European leagues to honor Pele with pre-match tributes

LONDON: Top flight football matches in England, Spain, Italy, France will all honor Pele before each match in the upcoming round of games, it was announced Friday.

“In tribute to Pele, Premier League clubs will remember his contribution to football by holding a minute’s applause prior to kick-offs,” said a statement on the English Premier League’s Twitter feed.

“Players and match officials will wear black armbands.”

A similar announcement was made by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC).

Serie A action returns after its winter break on Wednesday where a minute’s silence will be observed for the Brazilian legend.

Games in France’s Ligue 1 will be preceded by a minute’s applause while a photo of Pele with the World Cup is shown on the big screens in the stadiums.

In Spain, La Liga announced that a minute of silence would be observed before each match this weekend.

Brazil started three days of national mourning Friday for Pele, the three-time World Cup winner widely regarded as the greatest player of all time, who died Thursday at the age of 82.

The death of “O Rei” (The King) triggered a wave of tributes from around the globe to the man who both transformed football and transcended the sport.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said Friday that Pele’s influence on football would be “eternal.”

“On behalf of Manchester City, the biggest condolences for his family and friends,” Guardiola told reporters.

“Football is football thanks to these types of people.

“Neymar said a great sentence when he said before (Pele) No. 10 was just a number and after it became something special.”

Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte said he had known about Pele’s quality from an early age.

“The first person who spoke to me