Football entered a period of mourning on Thursday following the passing of Pele.
The Brazilian will forever be remembered as one of the greatest footballers of all time after inspiring his nation to three World Cups - becoming the only player to achieve that feat. He also scored hundreds of goals with his beloved Santos between 1956 and 1974.
Pele's death has led to an outpouring of tributes, yet it's also seen many famous tales re-emerge. One such was Santos' tour of January 1969, which saw the icon's presence temporary halt the Nigerian Civil War for 48 hours... or so the story goes.
The conflict started two years earlier when Biafra, a secessionist state, declared independence. Millions of lives were lost in the bloody war, which ended in a Nigerian victory in 1970. Before then, however, Pele and his club side turned up for a one-off game.
At that point, Santos had become football's globetrotters. They had won everything - including six Brazilian league titles, two Copa Libertadores titles and two Intercontinental Cups (the precursor for the Club World Cup) - and were cashing in on Pele's reputation.
In the days before Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, Pele was the undisputed king of football. Everyone wanted to catch a glimpse of the prolific winner in action and Santos travelled to every corner of the globe, including a war-torn Nigeria.
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As Pele turned up in Lagos, a two-day ceasefire was called to allow the locals to watch a 2-1 win for Santos against Nigeria's national side. Unsurprisingly, Pele scored both goals for Santos and received a standing ovation (according to the legend, anyway).
There are discrepancies over the length of the ceasefire or whether it even happened, as well as the result. As reported by GOAL, a Nigerian blogger named Olaojo Aiyegbayo failed to find a single newspaper article refencing the ceasefire while researching it.
Yet it's fair to say there was some understanding between both belligerents, as revealed in one of Pele's autobiographies. "The Nigerians certainly made sure the Biafrans wouldn’t invade Lagos while we were there," wrote the three-time World Cup winner.
Testimonies from Gilmar and Coutinho, two of Pele's team-mates, suggest the ceasefire ended as soon as they left Nigeria. There are reports of gunshots being heard from Santos' aeroplane as it took off, such was the intensity of the conflict.
Lima, a member of Santos' squad, recalled their trip to the war-torn country in an interview with Gazeta Esportiva. He said: "We could have easily turned around and said, 'War is all around us – why would we enter that mess?' But we didn't. We wanted to do it and we said: 'We are not obliged to play, but we want to and we are going to do this'."
With so many contrasting accounts, it's hard to know exactly what happened when Pele visited Nigeria in 1969. He didn't stop a war, yet it appears his presence was enough to stop the violence for a brief moment. A legendary story for a legendary man.
