Sat, Mar 19, 2016 page19

• Ukrainian Pele museum survives two years of war

  • AFP, LUGANSK, Ukraine
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  In the heart of an eastern Ukrainian city shaken by echoes of guns stands the world’s first shrine to soccer legend Pele that miraculously survived nearly two years of war.

  The creator of the unlikely Lugansk museum — painted in Brazilian gold and green and adorned by a bronze statue of Pele and a giant soccer ball at its front door — is a humble 55-year-old balding man who follows his hero’s example by never lighting up a cigarette or drinking alcohol.

  “Family, football and Pele. That is my life,” museum founder Nikolai Khudobin said, sitting surrounded by dozens of tributes to the soccer great.

  “I have never even tasted beer, because Pele leads a healthy lifestyle, and that is what inspired me,” Khudobin said.

  Soccer’s governing body FIFA recognized Khudobin’s creation as the world’s first museum dedicated to the man widely regarded as the 20th century’s greatest player.

  It opened during Ukraine’s cohosting of the European Championship in 2012, but has been closed over the past two years owing to conflict between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists.

  The Brazilian city of Santos, where Pele began his career aged 15, built its own exhibition to its local hero two years later.

  “When my museum opened, the Brazilian ambassador hugged me and started crying,” Khudobin said. “He could not believe that, in distant Lugansk, Pele could be so well-loved.”

  Even more remarkable is that the museum has managed to withstand the brunt of one of Europe’s most brutal conflicts since the 1990s Balkans wars and has left nearly 9,200 people dead.

  Lugansk is the center of one of two industrial regions whose main swathes the rebels took over and defended with tanks and powerful multiple-missile launchers.

  “The museum has not been open since the war began. Shells kept exploding and flying all over the place. I was really scared that something might smash the museum, but I believe that Pele is the god of football and that this place is holy — it is a sanctuary of football,” Khudobin said.

  The small building was never once hit.

  Pele, 75, might be best known to younger fans as a global soccer ambassador with a heart-warming smile. However, to older generations Pele embodies the world’s most popular game — a dazzling entertainer who changed the way soccer is played while leading his national squad to three breathtaking World Cups between 1958 and 1970.

  Pele’s 1,281 goals in 1,363 matches saw Guinness World Records recognize him as soccer’s most prolific scorer.

  Then-Brazilian president Janio Quadros proclaimed him a “national treasure” in 1961.

  Unique mementoes to all those achievements line the walls and litter the tables of Khudobin’s two-room museum.

  There is an autographed 1958 photograph of Pele that went up to Russia’s former space station Mir in the 1980s.

  One table displays a golden watch Pele gave former Soviet Union defender Valentin Afonin.

  Dozens of stamps and flags are accompanied by a signed banner of Pele and Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin — winner of the 1963 Ballon d’Or prize awarded to Europe’s best player.

  “I swapped my bicycle for a photo of Pele in a magazine,” Khudobin said. “That was 40 years ago, and I have been collecting ever since.”

  Khudobin said he not only had the honor of meeting Pele on three occasions, but also to get a haircut by his idol’s personal barber in Brazil.

  However, his big dream of hosting Pele in Lugansk was shattered by the sudden outbreak of the lingering war.

  A far greater tragedy struck Khudobin when his wife died of natural causes in the middle of the sudden turmoil.

  “We went through school together and she always supported my hobby. I still have not recovered from the grief,” Khudobin said.

  Another shock came when Khudobin was detained for three days by the city’s new pro-Russian leadership.

  “I am not a poor man and they wanted to steal my property. They were demanding that I hand over the papers to my apartment,” he said.

  Khudobin recalled that at one point his captors put a gun to his head and threatened to shoot him.

  “But then they found out who I was and got frightened by all the publicity my death would bring. Pele saved my life,” Khudobin said.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Fertility rate falls to lowest globally

  • 2

    Minister warns Taiwanese about Chinese passports

  • 3

    ’Up to Xi’ on Taiwan, but would be ’very unhappy’ with a change in ’status quo’: Trump

  • 4

    China widens attack on Japan’s ‘nuclear threat’

  • 5

    Marine Corps unit receives M4A1 rifles, source says