Brazilian football icon, Pele was a man that loved Africa and had enormous belief in the capabilities of the continent as far as the round leather game is concerned.

Though Pele’s famous prediction that an African team will win the World Cup was never fulfilled in his lifetime, a handful of countries on the continent were privileged to see the King play on their soil.

Here are four of the African countries where Pele was hosted and featured in exhibition matches during his active days as a football star

Nigeria (January 1969)


Perhaps because the country was fondly referred to as the ‘Giant of Africa’, they had a double dose of Pele and his teammates at two different venues.

The Lagos match was staged at the behest of the then Nigeria Football Association, who put together an exhibition match against the national team, the Green Eagles (now Super Eagles).

Beyond any other gains, it was also a cherished opportunity for Nigerians to see Pele in the flesh.

That entertaining match would end 2-2 with Pele scoring the two goals for his Brazilian club and Muyiwa Oshode and Baba Alli scoring for Nigeria.

Pele’s other match was in Benin City where Santos were invited for the official opening of the Ogbe stadium, which is now named after Sam Ogbemudia

That exhibition match was between Santos and an all-star Midwest team.

But unlike in Lagos where Pele grabbed the two goals, he was “caged’ in Benin even though Santos still won 2-1.

Ghana (February 1969)


Pele and his Santos FC teammates were the guests of one of Ghana’s biggest football clubs, Accra Hearts of Oak.

The four-goal thriller between both teams was played on 6 February, 1969.

Santos battled to hold Accra Hearts of Oak to a 2-2 draw at the Accra Sports Stadium.

Pele in Congo

In that game, it was Accra Hearts of Oak striker Abeka Ankrah that opened the scoring in the 27th minute.

However, Edson Arantes do Nascimento known as Pelé struck to pull the guests level before the break.

Ghana’s own “Pele” Amusa Gbadamoshie, re-established Hearts’ lead in the subsequent half, however, midfielder Edu spared Santos their blushes with an equaliser that denied Hearts the win they would have cherished greatly.

Algeria (June 1965)


The exhibition match took place at the 19 Juin Stadium, in Oran, between the Algerian national team and the famous Brazilian Foot Ball Club of Santos

Over 50,000 spectators came to admire Pele’s talents and encourage the Algerian national team.

The match ended in a draw, 1-1; Tonino scored in the 43rd minute of the first half, and the Algerian Freha equalised in the 32nd minute of the second.

The legend was back in Algeria in 2014 when the Desert Foxes were preparing to attend the World Cup that was hosted by Brazil

Pele watched as the North Africans recorded a rare 2-0 win over a European opposition in Slovenia.

Congo, (June 1967)


Pele and the Santos team were invited to Kinshasa by President Joseph-Désiré Mobutu to play the Congo national team

The game was actually played on 2 June, 1967 with the Brazilians edging the tie 2-1 and Pele scoring both goals.

That year, Pelé was at the height of his glory. With his team, Santos FC, he toured 5 states in sub-Saharan Africa.

That day, President Mobutu granted an afternoon off to workers in Kinshasa to allow them to go and watch this long-awaited match and a reported 75,000 spectators watched the game with much more unable to make it into the stadium

As reported by a Congolese news outlet, grandslacsnews.com the kickoff, initially scheduled for 4 p.m., will finally be given at 5:37 p.m. because of the huge crowd.