Dutch football legend Ruud Gullit looked back on when he dedicated his Ballon d'Or to South Africa's first ever democratic president Nelson Mandela. Check it out!
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AC Milan and Ons Oranje legend Ruud Gullit recounted the time he dedicated his 1987 Ballon d'Or award to Nelson Mandela.
the late President Mandela was serving his last few years in prison when Gullit won football's most prestigious individual prize, with the Dutch icon looking back on his subsequent meetings with him.
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Gullit remembers Ballon d'Or Mandela moment
Ahead of Monday's Ballon d'Or awards in Paris, Ruud Gullit reminisced over his 1987 Ballon d'Or, which was then awarded to the best players in Europe by a small panel of sports journalists.
He sat down with Laureus Sport to speak on why he dedicated his award to Nelson Mandela and the aftermath of the moment, which included a later meeting with the South African anti-apartheid activist and politician.
"So then when I had the Ballon d'Or and dedicated it to Nelson Mandela, it opened up a lot of things. It became a thing, a huge thing. While it was, for me, something that comes from the heart," said Gullit, who spoke about how his gesture influenced his meeting with Mandela years later.
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"It was one of the best things that happened with me, in order to meet Nelson Mandela after that, being able to talk to him about the time he was in prison, the time that he was fighting against Apartheid and everything, so I felt really privileged and honoured to meet the great Nelson Mandela," he added.
Watch:
Gullit was at AC Milan at the time of his Ballon d'Or triumph, beating out the likes of English football legends John Barnes, Gary Lineker and fellow Dutch legend Marco van Basten among other stars.
Take a trip down memory lane by looking at Ruud Gullit's throwbacks during his playing days:
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