Eder: football’s ultimate rags to riches story
In the Mail, Adam Crafton has written on his interview with Eder (Éderzão António Macedo Lopes), the Portuguese footballer whose goal won Euro 2016 for Portugal.
His father, Filomeno Antonio Lopes, has been in an English prison since 2003, serving a life sentence for the murder of Eder’s stepmother, Domingas Olivais. Eder falls silent, takes a sip of water and says: ‘OK, let’s talk properly about this.’ Over the half hour that follows, Eder answers questions about his father’s past, relives his upbringing in an orphanage and explains why, just two years ago, he came very close to ending his own life.
Eder scores with his feet
There could be a movie in this tale of rags to riches. And there are others. Former Barcelona star Rivaldo lost his teeth to malnutrition.
Diego Armando Maradona… grew up in the shanty town of Villa Fiorito, where he shared one room with seven siblings. Sanitation facilities were somewhat crude and one night, when still a toddler, Maradona fell into the family cesspit after losing his way in the dark. Fortunately his Uncle Cirilo, screaming “Diegito, keep your head above the shit”, was on hand to rescue the youngster. “It wasn’t easy, eh? Nothing was easy,’ recalls Maradona with masterful understatement. One local resident remembers El Diego’s formative years thus. “He had nothing else but football,” says Jose Trotte. “He was not educated, he had no sophistication. He was shirtless and barefooted. He was just this street kid with a gift from God.”
And a hand from God, too.
Posted: 2nd, September 2016 | In: Reviews, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
