On Tuesday, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva led the tributes as Brazil bid farewell to football hero Pele, widely regarded as the greatest player in history.
Lula, whose inauguration on Sunday began with a minute of silence for Pele, traveled to the southeastern city of Santos to pay respects to Pele’s family and friends.
Visibly saddened, Lula and First Lady Rosangela “Janja” da Silva paused before Pele’s coffin and embraced his wife and other family members inside the stadium that housed Pele’s longtime team, Santos FC.
Since the wake for “The King” began on Monday morning, tens of thousands of fans, political officials, and football celebrities, including FIFA president Gianni Infantino, have entered the stadium. “The King” died on Thursday at age 82 after a battle with cancer.
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The flow of mourners continued throughout the night at the 24-hour wake, which will be followed on Tuesday by a funeral procession and private interment.
Life-long Katia Cruz, 58, a Santos supporter who lives a block from the stadium, claimed she waited in line for four hours to enter the Vila Belmiro at 1:30 a.m. because her husband was “inconsolable”
“Pele embodied everything. He was the monarch. “He merits this honor,” she remarked.
She remembered Pele as a “really kind, down-to-earth person” who always signed the mementos that visitors brought to his residence.
“He possessed a humility that modern athletes lack,” she told AFP.
Additionally, 738 Peruvian children have been named Pele.
Infantino described Pele as everlasting and a “global icon of football” on Monday, announcing that football’s governing body would request that all member nations name a stadium in his honor.
REAL MADRID’s NEYMAR
Pele, who was born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, made his professional debut at the age of 15 with Santos.
In 1958, 1962, and 1970, he won the World Cup with Brazil, making him the only player in history to accomplish this feat.
Also see: “Our greatest idol”: Brazilians swarm to hospitals following the death of Pele.
Since his death, tributes have poured in from all around the world, with current and former football greats honoring his genius for the “beautiful game.”
A number of sportsmen, politicians, dignitaries, and fans have gone to Santos for the ceremony, although the New Year’s holiday weekend may reduce attendance.
Monday morning, pallbearers clad in black and headed by Pele’s son Edinho carried Pele’s coffin into the stadium.
The deceased icon’s widow, Marcia Cibele Aoki, his third wife whom he married in 2016, wept and reached out to touch his head as she stood before his open casket. In addition, she placed a rosary in his casket.
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The casket was wrapped in the flags of Santos and Brazil and surrounded by white flowers, including bouquets from Real Madrid and Neymar, whose father was present.
President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil has decreed three days of national mourning for Pele, who passed away at the age of 82. AFP photo by Norberto DUARTEBrazil, which observed three days of national mourning, has received more tributes from throughout the world.
At the Brazilian Football Confederation’s offices in Rio, a large poster of Pele carries the phrase “forever.”
Pele was in poor condition, having suffered from renal issues and then colon cancer.
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Three weeks before to his death, he remained active on social media, cheering on Brazil from his hospital bed in Sao Paulo during the World Cup in Qatar and comforting the pre-tournament favorites when they were eliminated in the quarter-finals.
The burial procession through Santos will pass by the residence of Pele’s living mother, 100-year-old Celeste Arantes.
It will conclude in Santos’s Memorial Cemetery, where a Catholic funeral service will be held before to Pele’s burial in a unique mausoleum.
By Rodrigo Almonacid © Agence France-Presse
»Brazil says goodbye to ‘king’ Pele«