Pele's funeral and burial to take place in hometown Santos
Workers set up tents at the Vila Belmiro stadium, the home of the Santos FC soccer club where soccer legend Pele played most of his career, in Santos, Brazil, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix) Credit: AP/Matias Delacroix
SAO PAULO — The stadium where Brazilian soccer great Pelé played some of the best matches of his career will also hold his funeral on Monday and Tuesday.
Santos, the club where Pelé played in Brazil, said in a statement the public will be able to pay their final respects at Vila Belmiro Stadium, outside Sao Paulo.
Pelé, whose full name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, died Thursday after a long battle with cancer. He was 82.
Santos said the coffin carrying the three-time World Cup champion will leave Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo early Monday morning and will be placed in the center circle of the field.
Visitation will start Monday at 10 a.m. and finish the next day at the same time.
Pelé's casket will be carried through the streets of Santos and will pass in front of the home of his 100-year-old mother, Celeste. Recent reports in Brazilian media say Pelé's mother cannot leave her bed and is not lucid.
The burial will take place at the Memorial Necrópole Ecumênica, a vertical cemetery in Santos. Only family will attend.
A fan wears a soccer jersey autographed by soccer legend Pele, outside the Vila Belmiro stadium in Santos, Brazil, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. Pele, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died in Sao Paulo. He was 82. (AP Photo/Fabricio Costa) Credit: AP/Eraldo Peres
Pelé has a home in Santos, where he lived most of his life. He spent his last years in the city of Guarujá.
Pelé had a colon tumor removed in September 2021. Neither his family nor the hospital have said whether it had spread to other organs. He returned to the Albert Einstein hospital on Nov. 29 with COVID-19 and a respiratory infection.
Last week, the hospital said in a statement his cancer had advanced.
Pelé led Brazil to World Cup victory in 1958, 1962 and 1970 and remains one of the team’s all-time leading scorers with 77 goals. Neymar tied Pelé’s record during this year's World Cup in Qatar.
A fan of soccer star Pele cries after learning about his death, outside the Vila Belmiro stadium in Santos, Brazil, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as Pele, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died in Sao Paulo. He was 82. (AP Photo/Fabricio Costa) Credit: AP/Eraldo Peres
___
More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
