Pelé welcomes Sepp Blatter’s re-election as Fifa president

The Brazil legend Pelé has welcomed the re-election of Sepp Blatter as Fifa's president.

Blatter secured a fifth term in charge of football’s world governing body at Fifa’s annual congress in Zurich last week after seeing off the challenge of Jordan’s Prince Ali Bin al-Hussein.

The 79-year-old faced calls to step down after the FBI arrested 14 Fifa executives and officials over “rampant and systemic” corruption allegations. However, Pelé backed Blatter’s re-election and believes his experience made the Swiss the only choice for the post.

“I was in favour. It was necessary because it is better to have people with experience,” he said Sunday after arriving in Havana see a charity match. “He’s a man who has been there for 25 years [with Fifa], you have to respect him, it was an election.”

Pelé's former club New York Cosmos will face Cuba at the Pedro Marrero Stadium in Havana on Tuesday. The match – which will make Cosmos the first professional American sports team in 16 years to play in Cuba – has been organised to mark the thawing of relations between the two countries.

The Brazilian club Mogi Mirim, which features the former Brazil and Barcelona star Rivaldo as president, says it has fired Pelé's son Edinho as coach. The 44-year-old leaves the second division side just four matches into the league season.

Before joining Mogi Mirim, Edinho was one of the assistant coaches for Santos, the club where his father thrived in the 1960s. He briefly played for the club as a goalkeeper in the 1990s.

Edinho recently made headlines after being convicted in a money laundering case that involved a drug gang. He is appealing a 33-year prison sentence.

(Guardian service)