An emotional Brazil started paying its final respects Monday to football legend Pele with a wake on the stadium the place he first took the world’s breath away together with his dazzling talent.
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Throughout the day, hundreds of followers and football dignitaries slowly filed by way of the Vila Belmiro, dwelling to Pele’s longtime membership, Santos.
More continued to be a part of the queue as evening fell, ready their flip to stroll previous the physique of “O Rei” (The King), mendacity on the heart of the sector.
Pele’s coffin was draped within the flags of Santos and Brazil and surrounded by white flowers, together with bouquets from the likes of Real Madrid or present Brazil star Neymar, whose father was in attendance.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his spouse additionally despatched a wreath, native media reported.
Lula’s workplace introduced earlier that he would attend the wake on Tuesday morning, lower than 48 hours after taking workplace, to “pay his respects and tribute,” earlier than a funeral procession and interment later within the day.
Pele, a three-time World Cup winner extensively thought of the best footballer of all time, died Thursday at age 82 after a battle with most cancers.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who attended the wake with the heads of the South American and Brazilian football confederations, mentioned the game’s governing physique would ask all member nations to title a stadium in Pele’s honor.
“Pele is eternal. He’s a global icon of football,” he informed journalists in Santos, a southeastern port metropolis 75 kilometers (45 miles) from Sao Paulo.
Carlos Mota and his 12-year-old son Bernardo had traveled greater than 500 kilometers from Rio de Janeiro to pay tribute to their hero.
“My whole childhood was influenced by what Pele did for Brazil, by his World Cup wins. He was a national idol,” Mota, 59, informed AFP.
“I’ve always told my son, there are three indisputable facts: the ball is round, the grass is green and Pele is the greatest of all time.”
Bernardo clearly took the lesson to coronary heart.
“I never saw Pele play, but I’ve seen the videos. He’s the greatest player who ever walked the Earth,” he mentioned.
Seventy-five-year-old retiree Vera Lucia, who had made the journey from Sao Paulo, was additionally braving the scorching solar to stand in line, which stretched to two kilometers within the early afternoon.
“I’m just devastated,” she mentioned. “We always loved watching his matches as a family.”
– Tributes to ‘eternal’ star –
Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pele exploded onto the scene at age 15, when he made his skilled debut with Santos.
He went on to win the World Cup 3 times with Brazil, in 1958, 1962 and 1970 — the one participant in historical past to obtain the feat.
Tributes have poured in from around the globe since his dying, with a Who’s Who of present and former football greats hailing his genius for the “beautiful game.”
A stream of athletes, politicians, dignitaries and followers are anticipated in Santos for the wake, although turnout could also be dented considerably by the New Year’s vacation weekend.
Some 7,000 individuals had filed previous the casket by mid-afternoon, in accordance to Brazil’s TV Globo.
Pele’s coffin was carried into the stadium by pallbearers wearing black, led by his son Edinho.
The late icon’s widow, Marcia Cibele Aoki, his third spouse, whom he married in 2016, cried earlier than his open casket as she reached out to contact his head. She additionally positioned a rosary in his coffin.
– National mourning –
Other tributes have are available from round Brazil, which held three days of nationwide mourning.
At the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio, a giant poster with Pele’s picture bears the phrase “eternal.”
And Lula’s inauguration Sunday started with a minute’s silence in Pele’s reminiscence.
Pele had been in fragile well being, affected by kidney issues after which colon most cancers.
But he remained energetic on social media, cheering on Brazil from his hospital mattress in Sao Paulo throughout the World Cup in Qatar and consoling the pre-tournament favorites after they have been eradicated within the quarter-finals, three weeks earlier than his dying.
The wake might be adopted by a funeral procession Tuesday by way of Santos, together with previous the home of Pele’s mom, 100-year-old Celeste Arantes, who remains to be alive.
The procession will finish at Santos’s Memorial Cemetery, the place a Catholic funeral service might be held earlier than Pele is interred in a particular mausoleum.
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