Luiz Inácio Lula Da-Silva Pele Brazil Santos Sao Paulo Football stadium Luiz Inácio Lula Da-Silva Pele Brazil Santos Sao Paulo

Brazilians mourn Pele at the stadium where he got his start

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Thousands of mourners, including high school students and supreme court justices, began filing past the body of Pele on Monday on the century-old field where he made his hometown team one of Brazil’s best.

The Brazilian football great died on Thursday. The only player ever to win three World Cups was 82. Pele’s coffin, draped in the flags of Brazil and the Santos FC football club, was placed on the midfield area of Vila Belmiro, the stadium outside Sao Paulo that was his home for most of his career.

A Catholic Mass will be celebrated there on Tuesday morning before his burial at a nearby cemetery. Brazil’s newly inaugurated President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will come to Vila Belmiro shortly before Pele’s coffin is removed from the stadium.

The storied 16,000-seat stadium was surrounded by mourning fans, and covered with Pele-themed decorations inside. Fans coming out of the stadium said they had waited three hours in line.

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