Pele says soccer racism exaggerated

2012-08-11 5

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)

STORY: Brazil soccer legend Pele says people are becoming more sensitive towards racism in soccer.

Speaking in London, Pele said the media was to blame for exaggerating the issue.

"In my time, we didn't have this kind of preoccupation, we didn't have this because a lot of time when I play, I see (players saying) 'Pele, you're black, don't score a goal on me'. Today if they say this from player to player (you say) 'Oh they called me black'. We give too much emphasis on that, I think this is something we have to fight of course because people have to respect people but a lot of time the press make these things bigger. (Pele interrupted by official who says 'I think that's a fair comment')"

As an ambassador for the Rio 2016 Olympic games, Pele is worried about the readiness of the infrastructure.

"At the moment, to be honest, we are not ready, we have a little problem there with construction, then we work hard (but) this is something that we worry (about) because the communications are not so good yet, the transport is not so good yet, sometimes people say 'this will be easy' but it's not so easy, we have only two years and some think we're going to have (a) problem."

Pele is arguably considered the greatest soccer player in history, having won a record three World Cup titles and scored more than 1,000 goals during his professional career.