Football Australia’s Hall of Fame Inductee John Economos passed away age 78

Legendary Australian football journalist and Football Australia’s Hall of Fame Inductee John Economos passed away at the age of 78.

Economos met Brazilian legend Pelé not once, but a total of four times, including once during Pelé‘s first trip to Sydney in 1972.

In a statement, Football NSW said they are “saddened” to hear the news of the unfortunate passing” of Economos.

“Football NSW was deeply saddened to hear the news of the unfortunate passing of Football Australia’s Hall of Fame Inductee and one of the nation’s final leading and veteran journalists, John Economos,” the statement reads.

He was the first journalist honoured in the Australia Football Hall of Fame for his decades worth of service to the round ball game.

The sports journalist was left devastated when his best friend since high school, former Australian Socceroos captain Johnny Warren, passed away.

He lost another major part of his life when his fellow journalist and dear friend Mike Cockerill also left us too soon.

Economos would love telling stories of the 66 mega stars he had interviewed in his career including the likes Franz Beckenbauer, Diego Maradona, George Best, Sir Bobby Robson, Sir Bobby Charlton, Francis Lee, Denis Law, Giovanni Trapattoni, Dunga, Toto Schilacci, Claudio Gentile, Zbigniew Boniek, Ferenc Puskas, Phil Thompson, Craig Johnston, Trianos Dellas, Gary Linekar, Stavros Sarafis, Giorgos Skardatos, Dr Carlos Bilardo (Argentina), Dr Josif Venglos, Denis Tuart, Terry Venables, Fabio Capello, Dusan Bajevic, Tony Booke, Dino Zoff, Terry Butcher, Phil Neville, Ryan Giggs, Sotirios Kyrgiakos and Alan Shearer.

READ MORE: Giannis Antetokounmpo: “I would go back to selling CDs to have my father back.”