosmos after the Devils’ final at Euro 80 .
“The United States was not a success”“Swatje” confessed to The DH in 2004. “The atmosphere was rather cold and the level rather low, but I know very well why I accepted. This country fascinated me, I dreamed of discovering New York, and there was a lot of money at stake. I earned ten times more than at Anderlecht” .
The first to welcome “Mister Europe” to America (19 goals scored in 39 European Cup matches with Sporting Brussels) was… Pelé. “Pele still had a PR role at the Cosmos. And when I went to the US for the first time, he was the one who picked me up at the airport in a limousine! He drove me to a fantastic New York hotel for my arrival at the conference press. Good boy!”
Up there, François Vander Elst, who passed away in January 2017 at the age of 62, will undoubtedly remind Pelé of this anecdote, who also wore the Cosmos shirt for one season (1980-1981).
