BOGOTA, Colombia (AFP) — Colombia is the first Latin American country to meet FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s request to name a stadium after Pele.
Infantino on Monday said world football’s governing body would ask all countries to name a stadium after the Brazilian icon, widely regarded as the greatest footballer of all time, who died last week after a long battle with illness.
And late on Wednesday, the governor of Colombia’s southern Meta department, Juan Guillermo Zuluaga announced on Twitter that a stadium in the city of Villavicencio “will be called BELLO HORIZONTE ‘REY PELE.’”
“Future generations must know who this world football icon was,” Zuluaga said.
The 15,000-capacity stadium inaugurated in 1958 was previously called simply Bello Horizonte, which means “beautiful skyline” in Spanish.
It is the home of modest second division Colombian side Llaneros.
Pele died on 29 December aged 82 following a long battle with colon cancer.
