Pelé funeral – live: Brazil legend and three-time World Cup winner to lie in state as coffin arrives at Santos
Brazil will hold football great Pelé's funeral in the stadium where he played some of the best matches of his career.
Pelé, whose full name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, died on 29 December after a long battle with colon cancer. He was 82.
Santos, the club where Pele played, said in a statement that the public will be able to pay their final respects at Vila Belmiro Stadium, outside Sao Paulo.
His casket will be carried through the streets of Santos and will pass in front of the home of his 100-year-old mother, Celeste.
The coffin carrying the three-time World Cup champion will leave Albert Einstein hospital early Monday and will be placed in the centre circle of the field.
Visitation will be allowed from Monday 10am and will continue for the next 24 hours. He will be burried at the Memorial Necropole Ecumenica, a vertical cemetery in Santos, only in presence of family on Tuesday.
Key Points
Pele’s funeral to be held in hometown
Pele to be buried on ninth floor of cemetery - report
Coffin taken from hospital in Sao Paulo to Santos
Pele’s coffin arrives at Santos stadium as fans gather
Pele’s coffin arrives at Santos Stadium ahead of wake
13:05 , Jamie Braidwood
Pele returns home to Santos
12:51 , Jamie Braidwood
Pele scored 643 goals for Santos in 656 competitive appearances, putting the club on the map not just in Brazil but around the world. Pele gave Santos two Copa Libertadores titles and two Intercontinental Cup titles against Benfica and AC Milan.
“There’s a Santos before Pele and another after him,” said Serginho Chulapa, Brazil’s striker in the 1982 World Cup and a local hero with more than 100 goals for the club. “He put both the city and club on the map. Before him, people came to work at the port and go to the beach.”
Pele set to lie in wake for 24 hours
11:52 , Jamie Braidwood
Crowds are beginning to arrive at the Vila Belmiro stadium, as preparations continue. Pele is set to lie in wake for 24 hours, according to reports.
Millions set to line the streets for Pele’s funeral
11:08 , Jamie Braidwood
Pele’s casket arrived at the Vila Belmiro stadium in the early hours of this morning, where it will lie in state before being carried through the streets of Santos to the home of his 100-year-old mother.
He will then be buried at a vertical cemetery in the city, with only his family present. Millions are expected to line the streets as Brazil says goodbye to the football icon.
Premier League pays tribute to Pele
10:29 , Jamie Braidwood
The Premier League remembered Pele across the weekend, with a minute’s applause held before each match in tribute to the Brazil great.
Pele’s influence on football will be ‘eternal’, says Pep Guardiola
09:43 , Jamie Braidwood
Pele’s influence in the world game will be everlasting, according to Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola. The Brazilian’s death has sparked a huge outpouring of affection and respect from around the globe.
Guardiola said: “On behalf of Manchester City, the biggest condolences for his family and friends. Football is football thanks to these types of people. Neymar said a great sentence when he said before (Pele) number 10 was just a number and after it became something special.
“Every top player wanted to wear number 10 in their team. What he has done for football is there and always will remain. It’s like a good movie, the legacy after many years. That we are still talking about him like a good movie or a good book is because he was so good.
“I think Pele, (Diego) Maradona, (Johan) Cruyff, (Lionel) Messi, (Franz) Beckenbauer, Cristiano Ronaldo – these type of players will be forever, they will be eternal. They have done many things in many years on the pitch and off it and with their teams and countries.
“These type of players make our business, our work, our job, however you want to say it, a better place because what he produced, what we have seen in the World Cup, what one team can produce can change 48 million people, the country. It’s unbelievable.”
Pele: Football’s Elvis Presley who achieved immortality amid controversy
08:51 , Jamie Braidwood
When it comes to properly appreciating a figure as mythic as Pele, the reality of their career can get lost amid the reverence over time, so it is worth recalling something actually said about him on one of the days he played. This was to be one of his greatest days.
In the hours before the 1970 World Cup final, Tarcisio Burgnich – about as grizzled an Italian defender as they come – kept repeating one phrase to himself.
“He’s flesh and blood, just like me.”
He’s flesh and blood, just like me.
“I was wrong,” Burgnich later said. Pele had that day made himself immortal. His pass for Carlos Alberto has become one of the most famous images from one of the most famous football moments. It wasn’t just a crescendo to an orchestral move that served as a crowning moment, but also the perfect illustration of what elevated him above everyone else.
By Miguel Delaney
Pele: Football’s Elvis Presley who achieved immortality amid controversy
Pele: Brazil’s complete footballer who transcended the beautiful game
08:21 , Jamie Braidwood
“Football is the beautiful game,” Pele once proclaimed in an attempt to encapsulate the universal appeal of his lifelong passion. And no man did more to justify that simple but compellingly eloquent description than the great Brazilian himself.
In the decades since his galvanising displays in the 1958 World Cup finals, the name of the one-time street urchin who exchanged childhood poverty for global fame has been a byword for ultimate sporting excellence.
Pele was that hitherto mythical being, the complete player; he was a sublime performer without any perceivable flaw, an unsurpassable fusion of artistry and athleticism, audacity and grace.
Pele: Brazil’s complete footballer who transcended the beautiful game
Brazil mourns Pele
06:51 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
With Pele’s death, Brazilians have lost a piece of their hearts.
On Rio de Janeiro’s Ipanema beach, the news broke when Paulo Vinicius was playing soccer with his nine-year-old nephew.
“Pele represents the best of Brazil: its people, its working class,” said Vinicius, 38, a physical-education instructor. “Pele gives a sense of identity to the Brazilian people.”
In the coastal city of Santos, where Pele made his name, Nicolas Oliveira, 18, was outside the stadium along with roughly 200 others. Oliveira said even replays of Pele’s sensational playing make him swell with emotion.
Read more here.
Brazil mourns Pelé, who made every part of the country proud
Pele brought renown to Santos
05:33 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
Over decades, adoring fans around the world mailed thousands of letters, postcards and packages to the sports legend without his address or full name.
Almost without fail, they reached the office of Edson Arantes do Nascimento in the port city he made famous.
Santos was founded by the Portuguese in January 1546. It hosts Latin America's biggest port, which feeds the Sao Paulo area and exports the country's agricultural commodities to the planet.
Only after a 15-year-old sensation started scoring goals for the city's team did Santos, a city of about 430,000 residents today, become a household name.
Read more here.
Pelé brought renown to Santos, Brazilian port city and team
Live: Pele's coffin taken from hospital in Sao Paulo to Santos
05:09 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
Turkish foreign minister to attend funeral
05:01 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will attend football legend Pele’s funeral today in Santos, Brazil.
Mr Cavusoglu arrived earlier in the South American country to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Brazil’s president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly instructed Mr Cavusoglu to extend his stay and attend Pele’s funeral.
Pele to be buried on ninth floor of cemetery - report
04:48 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
Pele will be buried tomorrow on the ninth floor of the Memorial Necropole Ecumenica cemetery in Santos, which was chosen by the football legend to be his final resting place, TheMirror reported.
The ninth floor is said to be an homage to his father, who always wore the number nine shirt as a player.
Although details regarding the ceremony remain unclear, his coffin will reportedly be golden in colour with several carvings and etchings of iconic Pele images on its sides.
Pele’s burial to be held tomorrow
04:38 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
Pele’s burial will take place tomorrow at the Memorial Necropole Ecumenica, a vertical cemetery in Santos. Only family will attend, reports said.
The Memorial Necropole Ecumenica, in Santos, is a 14-storey tall and unique cemetery, occupying an area of 1.8 acres.
Pele’s funeral to be held in hometown
04:37 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
The stadium where Brazilian football great Pele played some of the best matches of his career will also hold his funeral today and tomorrow.
Santos said in a statement the public will be able to pay their final respects at Vila Belmiro Stadium, outside Sao Paulo.
The coffin carrying the World Cup champion will leave Albert Einstein hospital today and will be placed at the centre of the field. Visitors will be allowed to pay respect starting at 10am local time till the next day same time.
03:47 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
Welcome to The Independent’s live blog tracking the football legend’s last journey.
