When The Race To Become G.O.A.T Was A Black Duopoly

Ashton Kutcher: What do you call 1 black man being chased by 300 white men?

Kellee Stewart: What?

Ashton Kutcher: The P.G.A Tour

Guess Who (2005) 

Greetings. Legendary footballer Edson Arantes do Nascimento, nicknamed Pelé, passed on recently. Considered one of the greatest footballers of all time, tributes and obituaries are pouring in from around the world. People of my father's generation (hit their 20s in the late 60s) are staunch supporters of Brazil owing to the legacy of Pele. He dominated the sport, turning Santos football club from a little known regional club to a global powerhouse. He won three World Cup medals with Brazil, the only man to achieve that feat. The German legend Franz Backenbauer, himself a double World Cup winner, referred to him as the greatest footballer of all time. Given that Pele played during a time when media was not as big as it is today and most people living today never watched him play, his achievements are not fully appreciated today. Furthermore, as a black man, he rose to prominence during a when racism was an established policy in some countries. His death comes right after the conclusion of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar,  where Argentina secured a third World Cup crown and finally settled the debate over the Lionel Messi-Cristiano Ronaldo debate. In light of that debate, I examine the G.O.A.T debate from the 1960s, which involved two black players

The First Black Footballer

Andrew Watson is on record as the first black football player. The son of a Scottish sugar plantation owner and a Caribbean native woman, Watson first featured for Glasgow side Maxwell FC in 1876, before having stints at Park Grove, Queens Park (where he won 3 Scottish Cups), Swifts (where he was the first black player to play in the FA Cup) and Corinthians. In 1887, he signed for Bootle FC in England, becoming the first black professional football player.

O Rei: Pele vs Eusebio

By the 1960s, football had spread across the globe with many countries conducting both a national league and a national knockout tournament (cup), and continental club competitions were taking shape in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia. The number of black footballers was significantly larger than it had been 80 years before. The two main draws of the time were the black footballers Eusebio da Silva of Portugal and Pelé, whose dates of birth were separated by 13 months. Pelé had announced himself to the World at the 1958 World Cup, becoming the first black player to score in a World Cup final. The Mozambique-born Eusebio would go on to become the first non-white European player to win the Ballon d'Or in 1965. Both played for Portuguese-speaking nations and were nicknamed O Rei (The King).

Pelé (left) and Eusebio (right), 1966 World Cup

The football world of 1960s is far removed from that of today. The fixture list was certainly less congested than it is today. The European Champion Clubs Cup (European Cup), precursor to the Champions League, was played on a knock-out basis with only one slot per nation (the League winners). Pre-season matches did not involve travelling to Asia or North America for friendly games. Therefore, European opposition and South American opposition only met during the World Cup, the few international friendlies, or at club level in the Intercontinental Cup – which was contested between the winners of the European Cup and South America's Copa Libertadores. Therefore, in their prime, Pele and Eusebio played each other on 3 occasions.

Over the course of 2 games of the Intercontinental Cup in 1962, Pelé scored 5 goals to his rival's solitary contribution, as Santos edged Benfica 8-4 on aggregate. Their only meeting in national team colours saw Eusebio master 2 goals as Portugal eliminated Brazil from the 1966 World Cup. The stats in those 3 games were; goals 5-3 in favour of Pele, hattricks 1-0 in favour of Pele, and wins 2-1 in favour of Pele.

In the 1970s, both players moved to the nascent North American League, Pelé featuring for the New York Cosmos as Eusebio featured for the Boston Minutemen and later Toronto. In their first meeting Eusebio opened the scoring for Boston, while Pelé's equaliser was ruled out. The game ended 2-1 in Boston's favour. Each secured the league title, Eusebio with Toronto in 1976 and Pele bested him the following year. 

PELE		EUSEBIO
17	LEAGUE	12
4	CUPS	14
2	CONTINENTAL CUPS	1
2	INTERCONTINENTAL CUP	0
766	CLUB GAMES	575
709	CLUB GOALS	580
3	WORLD CUPS	0
0	COPA AMERICA/EURO	0
0	WORLD CUP GOLDEN BOOT	1 (1966)
0	BALLON D'OR	1 (1965)
92	NATIONAL TEAM GAMES	64
77	NATIONAL TEAM GOALS	41

 

Pelé enjoyed more success compared to his Mozambique-born rival. With regards to individual awards, Pelé was named the 1973 South American footballer of the year. Having played outside Europe, he was ineligible for the Ballon d'Or. However, France Football retrospectively named him Ballon d'Or winner for 1958-61, 1963-64, and 1970. 

Key

	PELE	EUSEBIO	MARADONA	ZIDANE	CRISTIANO	MESSI
NATION	BRAZIL	PORTUGAL	ARGENTINA	FRANCE	PORTUGAL	ARGENTINA
D.O.B	23/10/40	25/01/42	30/10/60	23/06/72	05/02/85	24/06/87
LEAGUE	17	12	3	3	7	11
CUP	4	14	3	0	6	7
EC/CL	2	1	0	1	5	4
IC/FCWC	2	0	0	2	4	3
CA	766	575	589	695	951	831
CG	709	580	311	125	701	695
FWC	3	0	1	1	0	1
EUR/CA	0	0	0	1	1	1
FCC	0	0	0	0	0	0
OL	0	0	0	0	0	1
NA	92	64	91	108	196	172
NG	77	61	34	31	118	98
FIFA BEST	0	0	0	3	3	2
Bd'OR	0	1	0	1	5	7

KEY:

• LEAGUE – National Leagues (and for the case of Brazil, State Leagues)
• CUP – National Cups (both national cups and national league cups)
• EC/CL – club continental tournament, i.e., European Cup (Champions League) and Copa Libertadores
• IC/FCWC – Intercontinental Cup or FIFA Club World Cup
• CA – Club appearances
• CG – Club goals scored
• FWC – FIFA World Cup
• EUR/CA – European Championship (Euro)/ Copa America
• FCCC – FIFA Confederations Cup
• OL – Olympic Games
• NA – National team appearances
• NG – National team goals scored
• FIFA BEST – FIFA Player of the Year Award
• Bd'OR – Ballon d'Or

 

From the above comparison, in different parameters each individual fares differently. Pele has the highest number of League titles and World Cups. However, it is important to consider that in the Brazilian football system, clubs play in the regional league and then proceed to the national league, granting a player two shorts at a league title in one year. Messi and Cristiano have more individual awards compared to Pelé, Eusebio and Maradona owing to the fact that the FIFA Best Player Award was launched in 1991 and the Ballon d'Or is only eligible for European based players, of which Pelé never played for a European Club.

For one who is considered the greatest, Diego Maradona and Zinedine Zidane scored an alarmingly fewer number of goals compared to their rivals. However, Zidane ticks more trophy boxes than Maradona. An individual player features for both a football club and a national team. At club level, the chances of silverware are the league, the cup (league cups are rarer across the globe, mainly being played in UK), and the continental tournament (Champions League, Copa Libertadores, CAF Confederations Cup, etc). For the national team, the player has the continental tournament (Euros, Copa America, AFCON, Asian Cup, etc) and the World Cup. I already showed that the black G.O.A.T debate was settled by Pelé ticking more boxes than Eusebio at club and national team level. The only box Pelé never ticked was Copa America, finishing runner-up in 1959 at a tournament where he collected the golden boot with 8 goals and best player of the tournament. Eusebio never played in any final for his country.

Maradona ticked less boxes at club level compared to his rivals. If the status was attained through trophy haul and less media frenzy, the two black superstars of the 1960s would be held in higher regard than him.

The Once And Future G.O.A.T

Despite coming up second in the 2022 World Cup final, France fired a warning short to the rest of the World. Seven of their starting XI were under 30, with the entire substitution bench made up of players born after 1995. Their talisman Kylian Mbappe, whose parents are Cameroonian and Algerian respectively, netted 3 goals to keep Les Blues in the game until the penalty shootout. Still under 25, Mbappe has already scored more national team goals (36) than Maradona and Zidane. He has played at two World Cups, and on each occasion has played in the final, and has netted more goals (4) in the final than Maradona (0! Come on Maradona, even Marco Materazzi scored a goal in the 2006 final!), Messi (2), Zidane (3) and Pelé (3). After 52 years, a black man has again put his hand up for the G.O.A.T debate. 

In line with Kutcher's quote from the 2005 movie Guess Who, Mbappe is on the brink of replicating Tiger Wood's pre-eminence of the white-dominated golf, just as Pelé did for football in 1960s.

Ceteris. Paribus.

References

Falk, G., (8th March 2021). Andrew Watson: Scotland Remembers First Black Footballer 100 Years On From His Death. The Scotsman. Retrieved on 29th December 2022.

McParlan, P., (21st August 2018). Remembering Three Rare But Momentous Occasions When Pelé and Eusebio Squared Off. These Football Times. Retrieved 30th December 2022