Brazilians mourn Pele at the stadium where he got his start

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.

Geovana Sarmento, 17, came with her father wearing a Brazil shirt with Pele’s name.

“I am not a Santos fan, neither is my father. But this guy invented Brazil’s national team. He made Santos stronger, he made it big, how could you not respect him? He is one of the greatest people ever, we needed to honour him,” she said.

Caio Zalke, 35, an engineer, also wore a Brazil shirt as he waited in line. “Pele is the most important Brazilian of all time. He made soccer important for Brazil and he made Brazil important for the world,” he said.

Rows of shirts with Pele’s number 10 were placed behind one of the goals.

A section of the stands was filling up with bouquets of flowers placed by mourners and sent by clubs and star players – Neymar and Ronaldo among them – from around the world as loudspeakers played