Brazilians would agree that Pele is the greatest soccer player ever, but they differ on renaming the historic Maracanã stadium in his honour. The stadium's name could soon change if Rio de Janeiro Gov. Cláudio Castro agrees to honor the three-time World Cup winner. He has until next week to decide after being authorised by the state's legislature to rename the Maracanã as "Edson Arantes do Nascimento - Rei Pele." The stadium is officially named "Jornalista Mario Filho" for the Brazilian sportswriter credited with the idea to build such a colossus for the 1950 World Cup. If Castro agrees with the legislature, Filho's name will only stay on a nearby sports complex. The iconic ground was originally named "Municipal Stadium," which stayed on the arena's entrance from 1950 until 1966, when Filho died.

Filho had used his newspaper "Jornal dos Sports" to coordinate a campaign to convince Rio's citizens that the stadium had to be constructed nearer to the city center instead of an original plan to build it in a neighbourhood far away. Filho's grandson, Mario Neto, told The Associated Press that he recognizes the importance of Pele in Brazilian soccer culture but said the proposed change is "irrational." "There's no sense in removing my grandfather's name," Neto said on Monday. "If it weren't for Mario Filho, there would be no Maracanã, there would be a 70,000-seater in a distant region. "If it weren't for Mario," he continued, "Pele would not have wanted so much to play at the stadium that was once the biggest in the world. This bill skipped the line in front of a lot of important things. As if Rio had no other problems." The Maracanã was Brazil's main stadium in two World Cups and hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2016 Olympic Games.