COSTA DO SAUIPE: The\u00a0football\u00a0world, gathered in Brazil for Friday’s World Cup draw, mourned the passing Thursday of former South African president\u00a0Nelson Mandela.<\/p>\n
FIFA\u00a0president\u00a0Sepp Blatter\u00a0described Mandela as one of the “greatest humanists of our time” on hearing the news.<\/p>\n
“It is in deep mourning that I pay my respects to an extraordinary person, probably one of the greatest humanists of our time and a dear friend of mine,\u00a0Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela,” said Blatter.<\/p>\n
Brazil footballing legend\u00a0Pele\u00a0also paid tribute. “He was my hero, my friend,” Pele tweeted. “He was my companion in the struggle for the popular cause and for world peace.<\/p>\n
“Let us carry on his work. He was one of the most influential people in my life,” the soccer legend wrote.<\/p>\n
Another former Brazil star, Romario, also took to Twitter to pay his respects.<\/p>\n
“In fighting against (racial) segregation in Africa, Mandela marked his passage through this world with a\u00a0spectacular\u00a0lesson of humanity.”<\/p>\n
Yet another onetime favourite of Brazil’s national team, 2002 champion Ronaldo, likewise tweeted his sadness.<\/p>\n
“You changed the world. Thank you. Rest in peace.” Portugal star\u00a0Cristiano Ronaldo\u00a0also mourned the passing of Mandela, who died in his homeland, aged 95.<\/p>\n
“Thanks for your work, your example. You will always be with us,” said the\u00a0Real Madrid\u00a0striker.<\/p>\n
Blatter recalled how Mandela was feted at the football World Cup in South\u00a0Africa\u00a0in 2010, the first time the continent had hosted the event.<\/p>\n
“He and I shared an unwavering belief in the extraordinary power of football to unite people in peace and friendship, and to teach basic social and educational values as a school of life.<\/p>\n
“When he was honoured and cheered by the crowd at Johannesburg’s Soccer City stadium on 11 July 2010, it was as a man of the people, a man of their hearts, and it was one of the most moving moments I have ever experienced,” Blatter reminisced.<\/p>\n
“For him, the World Cup in South Africa truly was ‘a dream come true’,” he said.<\/p>\n
He added: “Nelson Mandela will stay in our hearts forever. The memories of his\u00a0remarkable\u00a0fight against oppression, his\u00a0incredible\u00a0charisma and his positive values will live on in us and with us.”<\/p>\n
FIFA said that the flags of its 209 member associations will fly at half-mast at its Swiss headquarters\/<\/p>\n
A moment of silence will be held before the next round of international matches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
COSTA DO SAUIPE: The\u00a0football\u00a0world, gathered in Brazil for Friday’s World Cup draw, mourned the passing Thursday of former South African president\u00a0Nelson Mandela. FIFA\u00a0president\u00a0Sepp Blatter\u00a0described Mandela as one of the “greatest humanists of our time” on hearing the news. “It is in deep mourning that I pay my respects to an extraordinary person, probably one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[84,60],"tags":[37,66,67,126],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109\/revisions\/111"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africanexaminer.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}