Pele
From the August 2005 issue
The Greatest Player Of All Time™ is gazing wistfully at an old copy of FourFourTwo. “How is George?” he asks, pointing at a photo of Bestie. “I saw him last year and he looked so ill. It’s the same with Maradona. It’s so sad. Two great players but look what happened because of the drink and drugs.”
In contrast, Pele seems ageless. The birth certificate may say that Edson Arantes do Nascimento was born on October 23 1940, but watching him jog up and down a cavernous warehouse tucked beside a Berlin underground station, lifting PR girls up for photos, grinning, joking, playing his role as Pele, you can’t quite believe that he’s approaching OAP status.
He’s here today to unveil a new – or rather a renewed – partnership with sportswear giants Puma, whose boots he wore as he hit the very heights of footballing excellence at Mexico 1970. And he’s also here to face an inquisition from FourFourTwo’s readers. So without further ado…
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This interview is part of FourFourTwo Legends: The Interviews, a special magazine collating interviews with 24 icons of the game: for more details, see David Hall's blog How Pele taught me to be the Editor of FourFourTwo.
FourFourTwo Legends: The Interviews is available from all
good newsagents from Dec 1 to Feb 12, and we'll be giving issues away
every day from Dec 1 to Dec 24 on our competitions page.