By Victor Kanayo
Like Cape Verde, another African nation, Guinea -Bissau, have toed FIFA path to name one of its stadiums after the late football legend, Pele.
They have now become the second African country to do so.
Cape Verde had on Wednesday named a stadium in its capital after Pele.
Incidentally, both countries are Portuguese-speaking – the ligua franca of Pele’s Brazil.
The Guinea Bissau government decided to change the name of the Bafatá field, the second capital of the country, to Estádio Pelé, in response to the appeal of FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who asked for a worldwide tribute to the late Brazilian footballer.
The decision was taken at the Council of Ministers, meeting in Bissau, under the chairmanship of the head of state, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, according to a statement captured by Lusa, a Portugal news agency.
Part of the statement reads, “As a result and as an expression of public recognition of the status of King of World Football that is granted to him, the Council of Ministers decided to name the Regional State of Bafatá ‘Pele Stadium’ in response to the appeal of the president of FIFA.”
Before the latest development, Bafatá’s playing field was called Estádio da Rocha and was used by Sporting Clube de Bafatá, a club founded in 1937 that regularly competes in the Guinean first division football championship.
On the day Pelé’s death was announced, last December 29, the president of the Guinea-Bissau Football Federation, Carlos Teixeira, addressed wishes of condolence to the people and to the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF).
Pelé died at the age of 82, at the Albert Einstein Israeli hospital, in São Paulo, after suffering cancer-related ailment.
