SANTOS, Brazil: President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will pay tribute on Tuesday as Brazil bids a final farewell to soccer legend Pele, widely regarded as the greatest player of all time.
After three days of national mourning, Brazil is paying its last respects to the player known as “The King”, who died on Thursday at the age of 82 after a battle with cancer.
Lula, who took office on Sunday in a ceremony that began with a minute’s silence for Pele, will travel to the southeastern city of Santos to “offer his condolences and respects” as 24 The hourly wake ends at 9 p.m. :00 am (1200 GMT), his office said.
Thousands of fans and football dignitaries, including FIFA president Gianni Infantino, have already carried Pele’s black coffin into the stadium where he first stunned the world, Villa Belmiro, which is home to his longtime club, Santos F. C is home.
“Pele is eternal. He is a global icon of football,” Infantino told reporters on Monday, adding that football’s governing body will ask all member countries to name a stadium in the player’s honour.
Antonio Carlos Pereira da Silva, a 36-year-old artist, said he arrived in the middle of the night to be among the first to enter when the wake began on Monday morning.
“I would be lying if I said I didn’t cry when he died,” he told AFP.
“Pele taught us a lot. Not only Brazil, but the whole world.
Neymar, Real Madrid
Born in Edson Arantes do Nescimento, Pele burst onto the scene at the age of 15, when he made his professional debut with Santos.
He won the World Cup three times with Brazil in 1958, 1962 and 1970 – the only player in history to achieve the feat.
Tributes have poured in since his death, with a who’s who of current and former football greats hailing his genius for the “beautiful game”.
A host of athletes, politicians, dignitaries and fans have traveled to Santos for the event, although the turnout may be somewhat lower due to the New Year holiday weekend.
Pele’s coffin was carried into the stadium on Monday morning by Pele fans dressed in black, led by his son Edinho.
The late icon’s widow, Marcia Sibelle Aoki, his third wife, whom he married in 2016, wept in front of his open casket as she reached out to touch his head. He also placed a garland in his casket.
The casket was draped in the Santos and Brazilian flags and surrounded by white flowers, including bouquets from the likes of Real Madrid or current Brazilian star Neymar, whose father was present.
The final parade
Other tributes have flowed in from around Brazil.
At the headquarters of the Brazilian soccer confederation in Rio, a giant poster with a photo of Pele bears the word “Eternal.”
Paley’s health was fragile, suffering from kidney problems and then colon cancer.
But he remained active on social media, cheering on Brazil from his hospital bed in Sao Paulo during the World Cup in Qatar and consoling the pre-tournament favorites when they were eliminated in the quarter-finals, three weeks before his death.
The funeral procession through Santos will pass by the home of Pele’s mother, 100-year-old Celeste Arantes, who is still alive.
It will end at Santos Memorial Cemetery, where a Catholic funeral service will be held before Pele is buried in a special mausoleum.