I learned as a kid, with my father Dondinho, that football is an instrument for good. He taught me that lesson when he saw me dribbling a weaker opponent without any need and asked me to always respect my rivals. I took that for life, always using my talent for love and peacehttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="❤️" title="Rotes Herz" aria-label="Emoji: Rotes Herz">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="⚽️" title="Fußball" aria-label="Emoji: Fußball">

I always tried to send this message, as football player and as a man. One of my greatest pride was to have stopped a war in Nigeria, in 1969, in one the many football tours that Santos made around the world https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇳🇬" title="Flagge von Nigeria" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Nigeria"> https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="☮️" title="Friedens-Zeichen" aria-label="Emoji: Friedens-Zeichen">

We were asked to play a friendly match on Benin City, in the middle of a Civil War, but Santos was so beloved that they agreed on a ceasefire on the matchday. It became known as the day that "Santos stopped the war" https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🙏" title="Folded hands" aria-label="Emoji: Folded hands">

I understood that football has the power to bring peace to poor communities. In two important moments of my career, my 1000th goal and my profesional farewell, in US, I took advantage of all the media coverage, to pledge for the poor children around the world. Love, love, love!https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="❤️" title="Rotes Herz" aria-label="Emoji: Rotes Herz">

After retirement, I invested on my connection with good causes. I was the proud champion of a breastfeed campaign in Brazil, in order to reduce child mortality rates in the country. Later, I was also ahead of a campaign to erradicate illiteracy:

I am also proud of my relationship with UN. Since 1994, I am UNESCO Champion for Sport and a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF. We created successful campaigns, such as Children in Need fundraising, in 1996, and the Match of the Hearth, in 2000, to send a peace message for https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇮🇱" title="Flagge von Israel" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Israel"> and https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇵🇸" title="Flagge der Palästinensischen Autonomiegebiete" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge der Palästinensischen Autonomiegebiete">

Today, I insist on being involved in good causes, both with NGO& #39;s, Public institutions and my sponsors. This is part of my legacy and I applaud other football legends that have also been following this path, using the beautiful game to make the world better https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌎" title="Amerika auf dem Globus" aria-label="Emoji: Amerika auf dem Globus">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌍" title="Europa-Afrika auf dem Globus" aria-label="Emoji: Europa-Afrika auf dem Globus">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌏" title="Asien-Australien auf dem Globus" aria-label="Emoji: Asien-Australien auf dem Globus">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🙏" title="Folded hands" aria-label="Emoji: Folded hands">