Pele urges FIFA to bring in salary cap

ABUJA: Pele has urged world soccer's governing body (FIFA) to introduce a salary cap for players and warned that the vast sums of money changing hands in the game could taint its image for future generations.

Pele, in Nigeria to promote Rio de Janeiro's bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games, told Reuters he was concerned about how the game had changed with the influx of money from billionaire owners.

"My time was a little different - we did not have the big sponsors," Pele told Reuters in an interview at the Brazilian embassy in Nigeria's capital Abuja late on Monday.