NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 9 – Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba says the Kenyan government will consider Fifa’s request to name a sporting facility in the country after Brazilian football great Pele.
Pele, 82, the only footballer to ever win three world cups, passed away last week after a long struggle with illness, including cancer.
Consequently, Fifa president Gianni Infantino requested its member associations to each consider naming a stadium within their territories in honour of the former Santos player.
Namwamba said the process of heeding to the world football governing body supremo’s request will be looked at intently before coming up with a final decision.
“That is a process that is going to be subject to consultations. Pele is an icon, a great of our time. I am particularly a big fan of him not only as a footballer but also because he personified what football can do to the world. He ripped down the barriers of race, language and culture. He made it possible for us to speak one language called football,” the CS said.
Thus far, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau and Colombia have renamed their various stadia after the football god, who burst onto the international scene at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden as a 17-year-old, scoring a brace in the Samba Boys’ 5-2 win over the hosts.
Infantino’s request has, however, raised eyebrows among many stakeholders many of who feel that countries have their own football heroes they would want to honour.
Last week, South African Football Association (SAFA) president Danny Jordaan said it would be difficult for the country to honour the Brazilian legend considering many stadia are owned by football clubs.
Nonetheless, speaking on Monday afternoon, Namwamba lauded the idea to honour Pele worldwide.
“Yeah, it would be such a great honour to have sporting facilities across the world named in honour of this, definitely, certainly and unequivocally, football great. The mere fact that he was simply called Pele made it easy for many of us to interact with him,” he said.
Turning his attention to future ‘Peles’ in Kenya, Namwamba said plans are at an advanced stage to roll out the Bottom-Up Football Programme that will commence with competitions among Under-19 teams at the ward level, all the way to the national level where the best ones will haggle it out with each other during this year’s Jamhuri Day celebration.
“We are just completing the setup, which includes how it is going to be run, the schedule…once everything is done, we will provide you with the details. It has taken longer than expected because we are engaging the Council of Governors because they are a key part of this. We are hastening the process and when we are ready, we will release that programme,” he said.
The CS has embarked on a rigorous plan to revive Kenyan football, which has been on its deathbed for the past one-and-a-half years following the suspension of the country by world governing body, Fifa, for government interference in administration of the sport.
