World Cup winners rewarded after 54 years

Fifty-four Brazil football stars handed $49,000 payment.

SAO PAOLO: Brazil’s World Cup winning players from 1958, 1962 and 1970 have been awarded a bonus and a pension from the government in a controversial move that has split public opinion.

Brazil’s sports ministry said the 54 players or their survivors will be given a one-off bonus of 100,000 reais ($49,000) and will also qualify for a monthly stipend of 3,916 reais. The country’s social security minister called the payments ‘an act of justice’ that recognised the role Brazil’s World Cup winners played in the country’s development.

“I think that the Brazilian people recognise the debt we owe to these athletes,” said Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo. “Football back then did not offer the salaries and sponsorship deals they do today.”

Many players said the money would transform their lives. With the exception of Pele, very few live comfortably as their careers did not earn them the kind of riches enjoyed by today’s big names.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2013.