Soccer and the Meaning of Life
Philosophy is the discipline concerned with how we acquire knowledge and wisdom, meaning, and the purpose of life. It can be defined as “the study of ideas about knowledge, truth, the nature and meaning of life”; as “a particular set of ideas about knowledge, truth, the nature and meaning of life”; or “a set of ideas about how to do something or how to live.”[1] Philosophers from Plato to Nietzsche and Heidegger to Levinas have opined about knowledge, wisdom, spirituality, the human condition, immortality, and the meaning of life.
Plato (429–347 BCE) is “by any reckoning, one of the most dazzling writers in the Western literary tradition and one of the most penetrating, wide-ranging, and influential authors in the history of philosophy, as it is often conceived—a rigorous and systematic examination of ethical, political, metaphysical, and epistemological issues, armed with a distinctive method—can be called his invention.”[2]
For the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, a “re-evaulation of all values” was imperative in a modern age when “god was dead.”[3] He attacks morality for its commitment to false claims about human agency and its negative impact on the distinctive norms and values of the highest types of human beings (“higher men”). Morality, argued Nietzsche, is beyond “good” and “evil,” as well as a form of false consciousness imposed by society, limiting “higher” human beings.[4]
For the French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas, philosophy should primarily be concerned with the “calculation of happiness (utilitarianism),” “the cultivation of virtues (virtue ethics),” or the search for the “wisdom of love” rather than the quest for “love of wisdom” (that is, the literal Greek meaning of the word “philosophy”).[5] Levinas insists that ethics and responsibility are shaped through the face-to-face experiences of the encounter with the Other. This encounter can possibly evoke a greater understanding of oneself, as well as empathy and tenderness with respect to the Other.
For Martin Heidegger, one of the towering German philosophical giants of the twentieth century and the author of Being and Time (1927), “Philosophy is metaphysics. Metaphysics thinks beings as a whole—the world, man, God—with respect to the belonging together of beings in Being.”[6] Echoing Nietzsche’s “talk about the end of philosophy,” Heidegger argued that Western philosophy had lost its way and questioned what it was searching for.[7] As a result, truth had become unclear and we must return to the essence of Being. Heidegger thus called for a return to the practical as a way to reveal truth for humanity. He analyzes the notion of Being through themes such as mortality, care, anxiety, time, history, and death. Yet Heidegger joined the Nazi Party in 1933 and in a 1935 lecture described the “inner truth and greatness” of the Nazi movement, thus leading to one interpretation that for Heidegger Nazism was the embodiment of Being.
Other philosophers were also concerned with the relationship between philosophy and engagement with the world. Karl Marx declared in his “Theses on Feuerbach” in the first chapter of The German Ideology (1845) the following revolutionary philosophical claim: “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it.”[8] Marx argued that history was a titanic struggle between the bourgeoisie and proletariat, but made it clear that he sided with the proletariat in its desire to smash capitalism as an unethical economic system. Philosophers must thus play a role in helping to overthrow capitalism and erecting a more egalitarian, classless, and international communist order.
In short, philosophers have viewed the world from radically different perspectives, but those different perspectives can teach us about the relationship between philosophy and soccer. Had the aforementioned philosophers been alive, Plato might have called for the abolition of FIFA and its replacement by a Worldwide Soccer Republic ruled by philosopher-kings; Levinas might have encouraged us to have more empathy for our opponents; Heidegger might have seen soccer as embedded in universal Being; Nietzsche would have praised the heroic immortals of the game; and Marx would have completely changed the nationalistic and capitalist basis around which world soccer is structured. As Ethan Zohn, the winner of Survivor: Africa and co-founder of Grassroot Soccer who played professionally for the Hawaii Tsunami and Cape Cod Crusaders of the United Soccer Leagues and in Zimbabwe for Highlanders Football Club, stated in what appeared to echo a union of Heideggerian and Levinasian perspectives, “Soccer is part of the Being of billions of players fans and worldwide and thus allows you to know others: Soccer is inside me—it’s part of who I am. It’s a window into lives all around the world.”[9]
This chapter is about the relationships between soccer and philosophy (or the search for knowledge and wisdom), spirituality, immortality, the human condition, and the meaning of life. Philosophers allow us to reflect on soccer and the quest for knowledge (or wisdom), the spirituality of the game, immortality, the human condition, and the meaning of life.
Edited by Ted Richards, a lecturer in philosophy from the University of Tennessee, Soccer and Philosophy: Beautiful Thoughts on the Beautiful Game is an innovative edited collection of articles by a team of international philosophers, who use philosphers as diverse as Artistotle, Gadamer, and Wittgenstein in order to analyze soccer’s universality and its specific rules, aesthetic players, the metaphysics of free kicks, the nature of fans, and the ethics of referees.[10] Steve Taylor connects soccer and sports in general to spirituality: “In fact it’s possible to say that—depending on your definition of spirituality—the desire to experience spiritual well-being is one reason we play sports.”[11] An integral part of the human condition is the drama of the game. Soccer is also related to the drama of life and the game. As Pete Davies, a British soccer writer, stated, “Soccer is not about justice. It’s a drama—and criminally wrong decisions against you are part and parcel of that.”[12] Soccer players have no choice about where they were born, their material circumstances at birth, or their physical traits. Despite his height of only five feet seven inches, the Argentinean-born Barcelona star Lionel Messi is arguably “the best sportsman alive.”[13]
Soccer also teaches us about immortality. We will all die one day, but soccer players and especially exceptional players leave their mark on all future generations and are often seen as immortal heroes. Their accomplishments and their legacies often stand the test of time and are valorized by future generations. Through a reflection on soccer and spirituality, immortality, and the human condition, we might learn about the various meanings of life.
Examples of immortality in soccer abound with players, clubs, and fans. The former Manchester United great and Northern Ireland international George Best is such an immortal idol among his people that he had an international airport in Belfast named after him. Airports are usually named after famous politicians or generals (Pierre Trudeau in Montreal or Charles de Gaulle in Paris), or revered heroes of the nation (Benito Juárez in Mexico City), but not soccer players—except for George Best. The Belfast-born Best won the European Cup with Manchester United and was named the European Footballer of the Year in 1968. Northern Ireland’s Football Association immortalized him by calling him the “greatest player to ever pull on the green shirt of Northern Ireland.”[14]
Clubs in particular historical periods can also be immortalized. Founded in 1899, AC Milan is one of the most famous soccer clubs in history. Its website describes the period between 1986 and 1996 as “without a doubt the most prolific period, not only in terms of the number of trophies won, but in the excellent performances and exciting style of play.”[15] Those AC Milan teams were known as “The Immortals” or “The Invincibles,” as they took the game to new heights through Dutch legends Gullit, Van Basten, and Frank Rijkaard.[16] In the 1988–1989 season, Milan ruled Europe, lifting the Champions’ Cup after beating Red Star Belgrade, Werder Bremen, Real Madrid in the semi-finals, and Steaua Bucharest in the finals. With over 100,000 spectators filling Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium, Milan were emphatic 4–0 winners in the finals. With Sacchi at the helm, the team won a league title, two Champions’ Cups, two Intercontinental Cups, two European Super Cups, and one Italian League Super Cup.
Eduardo Galeano explains how the great Real Madrid teams of the 1950s and 1960s “embodied all the virtues of Immortal Spain, but it looked more like a Foreign Legion”[17]—the Spanish club won twelve La Liga titles in their glory days from 1953 to 1969. Those Real Madrid teams won five consecutive European Cups from 1955 to 1960 and included a dazzling array of “immortal” foreign talents: the Argentines Di Stéfano and Rial, the Frenchman Kopa, the Uruguayan Santamaria, and the Hungarians Puskás, Kocsis, and Kubala.[18] These Real Madrid sides also included Spanish “immortals” such as Gento and Del Sol. The Real side comprising Di Stéfano and Puskás that hammered Eintracht Frankfurt 7–3 in the 1960 European Cup final was according to a group of BBC soccer experts—“without equal” in soccer history.[19] In 1960, Real Madrid played “a kind of football we hadn’t seen before. They had the whole package, and the star that shone brightest was Alfredo Di Stéfano,” insisted soccer pundit Armfield.[20]
Helenio Herrera, the great former Inter Milan coach, insisted that the Argentine-born forward was the soccer immortal of all time: “Alfredo Di Stéfano was the greatest footballer of all time—far better even than Pelé. He was, simultaneously, the anchor in defence, the playmaker in midfield, and the most dangerous marksman in attack.”[21] Soccer writer Richard Henshaw made this germane remark about the former Real Madrid giant: “Di Stéfano’s ability to perform all tasks on the field elevated him above the stature of other great players.”[22] Soccer analyst Keir Radnedge said the following about Di Stéfano: “No other player so effectively combined individual expertise with an all-embracing ability to organize a team to play to his command. He was ‘total soccer’ personified before the term had been invented. Di Stéfano remains to many of us the Greatest Footballer of All Time.”[23] The former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz expressed gratitude toward Di Stéfano: “We will never be able to thank him enough for all he has done for Real Madrid. Di Stéfano will always be in our hearts.”[24] Perhaps the greatest praise for Di Stéfano came from his own countryman and another soccer immortal, Diego Maradona: “I don’t know if I had been a better player than Pelé, but I can say without any doubt that Di Stéfano was better than Pelé. I am proud when one speaks of Di Stéfano. Pelé would have flopped had he played in Europe, whereas Alfredo has played very well throughout the world. I can say that Maradona could be worse than Pelé. But I emphasize Di Stéfano was better.”[25]
Immortality can also be a concern for soccer fans. Who wants to think about having their organs removed after death? One famous Brazilian soccer club seems to have the answer to this question:
Brazil has helped to remove that anxiety by giving soccer fans a compelling reason to sign a donation card: the ability to become “immortal fans” of their favorite soccer club, keeping their passion alive. Organ donor cards were distributed to fans of Sport Club Recife at the stadium, through a Facebook app or through the mail. The integrated campaign featured real patients on transplant waiting lists promising to be loyal fans, thus giving people a real connection and reason to donate. Having their hearts continue to beat for Sport Club Recife is a concept that hits close to home for many ardent fans. As one says in the case study video, “First God, second Sport Club Recife, third family, fourth work.” By getting Sport Club Recife fans to feel they are helping their team by signing a donation card, the campaign succeeded in making people more at ease and even excited about becoming a donor. So much so that more than 51,000 organ donor cards have been distributed to date, and organ donations increased by 54 percent in one year.[26]
Remember how in earlier chapters I pointed to Albert Camus and Eduardo Galeano as writers who wrote about soccer and thus immortalized the game and some of its greatest characters and stars. I have more insights about the relationship between soccer and fine arts in chapter 11, especially how artists have immortalized the game, its players, and fans. It is the claim of this chapter that while soccer players are mere mortals, through their play on the pitch or their actions off the pitch, their legacies endure and can inspire billions of people across the world. They inspire not only the living, but also the unborn and therefore future generations of players and fans. Players can become immortals because of their performances, characters, and larger-than-life charisma. Clubs and fans can also seek to attain immortality. In teaching us about life, death, and immortality, soccer stars also teach us lessons about philosophy, the human condition, the quest for knowledge, spirituality, joy, tragedy, and the meaning of life.
Before I further discuss these aforementioned insights, I need to pick two number 10s, perhaps the greatest soccer immortals of all time.
The number 10 is the player that all fans really come to see when they pay for their tickets. He is a playmaker, a goalscorer, a trickster, a showman, and a charismatic leader that carries the entire team on his shoulders. He can become a soccer immortal. African national teams and clubs reserve the number 10 for their greatest player; a player who does magical things on the field. When we think of number 10, we immediately think of Pelé and Diego Maradona. The debate will always rage about which player was better and which player is more immortal. Some insist that Pelé had greater players around him. Others say that Maradona was better because soccer was slower and less physical in Pelé’s days. Another view says that Pelé scored more goals, won more World Cups, and was a more complete (ethical) person on and off the field compared to Maradona. I will not judge between the two perspectives. They were different types of players playing in differing epochs. Both Maradona and Pelé were honored as joint FIFA Players of the Twentieth Century. Thus, I pick Maradona and Pelé as the greatest number 10s in the history of soccer. These two soccer stars are immortals like no other players that have played the game.
He was known as “the King,” “the King Pelé,” the “King of Soccer,” or “the Black Pearl.” Writing in The Encyclopedia of World Soccer, Richard Henshaw paid this fitting tribute to Pelé:
The most celebrated player of all time and probably the best, though some Brazilians still believe Arthur Friedenreich has never been surpassed, and some Europeans would rank Alfedo Di Stéfano as his equal. Pelé’s statistical record is staggering, but anyone who has ever seen him play will think first of genius as a stylist on the field on the field. It is probably true, as Brazilian observers have often pointed out, that Pelé would have become the world’s most accomplished player at any position, but it was at inside left that he received all the accolades a player could possibly muster. The perfection of his physical attributes, moreover, has been miraculously paralleled by a gracious and engaging personality, as well as a strong desire to teach and lead, which have given him universal recognition as a genuine world idol.
Memories focus on flashes of movement: body feints, dribbles in which his feet are an unnecessary luxury, dummies sold, headers taken over towering defenders, and widely arched shots around walls of players. In his first goal against Sweden in 1958, he pushed the ball over his shoulder with his thigh, pivoted, and fired a shot past the hapless goalkeeper. In 1961, against Fluminense at the Maracaña, he dribbled from his own penalty area past six oncoming defenders and the goalkeeper—into the opponent’s net. (This famous goal became immortalized as the Gol de Placa, or Commemorative Plate Goal.) Among his haunting, yet prophetic, near-misses was that quick shot in his World Cup debut against the USSR that hit the post and left the great Yashin beaten. Some have tried to explain Pelé’s magical qualities in physiological terms: his well-placed center of gravity for the particular skills needed in the game, or his uncommon peripheral vision, or even some form of advanced neurological development. Pelé himself, however, simply points to God-given gifts for which he is very thankful.[27]
Here are three famous memories of Pelé: leaping higher than Italy’s taller defender Fachetti and scoring with a magnificent header in the 1970 World Cup finals; comforted by the veteran goalkeeper Gilmar after breaking down with tears of joy when Brazil won its first World Cup in 1958 (he was only seventeen years old); and his retirement from the national team in 1971 in front of 130,000 screaming fans that implored him to “Stay! Stay! Stay!” There are many more memories, including his “Love, Love, Love!” retirement speech with the New York Cosmos in 1977. Or there was a special moment in the World Cup final against Italy in 1970 when Pelé held up the ball with such calm on Brazil’s third goal against Italy in the finals, waited for the overlapping Carlos Alberto as if he had eyes in the back of his head, and fed him a delicate pass, thus culminating one of the best collective goals in the history of soccer. He assisted on three goals and scored another in Brazil’s 4–1 final win against Italy. Or the famous photo where he made experienced defenders from Schalke 04 eat dirt with his breathtaking dribbling for Santos in Essen in 1963.
Pelé’s statistical history is like no other player. With Santos, he won four São Paulo championships from 1958 to 1962, twice more in 1964 and 1965, and three in a row from 1967 to 1969. His goal-scoring tally is awe inspiring: 127 goals in 1959, 110 goals in 1961, 101 goals in 1965, and in the years in between an average of more than 70 goals per season. He was the scoring leader of the São Paulo league competition from 1957 to 1965, in 1969, and in 1973. In 1962 and 1963, he inspired Santos to win both the Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental Cup. European crowds in Lisbon and Milan sang his praises.
For the Brazilian national team, Pelé was even more heroic. He led Brazil to three World Cup triumphs in 1958, 1962, and 1970. Injuries in 1962 due to hacking and dirty tackling became a serious problem for Pelé, as they did at the 1966 World Cup where Bulgarian and Portuguese defenders harassed him brutally. Yet he holds the record for goals at the international level (ninety-seven) in only ninety-three appearances. He made a stunning 1,363 appearances for club and country, scoring 1,281 goals, second only to Arthur Friedenreich for the all-time record. He has a whopping ninety-two hat tricks to his record and a record seven international hat tricks. He was the scoring leader in the South American Championship in 1959 and the Copa Libertadores in 1965. He was feted as the Latin American Footballer of the Year in 1973. He was voted the Best Player of the Twentieth Century. Pelé was elected “Athlete of the Century” by the International Olympic Committee and Reuters News Agency in 1999, as well as by the French newspaper L’Équipe in 1981. Even in his final sojourn with the New York Cosmos from 1975 to 1977, Pelé could still play well and he scored fifty-five goals in only 105 appearances. A giant stadium in Maceio, Estadio Rei Pelé (King Pelé Stadium), is named in his honor.
The accolades Pelé has received are like no other soccer player in history. Franz Beckenbauer, a teammate of Pelé’s with the New York Cosmos said this about the Brazilian superstar: “Pelé is the greatest player of all time. He reigned supreme for 20 years. All the others—Diego Maradona, Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini—rank beneath him. There’s no one to compare with Pelé.”[28] As a response to critics who might view Messi, Neymar, or Cristiano Ronaldo as better than Pelé, Alfredo Di Stéfano, the Real Madrid legend replied: “The best player ever? Pelé. Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are both great players with specific qualities, but Pelé was better.”[29] The implication here is that Pelé was more of a complete player than either the Argentinean star Lionel Messi, or the Portuguese hero Cristano Ronaldo. Johan Cruyff, a Dutch soccer legend, was philosophical about Pelé startling gifts: “Pelé was the only footballer who surpassed the boundaries of logic.”[30]
After his soccer career ended, Pelé became a Brazilian Extraordinary Minister of Sports in 1995. He remains an icon promoting soccer as a commercial enterprise, various causes, and his own interests. Pelé seems ageless, although he is now in his seventies. The Pelé brand has been handled by a marketing firm, Legends 10, since 2012. He does lots of ambassadorial work with the UN and UNESCO with respect to the environment and children. He has sought to stamp out corruption in soccer, although this is a tough task as I showed in chapter 6. He helped promote both the 2006 and 2010 World Cups. In 1997, Pelé even received an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire award from Queen Elizabeth II. Years after his greatest triumphs, he is still viewed as a soccer immortal by politicians, fans, and administrators, all conscious of using his name in order to promote soccer and their image. Yet some soccer fans in his own country harshly criticized Pelé in 2013 when he urged anti-government protestors to get behind the Brazilian national team in the Confederation Cup rather than focus on politics.[31]
For many Argentineans, Diego Armando Maradona was better than Pelé. He is a soccer immortal, legend, or even a god. Pelé played on great teams, whereas it is argued that Maradona made great teams through his sheer genius. Younger fans with no frames of reference necessarily see him as the greatest in world history, as many today see Lionel Messi as the best in world history. They also forget about the accomplishments of Di Stéfano, which have forever sealed him among the immortals in soccer history.
Maradona is remembered for perhaps the greatest moment in soccer history. Byron Butler made these comments on the BBC during Maradona’s stunning sixty-five-yard solo goal against England in the quarterfinal of the 1986 World Cup, which was voted the goal of the century and immortalized Maradona in soccer history:
Maradona, turns like a little eel, he comes away from trouble, little squat man . . . comes inside Butcher and leaves him for dead, outside Fenwick and leaves him for dead, and puts the ball away . . . and that is why Maradona is the greatest player in the world.[32]
Despite Maradona’s earlier “hand of God” goal, the second goal against England is the greatest goal in the history of the World Cup. Why is the goal so great? Maradona received the ball in his own half, did a majestic pirouette as he was being harassed by several players, ran more than half the length of the pitch, and made five England internationals (Peter Beardsley, Steve Hodge, Peter Reid, Terry Butcher, and Terry Fenwick) and goalkeeper Peter Shilton look like they were flies on the wall. We do not know if we will ever see a goal of this kind again.
Maradona was a genius at the 1986 World Cup and he single-handedly led his country to its second World Cup triumph after defeating West Germany 3–2 in an entertaining final. In the semi-final against Belgium, he scored on another stunning solo run. In the final, hounded by the German defenders with double and triple marking, he found a way to make space to set up Jorge Burruchaga for the winning goal. The 115,000 spectators at the Azteca Stadium went mad with joy. The soccer authorities responsible for the Azteca built a statue of Maradona scoring the “goal of the century,” located at the entrance of the stadium. He is thus an immortal in Mexico too. Of Argentina’s fourteen goals at the 1986 World Cup, Maradona scored or assisted on ten. Perhaps with the exception of France’s Just Fontaine thirteen goals at the 1958 World Cup, there is no more dominating single performance in the history of a World Cup tournament.
If Maradona is a soccer immortal, he has also stirred his fair share of controversy. The “hand of God” goal was a shame for most soccer fans around the world, although some have justified it using unjustifiable arguments. Maradona has battled drugs and was sent home after a failed drug test after scoring an incredible, curling goal against Greece in the 1994 World Cup. His politically leftist leanings are obvious, including support for Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Hugo Chavez, and even the genocidal regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran. If one had to pick between Pelé and Maradona as role models, Pelé wins. If we narrow the Pelé-Maradona debate to talent, fans in polls unanimously pick Maradona, often because they did not see Pelé play.
Jorge Valdano, a former teammate of Maradona’s on the 1986 World Cup-winning Argentinean squad, summed up the chasm between Maradona’s public adoration (and accomplishments) and his personal struggles:
He is someone many people want to emulate, a controversial figure, loved, hated, who stirs great upheaval, especially in Argentina. . . . Stressing his personal life is a mistake. Maradona has no peers inside the pitch, but he has turned his life into a show, and is now living a personal ordeal that should not be imitated.[33]
Writing in The Houston Chronicle, Jen Bensinger summarized for a North American audience the iconic status and religious-like veneration of Maradona in his native Argentina:
To understand the gargantuan shadow Maradona casts over his soccer-mad homeland, one has to conjure up the athleticism of Michael Jordan, the power of Babe Ruth—and the human fallibility of Mike Tyson. Lump them together in a single barrel-chested man with shaggy black hair and you have El Diego, idol to the millions who call him D10S, a mashup of his playing number and the Spanish word for God.[34]
If Maradona was a “divine” and immortal soccer figure, his empirical numbers on soccer pitches are a “revelation” of his greatness. He was joint FIFA Player of the Twentieth Century with Pelé. He led Argentina as a captain to a second World Cup win in 1986 and in the 1990 World Cup to a runner-up finish. In his international career, he earned ninety-one caps and scored thirty-four goals, while dominating many of the matches in which he played. He started in a remarkable twenty-one consecutive matches for Argentina in four World Cups in 1982, 1986, 1990, and 1994. In twenty-one World Cup appearances, Maradona scored eight goals and added another eight assists. His five goals and five assists in 1986 were the most dominating World Cup performances in a single tournament. He is second behind the striker Gabriel Batistuta in goals for Argentina in World Cup finals.
Maradona twice broke world records for transfers. Maradona played for Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Seville, and Newell’s Old Boys. He is remembered fondly by all those clubs and their fans, although from 1993 to 1994 he made only five appearances for Argentinean club Newell’s Old Boys and never scored. From 1976 to 1997 with his aforementioned club sides, Maradona scored 258 goals in 492 matches.
The Argentinean midfield general’s trophy case for his various clubs is indeed impressive:
Boca Juniors: Metropolitano championship (1), 1981
Barcelona: Copa del Rey (1), 1983; Copa de la Liga (1), 1983; and Supercopa de España (1), 1983
Napoli: Serie A (2), 1987 and 1990; Coppa Italia (1), 1987; UEFA Cup (1), 1989; and Supercoppa Italiana (1), 1990
Maradona’s individual honors are a testament to his soccer greatness:
Argentinean league Top Scorer: 1979, 1980, and 1981
World Player of the Year: 1979
Argentinean Football Writers’ Player of the Year: 1979, 1980, 1981, and 1986
South American Footballer of the Year: 1979 and 1980
FIFA World Cup Golden Ball: 1986
FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1986 and 1990
FIFA World Cup Silver Boot: 1986
Argentinean Sports Writers’ Sportsman of the Year: 1986
United Press International Athlete of the Year Award: 1986
Best Soccer Player in the World (Onze d’Or): 1986 and 1987
World Football Awards Player of the Year: 1986
Italian Serie A top scorer: 1987–1988
Golden Ball for services to soccer (France Football): 1996
Argentinean Sports Writers’ Sportsman of the Century: 1999
FIFA Player of the Century: 2000
“FIFA Goal of the Century” (1986 [2–1] v. England; second goal): 2002
FIFA World Cup Dream Team: 2002
FIFA’s 125 top living soccer players
In addition, Maradona’s number 10 jersey was retired by Napoli in 2000. The Argentinean Senate honored him with the Domingo Faustino Sarmiento award for lifetime achievement. Yet more important than any of these collective and individual honors was the joy that Maradona gave Argentina and the world. In Napoli, there are still public and private soccer shrines dedicated to him. In his own country, he is probably just as revered—perhaps more—than any Catholic saint. Maradona is not only a soccer immortal, but perhaps the greatest player that ever played the game.
Soccer has already created its share of immortals and not merely at the number 10 position. As previous chapters demonstrated, Chilavert, Buffon, Figueroa, Maldini, Andrade, Beckenbauer, Zidane, Cristiano Ronaldo, Beckham, Gerrard, Cha, and Hugo Sánchez are all immortals too. Some immortals are no longer with us, such as Matthias Sindelar, Giuseppe Meazza, and Ferenc Puskás, but their legacies live on in peoples’ memories, street names, or names of stadiums. Some soccer stars are immortalized in bronze statues such as Bobby Moore, Duncan Edwards, Eusébio, and more recently Zinedine Zidane.
As we have shown, Maradona and Pelé are soccer immortals recognized for their on-field accomplishments by fans, critics, players, and coaches. The exploits of Maradona and Pelé, or Di Stéfano, will live for all time. There are immortals that are being created at this moment, such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, and Radamel Falcao. Maradona anointed Messi as his immortal successor.[35] Messi won the prestigious Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year in 2009, as well as the FIFA Ballon d’Or in 2009, 2010, and 2011. He is in an elite list of only four soccer stars to win the Ballon d’Or three times. In the 2011–2012 season, he set the world record for goals with a staggering seventy-three goals. In that same season, he also scored a record fifty goals in Spain’s La Liga. He scored a record five goals in one Champions League match in 2012. Messi has helped Barcelona win five La Liga trophies, two Copas del Rey, five Supercopas de España, three Champions League titles, two Super Cups, and two Club World Cups. If he ended his career tomorrow, Messi would still be one of the greatest number 10s in the history of the game. He is young, yet already a soccer immortal. When his career ends, we might better judge if he was Maradona’s “second coming” and an equal to Maradona or Pelé.
We might debate whether Messi is a soccer immortal. Dividing soccer players between immortal and mortal is proabably part of the human condition. Another aspect of the human condition is related to the circumstances of our birth: poor or rich, place of birth, or physical stature. Those aforementioned factors might influence, but not fully determine, whether you become a soccer immortal. Messi is a case in point. Messi is rather short, but he did not allow his physical traits to stop him from becoming arguably the greatest player in the world today. Messi can thus inform us about soccer and the human condition because of his short stature:
Put simply, there is no other team sport where size matters less. And while you do need stamina, you don’t even need to be particularly quick. It is good in a team to have a mix, to have tall, strapping players as well as nimble, speedy ones. But everyone can get a look in, with the possible exception of fatties—though a few of those, notably the Brazilian Ronaldo in the later stages of his career, have had the talent to continue to make the grade at the highest level. Diego Maradona also played with a fair bit of spare blubber on him in his later years but the point about him is that, beefy or lean, he was decidedly short. Professional players average out at around 5'10" but Maradona was 5'5". . . . His compatriot and rival Messi is barely taller.[36]
Two of Messi’s “midfield lieutenants” with Barcelona are Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández. Their old and bitter rivals, Real Madrid, call the triumvarite “the dwarves” in the Real Madrid locker room.[37] As one writer put it, “The Real players are indeed giants, by comparison.”[38] Using the Barcelona “immortals” as his examples, he concludes by stating that size is no obstacle to soccer greatness: “All of which is to say that in almost every other team sport in existence you’ll know just by looking at your child’s physique at the age of 14 whether he’s going to have any chance of making it as a professional; in soccer, big dreams fit all sizes.”[39] Like Messi, Iniesta and Xavi could have lamented their short stature, but instead proved an important lesson with respect to soccer and the human condition: talent, skill, and technical finesse matter more than physical stature.
Ferenc Puskás (1927–2006) is undoubtedly one of the greatest soccer legends of all time. Like Messi, he was short (five feet eight inches) yet slightly rounder. Puskás did not allow his inherited physical attributes to undermine his drive for soccer immortality. Thus, Puskás is an example of both soccer immortality and a notion related to the human condition and soccer, which argues that talent matters more than your biological or physical traits. Puskás’s goal-scoring record was nothing short of remarkable. He scored eighty-four goals in eighty-five international matches for Hungary, as well as 514 goals in 529 matches in the Hungarian and Spanish leagues. Puskás was a terror for defenses and his almost one goal per match ratio is astonishing, a rate that only Cristiano Ronaldo can match among contemporary players. Puskás was most known for his stunning performances with the Hungarian national team in the early 1950s, especially the 6–3 drubbing of England at Wembley and a 7–1 triumph against England in Budapest, as well as Hungary’s second place finish at the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland. He also won a gold medal for Hungary at the 1952 Olympic Games.
When he joined Real Madrid in 1958, he was considered beyond his prime and unfit, but Real Madrid president Santiago Bernabéu wanted to sign him. He rewarded the Real Madrid president with 242 goals in 262 matches, as well as the leading scorer titles in the Spanish league in 1960 (twenty-six), 1961 (twenty-seven), 1963 (twenty-six), and 1964 (ten). In this period, Real Madrid was one of the best teams in Europe and the world, and as pointed out earlier, can be considered one of the best club teams in soccer history. With Di Stéfano as the center forward and Gento as outside left, as well as the inside left Puskás, Real Madrid won five consecutive titles from 1960 to 1961 until 1964 to 1965. In Europe, Real Madrid and Puskás won three European Cups in 1959, 1960, and 1966. The Hungarian’s most memorable moments were both with Real Madrid: four goals against Eintracht Frankfurt in the 1960 European Cup final and a hat trick against Benfica in the 1962 European Cup final. In total, Puskás won ten national championships (five Hungarian and five Spanish). He began his career with Kipest and Honved from 1943 to 1956, amassing 374 goals for the latter Budapest club in only 358 matches. He won eight scoring titles between his native Hungary and Spain.
There is no doubt that Puskás was the best of the gifted “Mighty Magyars” of the 1950s. He was a more complete player than the Hungarian legends Czibor, Bozsik, Kocsis, and Hidegkuti. At the 1954 World Cup final against Germany, he played with a hairline fracture and still scored. While in the opening round game against West Germany, Puskás scored and Hungary won 8–3, they lost 3–2 in the finals after a dramatic German fight back. He always scored, except in the 1962 World Cup when he played for his adopted country Spain. In four appearances for Spain from 1961 to 1962, Puskás never scored.
After retiring at the age of thirty-nine to a rapturous reception by the Real Madrid faithful, Puskás became a coach for thirteen different teams. His greatest coaching moment came in 1971 when he guided Panathinaikos to the European Cup final, where they lost 2–0 to AFC Ajax. Despite his defection in 1956 in the context of the Hungarian Revolution, he took charge of the Hungarian national team in 1993. As a sign of his immortal status, in 2002 the Népstadion in Budapest was renamed the Puskás Ferenc Stadion to honor the Hungarian great. In October 2009, FIFA inaugurated the introduction of the Puskás Award, to be presented to the player who has scored the “most beautiful goal” of the year. Puskás scored many lovely goals. He was short, stocky, and paunchy, yet technically gifted in front of goal. He hardly scored with his head or with his right foot, but he had great vision and a left foot that hardly ever failed him. His former teammates at Real Madrid speak of him not only as a gifted player with a sensational eye for goal, but also describe him as a team player.
In 2000, Puskás was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. He died from pneumonia in Budapest in 2006. He was the greatest Hungarian soccer player of all time and a world immortal. It is rare for soccer stars to be buried in a state funeral, but the legendary Puskás was. He was so revered by his compatriots that his coffin was moved from Puskás Ferenc Stadion to Heroes’ Square for a military salute. As he began his career in the Kispest district of Budapest, a street was renamed after him in 2007 exactly on the one-year anniversary of his death. A statue was built in his honor of him teaching children how to play soccer. Hungary’s former prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany paid him the greatest honor and sealed him as an immortal for all of Hungary: “The best-known Hungarian of the 20th century is gone.”[40] Thus, it was fitting that his former club Real Madrid gave him a moving and musically powerful pre-game tribute after his death in 2006.[41] The club’s president Ramón Calderón was especially gracious:
This is one of the saddest days for the Madrid fans, I can assure you that it is the most painful day since I took the presidency. He had many friends and was a man liked by everyone, admired as a professional and a person. I will remember his goals with much affection, he was the pichichi on four occasions. The Madrid fans in general, and those of my age in particular, will feel a great emptiness for the loss of one our childhood heroes. I want to send a big hug to all of his family and friends in these very painful moments.[42]
Soccer is also related to the human condition in that we cannot always win and game decisions by the referee are out of our control. “Typically dressed in funereal black, the referee offers living proof of the contradiction between the world as we would like it to be and the world as it is; of our tragic inability to control our lives (or deaths), however gifted we might be or however hard we try; of our unavoidable vulnerability to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,”[43] wrote John Carlin. Soccer analyst Vijay Murali compiled a list of the twenty-two worst refereeing decisions in soccer history because they played a “major role in the outcome of the game, and possibly the season as well.”[44] Some of the worst decisions include the following: Spain was disallowed two perfectly legitimate goals against South Korea at the World Cup in 2002, Frank Lampard’s incorrect no-goal call against Germany in the 2010 World Cup, and Thierry Henry’s blatant handball against Ireland, which led to a William Gallas goal in the crucial qualifying match against Ireland for the World Cup in 2010. Yet the worst decision ever by the referee cost one English team team a league title:
Leeds United were in the midst of a title challenge when this inexplicable decision by Ray Tinkler cost them this game and ultimately, the title. The linesman signals West Brom player Colin Suggett offside and the Leeds defense stops dead, but Tinkler allows play to continue and Jeff Astle scores the goal. As a result, Leeds lost their title to Arsenal, leaving their manager and players devastated.[45]
There is a darker side to the human condition. Countless soccer players in Africa and Latin America are born into poverty (for example, Pelé) or malnutrition (Rivaldo, a key member of Brazil’s World Cup-winning team in 2002). Rivaldo’s physical appearance has left its scars from his difficult childhood: malnourishment caused bowleggedness and the loss of several teeth.[46] FIFA.com traced Rivaldo’s improbable meteoric rise to soccer immortal status:
Growing up as the son of a poor family in the Brazilian coastal town of Recife, Rivaldo was no stranger to hunger as a boy. At the age of 16 he lost his father, but despite all the hardships of his early years his talent has allowed him to carve out a successful career in world football. At the age of 27 a dream has come true for him; he has been selected as FIFA World Player 1999.[47]
Despite the extraordinary accomplishments of Pelé or Rivaldo, many soccer players born into poverty will remain in poverty. In 2013, 800 teenagers in Rio de Janeiro took part in the Favelas Cup, a tournament that includes players from eighty local shantytowns.[48] Major Brazilian clubs such as Botafogo, Vasco, Flamengo, and Fluminense all brought scouts to the tournament.[49] Professional soccer could be a ticket out of poverty for some, but ultimately for too few. Poverty has always been part of the human condition, and harsh capitalism without any social and health safety nets perpetuates this cycle.
According to one soccer commentator, soccer is still the most democratic sport in the world because you can be short and poor and still be successful:
It does not matter how poor you are, how meagre your circumstances, you’ll find the means to rustle up a game of soccer. Because you don’t need any means. You can play on a street, on an empty lot or, as I have seen in Africa, on a field splattered with cow-dung. For “goalposts” you can use a couple of small rocks, or old shirts. You don’t even need a ball, in the conventional sense of the word. You can play with rolled up plastic bags or, as I did as a child in Argentina, with rolled-up socks. It is in conditions such as these did Maradona and the likes of Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o, who played both for Real Madrid and Barcelona, have learned the beautiful game.[50]
All these reflections about the human condition and immortal soccer stars and clubs lead us to the view that soccer is not merely a game, as the legendary manager Shankly pointed out, but “much, much more than that.” Our soccer heroes and their immortal exploits are reflections of the human condition. We are animals that breathe, eat, procreate, live, and die. Yet we are surely more than animals, as we search for meaning in our lives. Victor Frankl’s famous book first published in 1946, Man’s Search for Meaning, is still powerful today.[51] Here was a world-famous psychologist who survived the absolute horrors of the Nazi concentration camps, yet what is most profound about the book was that Frankl insisted that our final freedom is our given attitude in any situation in life. We cannot always choose our circumstances: the culture we are born into, our families, the political system we live under, or our economic conditions. In this respect, think back to chapter 2 and soccer players like Elias Figueroa who lived under military dictatorships. Yet we can choose to be freer through our attitude toward life. We can liberate ourselves by searching for meaning in the face of life’s adversities. Frankl was truly inspirational and taught us not to sweat the small stuff in life. If a concentration camp survivor could be so heroic and a leader in his field, we could all try to do more in our lives.
Frankl was correct. Humans search for meaning. It is part of the human condition to ask questions such as: What is the meaning of my life? Why do I suffer? Where am I from? Where will I go when I die? Meaning can come from traditional religions, politics, human interactions, friendship, love, and even soccer. Meaning can be found in all aspects of our lives.
Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal soccer manager, embodies that positive attitude toward life even in the face of life’s obstacles. “If you do not believe you can do it, then you have no chance at all,”[52] insisted Wenger with respect to soccer players. Or as the former Ireland international and Manchester United star Roy Keane stated: “Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.”[53] The legendary manager Bill Shankly insisted, like Frankl, that attitude is what differentiates success from failure: “A lot of football success is in the mind. You must believe you are the best and then make sure that you are.”[54]
Ethan Zohn, a former American professional player and cancer survivor, truly takes Frankl’s philosophy to heart. He is a founder of Grassroot Soccer, a nonprofit organization that trains professional soccer players to teach African children a life skills curriculum, as well as HIV/AIDS prevention.[55] He co-wrote Soccer World, “a series of six books for young readers to explore the culture, history, science, math and geography of different nations in a compelling and meaningful way, through the sport of soccer.”[56] One blogger was adamant that Zohn’s positive attitude and accomplishments were an inspiration for us all:
Ethan had to dig deep within to gain strength from his values, character, loved ones and the will to survive. He reiterates that everyone has the power to transcend any situation that is given to us. This power is etched deep within our being and we forget about this invaluable power and start feeling bad for ourselves when we are faced with challenges. Ethan has always reminded himself of this quote, “Never let a crisis go to waste because it is an opportunity to do some really important things.”[57]
The Wannsee Conference was an infamous meeting of senior Nazi officials, held in the
Berlin suburb of Wannsee on January 20, 1942. The conference organized by the German
Nazi state was called by director of the SS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Main Security Office; RSHA). SS-Ober
gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich was entrusted with the gruesome task of ensuring the cooperation
of administrative elites of various government departments in the implementation of
the “final solution to the Jewish question.” It was decided at Wannsee that most of
the Jews of German-occupied Europe would be deported to Poland and later exterminated.
Soccer players were not spared from the Nazi’s barbaric policy. In a far different
context compared to Ethan Zohn, a disturbing video “Jewish Soccer Players in Nazis
1944 Propaganda Film” highlights how concentration camp victims were involved in a
soccer match of great historical significance and tragedy:
The players on this field are Jews, prisoners of the Theresienstadt Ghetto set up by the Nazis in 1941. They organized a soccer league and played each week, unaware that deportations to the death camps, to the gas chambers, awaited them. . . . Don’t be fooled by the players’ nice uniforms or the healthy, well-dressed adults and kids watching the game. This clip is part of a Nazi propaganda film that hoped to refute rumors that Hitler was systematically exterminating the Jews. . . . Nearly 160,000 Jews arrived at the ghetto, but 80% of them died. Almost 90,000 were sent east to the death camps. The Jews who played on the soccer league make up part of those statistics. Just days after filming the soccer sequence for the Nazi propaganda film, nearly all the players, spectators and those who helped the Nazis make the film were sent to Auschwitz and murdered.[58]
In Kabul Girls Soccer Club: A Dream, Eight Girls, and a Journey Home,[59] the Afghan-American Awista Ayub explains the power of soccer and life meaning in the face of an authoritarian state, oppression, and extreme poverty:
Despite major restrictions on their liberties, Afghan women have made inroads in competitive sports such as boxing, martial arts and soccer. Hence it is an opportune time to have a closer look at an inspiring true story of an Afghan-American woman bringing eight Afghan teenagers to the United States for soccer camp and how playing soccer changed the lives of these girls. In the pages of Kabul Girls Soccer Club, Awista Ayub interweaves her own story as an Afghan-American, the girls’ personal struggle to play soccer and hard-hitting realities like war, oppression, displacement and poverty.[60]
Our soccer immortals also provide us with meaning about “us” and “them.” Most of us are soccer mortals. We will be neither soccer professionals, nor superstars such as Maradona or Pelé. Yet even if we cannot be soccer immortals, we might become immortals in what we do outside of the soccer pitch through our works, deeds, or words.
If we are really honest with ourselves, we will recognize that it is hard to be an immortal like Maradona or Pelé, on or off the field. We cannot be immortal gods like Aphrodite, Apollo, or Athena. We cannot be titans like Cronus, the leader of the Titans, who overthrew his father Uranus, only to be overthrown in turn by his son, Zeus. Perhaps we can be heroes like Odysseus, a king of Ithaca who played a key role in the Trojan War and whose adventures are the subject of Homer’s Odyssey. Or could we be like Achilles, a hero of the Trojan War and a key character in Homer’s Iliad? We might admit that even being a hero is a tough nut to crack for most of us.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is an ancient literary classic written more than 4,000 years ago. In one passage from the text, Siduri tells Gilgamesh to abandon his quest and instead focus on the joys of life as immortality was never really designed for mortals. She urges him to enjoy each moment here and now rather than pining for what he can never have:
Who is the mortal who can live forever?
The life of man is short.
Only the gods can live forever.
Therefore put on new clothes,
a clean robe and a cloak tied with a sash,
and wash the filth of the journey from your body.
Eat and drink your fill of the food and drink men eat and drink.
Let there be pleasure and dancing.[61]
I might also add to “let there be pleasure and dancing,” “and enjoyment in soccer.” Most of us can never attain immortality. Although soccer greats are heroes of their times who will eventually die, their exploits live forever. Most players are neither heroes nor immortals. Most soccer players, whether professionals or amateurs, will be forgotten, the memories of their soccer joys their greatest compensation. Yet a select group of soccer immortals such as Maradona and Pelé will be remembered when their playing days are over and even when they leave us.
For writers such as the anonymous author of The Epic of Gilgamesh, the quest for immortality is a part of the human condition, or an integral aspect of the human psyche. In death, we are surely all one and death is humanity’s greatest fear. There is no escaping death, unless you are Aphrodite or Apollo. In life, what unites us is our common humanity. Yet what really divides us are our words, deeds, actions, and exploits. What divides Maradona from you and me is not our humanity, but the fact that he won the World Cup in 1986. He also won domestic titles with Napoli; he scored the greatest goal in the history of the game; he scored outlandish goals from near the half-way mark of the field; he could curl a free kick delicately into the top corner of the net, or break the mesh with a thunderous volley; he dictated and controlled the tempo of a match; he had the desire of a tiger; and he could pass the ball as if his left foot was kissed by providence. His records and titles are his own and also belong to his respective teams. They separate Maradona from the rest of us mortals.
If there were no immortal soccer stars like Maradona, then soccer would be less meaningful. There would be less drive and ambition, as well as little room for self-surpassing. There would be no geniuses, merely soccer players of equal merit. There would be no players kissed by the gods, as highlighted in chapter 5. Soccer is neither communism nor capitalism. It is neither socialism nor liberalism. It neither creates nor desires a world of equals. It is a world of hierarchy. Soccer has its ranks of immortals, mortal heroes, greats, and then all the rest. We seem to like it that way. It is unclear whether our soccer immortals always like it that way. Their immortality does not mean an escape from their alcoholism or drug addictions, as tragically shown by Garrincha or Maradona. Or by the gods of fate that take away soccer squads before their times such as Manchester United, Torino, or the Zambian national team. How much more of an immortal would Duncan Edwards have been had he not died in the Manchester United crash in 1958?
From soccer’s immortals, as well as the game’s joys and tragedies, we learn life lessons related to life, death, hierarchies, and the meaning of life. By examining the world through soccer, we gain knowledge and nourish the soul. Soccer is a terrain replete with possibilities for knowledge and spirituality.
It is true that we learned a lot in school, yet through soccer we can also examine the world and learn a lot. Through soccer, we learn about life, death, and immortality.
We can also learn about the importance of memories. We know that the memories of our childhood, whether the camaraderie of our own matches and the joy of watching key World Cup matches, will never be experienced again. This is both sweet and tinged with sadness. The matches come and go. We shall take our memories with us to our graves. Those memories are sometimes sweet and pleasurable, making us recall another time when we were younger and perhaps when soccer was different, attractive, and more audacious.
At other times, those memories are filled with pain. They reveal the cruelty of human beings. When Brazil lost the 1950 World Cup final to Uruguay on home soil, Brazil’s goalkeeper Moacyr Barbosa (1921–2000) was blamed for letting in the “soft” game-winning goal scored by Alcides Ghiggia and was haunted by ghosts for the rest of his life. Although he won numerous domestic trophies and the Copa América with Brazil in 1949, he died penniless, sad, cursed, neglected, and a scapegoat. He lived the life of Job from the Old Testament: abandoned, attacked, disdained, bereft of friends and possessions, and crucified by an entire society of cruel inquisitors. Barbosa is forever identified with the curse of the Maracanazo, or “the Maracana blow,” named after the stadium where Brazil lost the World Cup final to Uruguay. “The maximum punishment in Brazil is 30 years imprisonment, but I have been paying, for something I am not even responsible for, by now, for 50 years,” stated Barbosa years after his goalkeeping blunder.[62] Barbosa was refused commentator roles on television and was barred from Brazilian national team training grounds. Barbosa is the ugly flip side of soccer’s penchant for immortals. Immortals must perform and win. If they do not, they will be crucified and perhaps never be forgiven. Barbosa died of a heart attack in 2000. He should have been given some credit for his accomplishments—he took Brazil to the World Cup finals and won the Copa América. He was a decent keeper who wore no gloves and made the greatest blunder in soccer history. Was it fair that Barbosa was treated like a leper, despised by all? When he died, there was relief in Brazil. Some Brazilian immortals such as Sócrates get state recognition and others like Barbosa are ignored and cursed. When Sócrates died in 2011, Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff said Brazil lost “one of its most cherished sons.”[63]
The sad tale of Moacyr Barbosa highlights the continuing seriousness of the game for soccer fans. Yet soccer can also offer us some insights about spirituality. Spirituality is the concept of an ultimate or an alleged reality, which is non-material and beyond the here and now. Spirituality is also the inner path of the heart and soul of all those soccer and non-soccer fans around the globe. It is an inner path that allows us to discover the essence of our beings. Or as Philip Sheldrake writes in A Brief History of Spirituality, spirituality is ultimately about “deepest values and meanings by which people live.”[64] Those values can be forged on and off the soccer pitch. Soccer players and fans derive great meaning from the “world’s game” and the “peoples’ game.” The deep values by which they live, from fair play to fighting to the end of a match with “hope in your heart,” are reflected in their soccer exploits, joys, and tragedies.
A spiritual perspective on soccer was highlighted by the legendary Jamaican reggae singer Bob Marley: “Football is a part of I, keep you out of trouble. Discipline. Mek you run in the morningtime. When you run you clear out your head. The world wake up round you.”[65] According to the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, sports like soccer allow us to be spiritually in the “flow” and thus assist our physical and mental well-being:
Sports is important because it’s one of the most readily available ways of generating the state of being he calls “flow.” This is the state we experience when our attention is completely absorbed in an activity, and our awareness of our surroundings even of ourselves fades away. It’s not the passive absorption of watching television or playing computer games, but the “active” absorption we experience when we fully concentrate and make powerful mental efforts—when we perform challenging, stimulating, creative activities like learning a foreign language or a musical instrument, painting or playing sports. “Flow” enables us to take control of our own consciousness, and step beyond the “psychic entropy” which is our normal state, when worries, desires and other kinds of chaotic “thought chatter” run through our minds. We experience an inner peace, and a sense of being more “energised” or alive than usual.[66]
His talent as a youngster earned him the nickname “Pele” “while learning to play on the red dirt streets” of his hometown.[67] A Namibian paper called him “the greatest star of Africa” and insisted that only the former AC Milan and Liberian international George Weah and the Cameroonian legend Roger Milla could compare in skill to “Pele.”[68] Abedi Pele was one of the trailblazers for African soccer players in Europe. He played with major clubs in France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. His club sides included Lille and Marseille in France, Torino in Italy, 1860 Munich in Germany, and Zurich in Switzerland. In total, Pele scored 157 goals in 479 club matches in twenty years. These are great goal-scoring numbers for a man who was considered a playmaker, a distributor, and the brains of the teams he played with. Pele is an example of an African immortal who was recognized worldwide because of his tremendous accomplishments on the pitch.
Internationally, Pele never played in a World Cup, although two of his sons were on Ghana’s roster for the 2010 World Cup. For Ghana, Pele netted thirty-three goals in sixty-seven matches from 1982 to 1998. Despite not making a World Cup competition, Pele was known throughout Africa and the world for his silky sweet skills and delicate left foot. He played in five African Cup of Nations’ tournaments: 1982, 1992, 1994, 1996, and 1998. He was named to several FIFA all-star selections and captained the African all stars in their victory over their European counterparts in the Meridian Cup in 1997. In Italy, Pele won an award for best foreign player with Torino from 1995 to 1996. He won the France Football African Player of the Year award three consecutive times from 1991 to 1993, the only African player to accomplish this feat. He won the Golden Ball award for being the best player at the 1992 African Cup of Nations, when Ghana lost in the finals to the Ivory Coast. He guided Ghana to the African Cup of Nations’ title ten years earlier in 1982.
His performance at the 1992 African Cup of Nations is one of the most outstanding displays by any player in world soccer history. The performances earned Pele a comparison with another soccer immortal, as “The African Maradona.” His solo run goal against Congo in the quarterfinals was sublime and often evokes comparisons to Maradona’s second goal against England in the 1986 World Cup. His stunning back header goal against Nigeria from the edge of the opponent’s penalty box was pure genius.
It was no accident that Pele was the spokesperson for the South African World Cup bid, despite the fact that he is from Ghana rather than South Africa. This is because Pele is considered one of the best players in world history not to appear at a World Cup and arguably the best African player ever. Ghana awarded him the country’s highest honor, the Order of the Volta, thus becoming the first Ghanaian sportsman to be honored with the award. To highlight the enduring immortal status of Pele, Kelechi Iheanacho, the star playmaker of Nigeria’s U-17 World Cup title in 2013, is an Arsenal “target” and has evoked comparisons with two African immortals: the retired Nigerian international Jay-Jay Okocha and Abedi Pele.[69] Yet the greatest praise for Pele as an African immortal came from an astute fan:
Abedi Pele was way ahead of his time. . . . If he had become great during the internet era, the question of who is Africa’s best wouldn’t have been in doubt. Those of us who saw him play were wowed . . . his deft touches, flair and unimpeachable vision in the game of football is unrivaled on the continent. Abedi Ayew was both effective and efficient . . . he was a middle field general like no other in Africa’s football . . . Abedi only scored important goals . . . and all were taken from the top drawer of world class football.[70]
In contrast to the “flow,” soccer can, unfortunately, include grisly displays of racist ultra-nationalism (chapter 1), violent hooliganism, and chasing victory at all costs devoid of any values (chapter 6), and thus lapses into a trend that inhabits our world: de-spiritualization. So for example, in 2013 AEK Athens midfielder Giorgos Katidis was banned from any Greek national team for life after giving a Nazi salute while celebrating a goal in the Greek league. Greece’s soccer federation said the player’s gesture “is a deep insult to all victims of Nazi brutality.”[71] This does not mean that we should demonize the game and all its participants and fans, as we sometimes witness in the North American press. The spiritual lesson of soccer is that it includes both deep value and meaning and also the demise of value and meaning. Sometimes meaning and the loss of meaning, or values and the lack of values, inhabit the same soccer player.
Diego Maradona is a case in point. Maradona has his leftist political leanings and that is a right of any soccer player as a citizen of a state (or states), or even as a member of an international society. This type of political engagement is lacking in a world where citizen participation is losing out to mere entertainment, money, and a narrow focus on our jobs and lives. The issue with Maradona is that he cheated and violated the soccer ethic of fair play when he was sanctioned for doping at the 1994 World Cup. He scored his infamous “hand of God” goal in 1986 and flouted the ethic of fair play. Camus would not have been proud. Maradona abused drugs and was certainly not a good role model for the millions of children that saw him as an immortal. Yet Maradona was simultaneously the greatest soccer star that the world has ever seen. New Maradonas have been announced since and none have arrived. Perhaps Messi. However, that remains to be seen. There is no one like Maradona. There may never be another like him. He is a gift for all of humanity. He is a treasure for the world. He is a soccer immortal. Yet he is a human being like you and me, both strong and weak, with all his warts and imperfections. Thus, soccer can also teach us about tolerance, the ability to humanize and empathize with players and people, and the ability to see reality from different perspectives.
Pelé, the only equal to Maradona in soccer history, has also reflected on soccer from both philosophical and spiritual perspectives. In his My Life and the Beautiful Game,[72] Pelé’s epigraph tells it all spiritually and is worth quoting in full:
I was born, grew,
Because of this I am here,
I pass by,
I walk by,
Not hurrying to arrive,
I go much faster
Than those who run
Without thinking
This is not our life
Everything here is a game
A passing thing,
What matters is what I’ve done
And what I’ll leave behind
Let it be an example
For those that come
I am leading who he comes
But following he who has already gone by
If he reached the end he has already rested
I also will reach the end
Because I want to rest
There are many people
With the will to fight
Life is not just this
Truth is farther beyond.
These words are touching and moving. They evoke joy, nostalgia, and sadness all merged into one. One day we will be no more. One day there will be no soccer, no soccer mortals, and no immortals for us. One day we will no longer go to the soccer stadiums, or see its array of people, colors, smells, foods, and souvenirs. One day there will be no soccer teammates. One day there will be no mother, father, brother, sister, wife, husband, girlfriend, friend, or stranger. One day there will be a truth beyond the pitch and this life, “farther beyond.” For all the philosophical depth of a Plato, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Levinas, or Marx, or the poetic brilliance of a Garcia Lorca, Langston Hughes, or W. H. Auden, Pelé, a mere soccer player, has eloquently captured what most soccer players and fans have only vaguely thought about and felt.
We are born into a life where our circumstances are beyond our control. As Pelé writes, “Everything here is a game.” The game is momentary, just like this life. Immortality can be gained through “what I’ve done” and “what I’ll leave behind,” insists Pelé. The Brazilian legend is clear that in life and in soccer, it is not always those who are the busiest, or the fastest, or the smartest, that are necessarily the most effective. “Not hurrying to arrive, I go much faster than those who run,” states the Brazilian immortal. Pelé is conscious that there are future generations who we need to teach about the values of fair play, honesty, solidarity, tolerance, and justice. He insists that by teaching children about the positive values of soccer, we can serve as an “example for those that come.” He is aware that he is merely a part of the golden historical chain of beings that is life that links all the generations of humanity, whether present, past, or future: “I am leading who he comes” and “But following he who has already gone by.” Our road in life is long, sometimes hard and tough, with its share of trials and tribulations. Soccer is a joy and an antidote to the harshness of the lives of the many. We know that we must work hard on the pitch, or at whatever we do in life, because in the end we all “want to rest.” Pelé ends with this acknowledgement: “There are many people” in this life, both past and present. Many people have that great “will to fight” in the face of obstacles on or off the pitch. Yet we all know that while the soccer game is important and meaningful, it ultimately teaches us that “Life is not just this” and “Truth is farther beyond.”
Merriam-Webster, “Philosophy,” http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/philosophy (13 November 2013).
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Plato,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato/ (13 November 2013).
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals, trans. and ed. Douglas Smith (Oxford: Oxford World’s Classics, 1996).
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, trans. Walter Kaufmann (New York: Random House, 1966).
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Emmanuel Levinas,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/levinas/ (13 November 2013).
Martin Heidegger, Basic Writings, ed. David Farrell Krell (New York: HarperCollins, 1993), 432.
Ibid., 432–433.
Karl Marx, “Theses on Fuerbach,” in Selected Writings of Karl Marx, ed. Lawrence H. Simon (Indianapolis: Hacket Publishing Co., 1994), 101.
Quoted in Open Court Publishing, “Soccer and Philosophy Beautiful Thoughts on the Beautiful Game,” Open Court Book, http://www.opencourtbooks.com/books_n/soccer.htm (14 November 2013).
Ted Richards, Soccer and Philosophy: Beautiful Thoughts on the Beautiful Game (Chicago: Open Court Publishing, 2010).
Steve Taylor, “Spirituality: The Hidden Side of Sports,” New Renaissance, vol. 11, no. 1, Issue 36 (Spring 2002), http://www.ru.org/sports/spirituality-the-hidden-side-of-sports.html (13 November 2013).
Quoted in John Carlin, “The Greatest Game: Why the World Loves Soccer, and America Doesn’t,” SBNation, 16 November 2012, http://www.sbnation.com/longform/2012/11/16/3650028/lionel-messi-european-soccer (13 November 2013).
Ibid.
The Official Website of the Irish Football Association, “Profile of George Best,” http://www.irishfa.com/international/squad-profiles/profile/341/legends-of-the-game/george-best/ (13 November 2013)
A.C. Milan, “A.C. Milan: The Most Successful Club,” n.d., http://www.acmilan.com/en/club/history (10 November 2013).
Ibid.
Eduardo Galeano, Soccer in Sun and Shadow, trans. Mark Fried (London: Verso, 2003), 37.
Ibid., 37.
Jonathan Stevenson, “Real Madrid 1960: The greatest club side of all time,” BBC Online, 23 May 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jonathanstevenson/2011/05/the_greatest_
club_side_of_all.html(10 November 2013).
Ibid.
Oocities, “What they Said: Di Sefano,” Oocities, n.d., http://www.oocities.org/colosseum/bleachers/7429/DiStefano8.htm (10 November 2013).
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Sarah Siegel, “Brazilian soccer club drives organ donations with ‘immortal fan’ concept,” JWT Anxiety Index, 24 June 2013, http://anxietyindex.com/2013/06/brazilian-soccer-club-drives-organ-donations-with-immortal-fan-concept/ (10 November 2013).
Richard Henshaw, The Encyclopedia of World Soccer (Washington, D.C.: New Republic Books, 1979), 564.
FIFA, “Pele—I was there,” FIFA, http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/players/player=63869/quotes.html (10 August 2013).
YouTube, “Alfredo Di Stéfano: ‘Pelé is the best player of all time, better than Messi and Ronaldo,’” YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y13irjInPno (10 August 2013).
FIFA, “What they said about Pele,” FIFA, 23 October 2010, http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/news/newsid=1321917.html (10 August 2013).
Euronews, “Pelé draws criticism for calls for Brazil to ‘forget’ protests,” Euronews, 20 June 2013, http://www.euronews.com/2013/06/20/pele-draws-criticism-for-calls-for-brazil-to-forget-protests/ (10 August 2013).
John Motson, Motson’s World Cup Extravaganza: Football’s Greatest Drama 1930–2006 (London: Anova Books, 2006), 103.
Jorge Valdano, “Jorge Valdano Entrevista,” La Revista, 5 October 1997, http://www.elmundo.es/larevista/num103/textos/valdano1.html (23 October 2012).
Jen Bensinger, “Maradona puts his Legacy on the Line at the World Cup,” The Houston Chronicle, 8 June 2010.
Sportsnet, “Maradona anoints Messi as his successor,” Sportsnet, 25 March 2010, http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/maradona-messi-0/ (10 August 2013).
John Carlin, “The Greatest Game: Why the World Loves Soccer, and America Doesn’t.”
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
The Guardian, “Ferenc Puskas dies aged 79,” The Guardian, 17 November 2006, http://www.theguardian.com/football/2006/nov/17/newsstory.sport6 (10 August 2013).
See YouTube, “Ferenc Puskas Tribute,” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oEt4zQZ9Jg (10 August 2013).
The Guardian, “Ferenc Puskas dies aged 79.”
John Carlin, “The Greatest Game: Why the World Loves Soccer, and America Doesn’t.”
Vijay Murali, “Top 22 Worst Refereeing Decisions in World Football History,” Bleacher Report, 30 October 2011, http://bleacherreport.com/articles/915954-top-22-worst-refereeing-decisions-in-world-football-history (14 November 2013).
Ibid.
FIFA, “Rivaldo: In the name of the father,” FIFA, 1 February 2000, http://www.fifa.com/ballondor/archive/edition=1999901999/news/newsid=74934/index.html (13 November 2013).
Ibid.
Javier Tovar, “Is Soccer The Ticket Out Of Rio Poverty?” Agence France Presse, 2 February 2013, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/02/soccer-football-rio-poverty_n_2606935.html (13 November 2013).
Ibid.
John Carlin, “The Greatest Game: Why the World Loves Soccer, and America Doesn’t.”
Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning (New York: Washington Square Press, 1985).
Football Soccer Focus, “Imagine Being Able To Perform Consistently At Your Peak Potential Every Day of Your Professional Career,” http://www.footballsoccerfocus.com/football-mindset/ (14 November 2013).
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ethan Zohn, “About Ethan Zohn,” Ethan Zohn’s Website, http://www.ezohn.com/about/ (14 November 2013).
Ibid.
Vinya Sankaran Vasu, “Ethan Zohn: Using Soccer To Change The World,” Service Space, 7 December 2012, http://www.servicespace.org/blog/view.php?id=12388 (14 November 2013).
Jewish News One, Jewish Soccer Players in Nazis 1944 Propaganda Film, 16 July 2012, http://jn1.tv/video/jewish-week?media_id=39253 (13 November 2013).
Awista Ayub, Kabul Girls Soccer Club: A Dream, Eight Girls, and a Journey Home (New York: HarperCollins, 2009).
Hollings Center, “Good Reads—Kabul Girls Soccer Club Awista Ayub Review and author interview by Sanem Güner,” http://www.hollingscenter.org/good-reads-kabul-girls-soccer-club (14 November 2013).
Anonymous, The Epic of Gilgamesh: An English Verison with an Introduction, trans. N. K. Sandars (London: Penguin, 1972), 57.
Carlo Garganese, “Top 10 World Cup Goalkeeping Blunders,” Goal, 27 October 2009, http://www.goal.com/en/news/2377/top-10/2009/10/27/1587400/top-10-world-cup-goalkeeping-blunders (15 October 2012).
Associated Press, “Ex-Brazil captain Socrates dies at 57,” ESPN, 4 December 2011, http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/7314686/socrates-brazil-captain-1982-world-cup-dies-57 (13 November 2013).
Philip Sheldrake, A Brief History of Spirituality (Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 2007), 1–2.
Quoted in Jack Bell, “Philosophy Football,” New York Times Soccer Blog, 30 April 2010, http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/philosophy-football/?_r=0 (20 September 2012).
Quoted in Steve Taylor “Spirituality: The Hidden Side of Sports.”
FIFA, “Ghana’s brightest Black Star,” FIFA.com, n.d., http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/players/player=161081/ (10 November 2013).
The Namibian, “Abedi Pele in Namibia today,” The Namibian, 15 November 2007, http://www.namibian.com.na/indexx.php?archive_id=37932&page_type=archive_story_
detail&page=3915 (10 November 2013).
The Guardian Nigeria, “Arsenal target, Iheanacho, joint candidate for successor to Abedi Pele, Okocha,” The Guardian, 30 October 2013, http://www.worldwww.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php/home-sp-955664465/137206-arsenal-target-iheanacho-joint-candidate-for-successor-to-abedi-pele-okocha (10 November 2013).
The Top Tens, “Best African Soccer Players: Abedi Pele,” n.d., http://www.thetoptens.com/best-african-soccer-players/ (11 November 2013).
CBS News, “Greek soccer player gets life ban for Nazi salute,” 17 March 2013, http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57574753/greek-soccer-player-gets-life-ban-for-nazi-salute/.
Pelé (with Robert L. Fish), My Life and the Beautiful Game: The Autobiography of Pelé (New York: Warner Books, 1977), “Epigraph.”