Brazil bids farewell skin On Tuesday, the legend who united the country divided by bitterness was buried.
The newly inaugurated President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva paid his respects at the Vila Belmiro stadium, where Pelé played for most of his career.
Pelé is buried in Santos, the city where he became famous after moving there at the age of 15 to play for Santos FC. The funeral mass was held at the team’s Villa Belmiro stadium, before his black casket was carried in a firetruck through the streets of Santos City.
Pele’s funeral: Fans gather in Brazil to mourn the football legend
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It was carried into the cemetery as the band played the team’s official song and a Roman Catholic hymn. Before the arrival of the gold-clad casket, attendees sang samba songs that Pele loved.
Some of the Brazilian football legends were not there.
“Where’s Ronaldo Nazario? Where’s Kaka, where’s Neymar?” asked Claudioner Alves, 67, who works at a bakery next to the stadium. “Do they think they will be remembered like Pele? These guys didn’t want to stop their holidays, that’s the problem.
Giovanna Sarmento, 17, waited in line for three hours to see Pele’s body as it lay in rest. She was accompanied by her father, who was wearing a Brazilian shirt with Pele’s name on it.
“I’m not a fan of Santos, and neither is my father. But this man invented the Brazil national team. He made Santos strong, he made it big, how can you not respect him? He’s the greatest of all time.” He is one of the people, we need to respect him.
Caio Zalke, 35, an engineer, wore a Brazilian shirt while waiting in line.
“Pelé is the most important Brazilian of all time. He made the game important to Brazil and he made Brazil important to the world,” Zalke said.
Pele was probably the most famous athlete in the world in the 1960s and 1970s. He met presidents and queens, and a civil war in Nigeria was stopped so people could watch him play. Many Brazilians credit Pelé with putting the country on the world stage for the first time.
People wait in line to enter the Vila Belmiro stadium where Pele, the late Brazilian football great, lies on January 2 in Santos, Brazil.
Matthias Delacroix/AP
Rows of shirts with Pelé’s number 10 were placed behind one of the stadium’s goals, swaying in the city’s summer breeze. A segment filled with flowers placed by mourners as loudspeakers from around the world and sent by clubs and star players – Neymar and Ronaldo – recorded “You so Pele” (“I am Pele”). By him.
The crowd was mostly local, although some came from far away, and many mourners were too young to have seen Pelé play. The mood was light, as people dressed in Santos FC and Brazil shirts walked through the stadium to local bars.
Claudio Caranca, 32, a salesman, said: “I’ve never seen him play, but loving Pele is a tradition passed from father to son at Santos. I learned his history, saw his goals, and I see how Santos FC is important because he is important. I know the children of some Santos fans are supporting other teams. But that’s just because they’ve never seen Pele in action. If they had, they They would have felt the gratitude that I feel now.
Among those present in the stadium was Pelé’s best friend Manoel María, also a former Santos player.
Maria said, “If I had all the money in the world, I would never be able to repay what this man has done for me and my family.” “As great a man as he was as a player – the best of all time. His legacy will live on in all of us. And it can be seen here in this long line of people of all ages.”
FIFA President Gianni Infantino told reporters that every country should name a stadium after Pele.
Infantino said, “I am here with a lot of emotions, sadness, but also with a smile because he has given us so many smiles.” “As FIFA, we will pay tribute to ‘The King’ and we ask the whole world to observe a minute’s silence.”
Another admirer and friend in line was Gilmar Mendes, Justice of the Supreme Court of Brazil.
“It is a very sad moment, but now we are seeing the real meaning of this great player to our country,” Mendes told reporters. “I have shirts signed by Pele in my office, a picture of him as a goalkeeper also signed by him. DVDs, photos, a big collection of them.
Pele was undergoing treatment for colon cancer since 2021. The medical center where he was hospitalized said that he died of multiple organ failure as a result of cancer.
Pelé led Brazil to World Cup titles in 1958, 1962 and 1970, and remains one of the team’s all-time leading scorers with 77 goals. Neymar equaled Pele’s record during this year’s World Cup in Qatar.
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