Former Brazil soccer star Paulo Cesar has admitted to selling his 1970 World Cup Medal to buy cocaine. He earned the medal as a midfielder on the Brazil team starring Pelé that bested Italy 4-1 in the 1970 World Cup final in Mexico City.
Cesar had kept selling his medal a secret for decades but recently told Brazilian news station, Globonews, that he was finally ready to come clean.
“It’s a huge loss. I`ve never told anyone but now I`m ready to admit it. I wasn’t in control emotionally. I should never have negotiated and sold such a precious medal. The most important thing for me was cocaine. The medal was less important.”
The 65-year-old admitted that his cocaine addiction not only ended his career, but nearly killed him.
His addiction began in France while playing for Marseille in 1974. He then abused drugs and alcohol for 17 years, losing a total of three apartments in Rio when funding his addiction became more important than providing shelter for himself.
Paulo’s career ended in 1982 when a doctor presented him with a harsh reality: get clean or die.
Props to Paulo for choosing the former and having the strength to overcome the all-encompassing force that is addiction. Me on the other hand? I just hit up my drug dealer to try to sell my high school basketball Coaches Award for a sack of bud. He still hasn’t hit me back.
[H/T Zee News]