Martin Svoboda

“I used to tease the other kids because I played better than them. Then my father said, Come here. Don’t do this with the kids, because God gave you the gift to play football. You didn’t do anything.”

“The reason the sport has grown so big, I think, is that it’s not only for rich people. It’s not just for big people—size doesn’t exclude people. Everyone can participate. That’s why it’s become so popular worldwide. You don’t need to have any special quality in particular to play.”

“Football is the ultimate in team sport. And no individual can win a game by himself. Pelé is a famous name, but Pelé made his goals because another player passed to him at the proper time.”

“From my point of view, what’s beautiful in the sport is something you don’t need to know too much about tactics or anything to see. If you find something beautiful, you don’t need to be an expert to know it. It’s like ballet.”

“I’ve come to accept that the life of a frontrunner is a hard one, that he will suffer more injuries than most men and that many of these injuries will not be accidental.”

“I think the kids always they look forward to be always the big stars. Not only football, any profession. They want to be the best, singer, they want to be the best political, only the stars. But I think sometime the life give you opportunity, and long to be a big star, but you don’t need to be a big star, you need to be beautiful, excellent man. Human being. This is the first.”

“A team is not made up of isolated individuals. Always stay in the game. Don’t be passive. Football is a team game. No one plays alone. Success depends on your whole team being a single unit.”

“Football is the only sport where you put people together, it doesn’t matter if you are rich, or poor, or black, or white. It is one nation. This is the beauty of football.”

“I don’t believe there is such a thing as a ‘born’ soccer player. Perhaps you are born with certain skills and talents, but quite frankly it seems impossible to me that one is actually born to be an ace soccer player.”

“Over the years I’ve learnt to live with two persons in my heart. One is Edson, who has fun with his friends and family; the other is the football player Pele. I didn’t want the name. ‘Pele’ sounds like baby-talk in Portuguese.”

“When you are young, you do a lot of stupid things.”

“If you don’t give education to people, it is easy to manipulate them.”

“Everything is practice.”

“Wherever you go, there are three icons that everyone knows: Jesus Christ, Pele and Coca-Cola.”

“You must respect people and work hard to be in shape. And I used to train very hard. When the others players went to the beach after training, I was there kicking the ball.”

“I represent Brazil all over the world. Wherever I go I have to do my best, to not disappoint the Brazilian people. And that I’ve done.”

“At 17, I already had responsibility because I took care of my family, but in the football I was young; I wasn’t experienced or the captain – I was just in the team.”

“Brazil’s always had great players, both at home and abroad, but we need to put all that talent together and mould a team out of it.”

“I always remember the games in which I score.”