In 1958, the football world was introduced to Edson Arantes do Nascimento.
These days, he’s better known by his nickname Pele. It would have been Pele’s 84th birthday on Wednesday (October 23), had it not been for his passing in 2022. However, back in 1958, he was just a 17-year-old kid who was about to introduce himself to the world.
You know the story from there, the brace in the ’58 final, the trilogy wins in 1970, being named the Player of the Century. But what if it was all a lie?
According to historian Bror Jacques de Waern the ’58 World Cup and all the drama that went with it was in fact staged.
In the 2002 Swedish film Konspiration 58 he claims that there is a load of evidence to suggest that the tournament was faked with the help of the CIA as part of a Cold War experiment.
(Image: Getty Images)
You never forget your first, and Pele’s dazzling displays in Sweden, while still just a teenager, inspired a generation of footballer – but De Waern says we simply want to believe happened.
“The United States needed to test television’s power to influence people,” he explained in an interview. It was a part of the Cold War that was raging at the time. I call it the ‘media race’.
“Right after the championship in 1958, I began collecting thousands of documents, photos and texts. I found one after another that pointed to the strange fact that the 1958 World Cup had never taken place.”
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He points out that buildings appeared in the background of games when they didn’t exist in real life. And explains that shadows of players fell in unnatural positions that weren’t consistent with the location of the Sun in Sweden during summertime.
Sweden was also too small to host such an event, and De Waern suggested the staged games took place in New York.
There are of course many people who laugh off De Waern’s suggestions, including those who took part in the event.
(Image: Photo by Popperfoto via Getty Images)
Kurre Hamrin whose goal against West Germany helped send the hosts into the final with Brazil, said: “They say there was no World Cup in 1958, all I can say is that I was there for it, so I can’t understand how they can say that. It was the greatest football memory of my life.”
The theory and subsequent film about it caused outrage in Sweden amongst those who either experienced the tournament in person or watched it on TV.
One crucial part of the film was only revealed at the end though. It was in fact a joke.
(Image: Getty Images Europe)
There was no such thing as an organisation called Konspiration 58 and De Waern was in on the whole thing. The point of the documentary had been to prove how powerful of tool historical revisionism can be.
Of course it happened, and it’s a moment that will live long in football history, with Brazil being the most successful side winning four more trophies after their first.