Soccer legend, Pele, dies during long battle with cancer

30.12.2022 - 07:23 guardian.ng

(FILES) In this file photo taken on December 8, 2005 Brazilian football legend, Pele, is seen during a presentation in Leipzig on the eve of the final draw of the Fifa football World Cup 2006. – Brazilian football legend Pele, 80, was briefly transferred back to an intensive care unit on September 17, 2021 after suffering breathing difficulties but is now stable, said the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo, where he underwent surgery earlier this month. (Photo by Franck FIFE / AFP)PELÉ, the Brazilian soccer legend, who won three World Cups, has died at the age of 82.

Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento in Três Corações – an inland city roughly 155 miles northwest of Rio de Janeiro – in 1940, before his family moved to the city of Bauru in São Paulo, he became the sport’s first global icon. “Everything that we are, is thanks to you,” his daughter Kely Nascimento wrote in a post on Instagram. “We love you infinitely.

Rest in peace.”Pelé was admitted to a hospital in São Paulo in late November for a respiratory infection and for complications related to colon cancer.

Last week, the hospital said his health had worsened as his cancer progressed. “I was born to play football, just like Beethoven was born to write music and Michelangelo was born to paint,” Pelé famously said. “My dad was a good football player, he scored a lot of goals,” Pelé told CNN in 2015. “His name was Dondinho; I wanted to be like him. “He was famous in Brazil, in Minas Gerais.

Football Pele Brazil state Indiana Sao Paulo Rio De Janeiro

BOGOTA: Colombia is the first Latin American country to meet FIFA president Gianni Infantino's request to name a stadium after Pele.

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The coffin of the late Brazilian football star Pele is transported to the Santos’ Memorial Cemetery after the funeral procession in Santos, Sao Paulo state, Brazil on January 3, 2023. – Brazilian football legend Pele’s remains arrived Tuesday at the cemetery where he will be interred in a mausoleum, after three days of national mourning, a 24-hour wake and a massive funeral procession. Pele’s casket, draped in the Brazilian flag and that of his longtime club, Santos FC, arrived atop a red firetruck at the Santos Memorial Cemetery, near the stadium where “The King” began his rise to become what many consider the greatest footballer of all time. (Photo by CAIO GUATELLI / AFP)

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Infantino was in the city of Santos, Brazil, to pay his final respects to the player widely considered the greatest of all time, who died Thursday at the age of 82.

Brazil says final farewell to 'King' Pele

A flood of fans, politicians and football dignitaries have flocked to pay their respects to the player known as "The King" in the southeastern city of Santos, home to the club where he spent most of his storied career.

Fireworks greet Pele’s coffin as Brazil bid legend farewell

Mourners wear jerseys with an image of Brazilian football legend Pele as they queue to get in the Urbano Caldeira stadium, also known as Vila Belmiro, where a wake in his honour is being held, in Santos, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, on January 2, 2023. – Brazilians bid a final farewell this week to football giant Pele, starting Monday with a 24-hour public wake at the stadium of his long-time team, Santos. (Photo by CARL DE SOUZA / AFP)