Legendary Brazilian football player Pele gestures as he holds a memento presented to him during an interactive session with the students in Kolkata, India. (Reuters)

DPA/Kolkata


Football legend Pele said yesterday he had no intention to head the sport’s governing body FIFA, that is engulfed by a crisis that has led to the suspension of its president Joseph Blatter. “No, I do not have any intention to be president of FIFA,” Pele, a three-time World Cup winner, said in a press conference in Indian city of Kolkata. Pele did not comment on the recent controversies dogging FIFA.
Pele was given a warm welcome in football-mad Kolkata, where he had played an exhibition match way back in 1977. Today, he will attend an Indian Super League game between defending champions Atletico de Kolkata and Kerala Blasters, where he will be the guest of honour.  He will also visit New Delhi to watch the final of a junior tournament.
FIFA last week banned Blatter and UEFA chief Michel Platini for 90 days in connection with a criminal investigation in which Blatter is suspected of mismanagement and Platini is named as a recipient of a “disloyal payment” from FIFA.
FIFA’s senior vice-president Issa Hayatou of Cameroon is the acting president. Pele, 74, on a week-long visit to India, also said he considers Argentine striker Lionel Messi ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo.
“In the last 10 years, I think for me, Messi was the best player who I saw,” Pele said. “Lots of people compare Messi with Ronaldo. But they are two different kind of players. Both players are fantastic,” he said.
Pele said Brazil still produces the world’s best footballers but the growing influence of agents on leading players has created a mountain of woes for the national side, Monday.
The legendary Brazilian, the only player to feature in three World Cup-winning teams, said the passion for football was as strong as ever but acknowledged the “Selecao” were struggling with a host of problems. “We have not lost passion for football,” Pele said.
“Individually we have the best players but as a team we’ve a lot of problems. In my time the players belonged to clubs but today players are managed by their agents,” Pele added.
After their 7-1 World Cup semi-final humiliation by Germany last year, Brazil were eliminated from the Copa America in June at the hands of minnows Paraguay. And their bid to qualify for the 2018 World Cup got off to a disastrous start last week when they lost 2-0 to Chile, their first defeat against their opponents in 15 years.
Nearly all of Brazil’s leading stars play abroad and there are regular complaints that players are too often exploited by agents who are only interested in making money. The agents have often been at loggerheads with the football authorities. Star striker Neymar’s representative Wagner Ribeiro called the then-coach Luiz Felipe Scolari “arrogant, repulsive (and) conceited” after Brazil’s 2014 World Cup flop.