PELLE SELLS OFF HIS LIFE FOR FOOTBALL

When

your guest is Brazilian legend Pele, the

only player ever to have won three World Cup

winning medals, then some creative thinking

is needed.

As a result the star, full name Edson Arantes

do Nascimento, has been the recipient of an

amazing cornucopia of strange and exotic

items from around the world, first in his

playing days, and then as a roving sporting

and humanitarian ambassador.

They include everything from elaborate

crowns and ceremonial daggers, model ships

and jet fighters, to more prosaic clocks,

dishes, and freedom-of-the-city keys from

various municipalities.

Now the 75-year-old Fifa Player of the

Century is to auction off all of the sporting

and cultural memorabilia he has accumulated

in a lifetime in football.

The sale will take place over three days in

London in June, and covers the six decades

from Pele's signing for Santos as a 15-year-old

in 1956.

'Difficult decision'

The sale includes unique football items,

including his three World Cup winner's

medals, and a one-off Jules Rimet trophy made

for him after Brazil's famous triumph in

Mexico in 1970.

That World Cup replica is the most expensive

item being auctioned, with an estimated price

tag of £281,000 to £420,000. The medals are

expected to fetch up to £141,000, and the ball

he scored his 1,000th goal with is estimated to

sell for £28,000 to £42,000.

Beverley Hills-based Julien's Auctions has

been chosen to handle the sale, which also

includes personal items such as old passports

and driving licences.

Over the past 12 months Pele has been in

hospital for back, hip and prostate surgery. So

is it for health or business reasons that he is

now selling?

"There are many reasons, there are clearly

some personal ones that he alone knows

about," Dan Nelles, sports specialist at Julien's

Auctions, tells me.

Pele himself says: "It was a difficult decision

to make but it takes a lot to properly care for

these artefacts, and I felt I could do much

more good by sharing these items with the

world, as well as helping my causes that are

important to me."

Mr Nelles adds: "He had a lot of the property

in storage, and it wasn't seeing the light of

day, which this auction now allows. Also, he

wasn't sure what of it his family wanted to

keep, and he didn't want it [the collection] to

fall by the wayside.

"And the Pequeno Principe paediatric hospital

in Brazil, which he supports , will receive a

proportion."

International interest

Mr Nelles says the auction house's

"conservative estimate" is that the sale will

make £2.5m to £3.5m, but that "the bidding

would determine the final price".

"There are so many wildcards in the auction,

the Jules Rimet trophy, his World Cup medals,

soccer boots, which means that ideally we are

looking at three times that
conservative

estimate, and maybe as much as 10 times.

"There are also a great number of game-worn

items from his career."

Mr Nelles expects a broad spectrum of bidders

from football fans and collectors, to sporting

museums and business corporations.

"Although the auction is in London, we will

not just be selling to UK customers, as the

auction will be streamed live on our website

for overseas bidders to take part," he adds.

He says that as well as interest from the

obvious football hotbeds of Europe and South

America, there will also be interest from

China, Japan and South Korea, Dubai and

other Gulf states, and the US, Canada and

Mexico.