Pele statue 'loses' both arms

2007-06-19 22:48

Rio de Janeiro - Unknown attackers in Brazil broke off the two arms of a bronze statue of football legend Pele, Brazilian media reported on Tuesday.

The incident took place in Salvador, the capital of the north- eastern state of Bahia, and the robbers also took the bronze replica of a World Cup trophy known in its day as the Jules Rimet Trophy.

The police said there is "absolutely no trace" of the robbers, who are apparently not just football fans in search for a souvenir. The authorities consider it more likely that the bronze is to be melted and sold to workshops in Salvador, a police spokesperson said.

The life-size statue of a standing Pele was inaugurated in March 1971, a few months after Brazil's third World Cup title, before the Fonte Nova stadium in Salvador.

Local sports authorities said they want to restore the statue as soon as possible and to place it in a safer destination. Pele, 64, is to be invited to the re-inauguration, Salvador Sports Secretary Raimundo da Silva said.

It is likely that the statue will now be placed inside the stadium.

The Brazilian national team led by Pele - whose real name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento - won the Mexico 1970 World Cup and with it the last Jules Rimet, named after the president of the French Football Federation from 1919 to 1945 and of Fifa from 1921 to 1954.

Since then, the winners of the prestigious football tournament are awarded the Fifa World Cup Trophy. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA