Brazilian football legend Pele, the Black Pearl, is arriving in Cairo from Dubai on Saturday for a two-day visit to attend the Copa Coca-Cola Egypt tournament that is organized to discover emerging football talents.
This would be Pele’s second visit to Egypt, as he had played a friendly match when he was with the Santos Club against the Ahli team in Egypt 41 years ago.
Ahmed Nazmy, marketing director of the company organizing the event, said the ministries of interior and defense agreed to secure the visit and considered it a good opportunity to demonstrate the safety and security of Egypt to local and international media.
Pele is holding a global press conference in the presence of Egyptian officials and football players to announce the results of the qualifying matches of 200 youth centers from different parts of the country, and launch the qualifying matches of the governorates from 14 February to 7 March.
The Copa Coca-Cola is one of the largest global programs for juniors from 13 to 15 years old. It was launched in 1998 and has ever since been organized effectively in 61 countries around the world with more than a million players.
Egypt was added to the program in 2012 as a hosting country.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm