FIFA President thanks Columbia for renaming stadium after Pele

FIFA President Infantino has expressed his gratitude to the government of the meta department in Columbia for renaming a stadium after Pele.

The FIFA supremo had revealed during the burial of the football legend that FIFA would ask 211 member counties to at least name one stadium in their respective country after Pele as a mark of honour.

“Thank you, Juan Guillermo Zuluaga and the government of Meta department, for this beautiful tribute to the eternal King Pelé,”  Infantino said on Friday

The governor of Colombia’s southern meta department, Juan Guillermo Zuluaga on Friday announced that the 15,000-capacity Villavicencio stadium will bear Pele’s name.

“From the Colombian plains, we announce to the world that our wonderful stadium in Villavicencio will be called Bello Horizonte “Rey Pelé”,” he said in a statement.

“The future generations should know who this icon of world football was. We have accepted FIFA’s suggestion.”

Columbia toed the path of Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau in renaming stadium after the football icon.

Earlier, the world’s football governing body has also renamed the football pitch in its headquarters “Estadio Pele- FIFA Zurich.