In typically modest fashion the Brazilian has dismissed suggestions that any of the world’s current football stars are better than he was.
In an interview with the LA Times, Pelé said that there are several candidates that might be considered the best player in the world.
"At the moment we have Cristiano Ronaldo, the best scorer. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is another good player. Messi, of course. In Brazil we have Neymar."
The 73-year-old was then asked whether he considered any of those better than he was.
"Better than me?" he repeated. "No."
As for the World Cup, Pelé said it’s time to focus on the sport and not the construction delays and political corruption that has blighted Brazil’s preparation for the event.
"The World Cup will be fantastic," he said.
"The reality is there was a big problem to construct some stadiums."
"The issue was not only with Brazil but with every country who has hosted a World Cup: Korea was the same, [South] Africa was the same, Europe was the same. The only World Cup that was fantastic with every single game was the best organised and that was the United States."
"The problem is with the stadiums and not with the players, not with the teams. There is political corruption. We must be careful with the money, the public money."
"They stole and did a lot of bad things but we have to protect the football. The players don’t have anything to do with this," completed the Santos legend.
