Rio de Janeiro (dpa)
Media reported that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was recently sworn in, is expected to attend the ceremony to get a last look at the body of soccer legend Pele, just hours after he took office.
And the “G1” news website said, citing sources familiar with the protocol of the ceremony, that the new president wants to personally attend the farewell and funeral of the three-time World Cup champion and will travel to the hometown of Pelé, Santos, where Pelé has the funeral and farewell ceremonies will be held.
Lula was sworn in as Brazil’s first democratically elected president to win three terms. Pelé, the only three-time World Cup winner, died last Thursday at the age of 82, after suffering from colon cancer for more than a year and having been hospitalized since November.
Pelé’s former club, ‘Santos’ has announced that the coffin that will carry Pelé’s body will leave early Monday morning the São Paulo hospital where he died, where it will be transferred to Pelé’s hometown of Santos, a city coast about 80 kilometers away. where it is It will be in the middle of the FC Santos stadium, so the fans can get one last look at the football legend. The ceremony is expected to begin at 10am local time (1pm GMT), according to the club. The ceremony will last 24 hours until 10 on Tuesday, concluding with a funeral procession through the streets of Santos and in front of the house of Pele’s mother, Dona Celeste, who recently turned 100. And last Thursday evening, Albert Einstein Hospital announced the death of Pele at the age of 82, to put the last word on the life of one of the most important stars of the round witch in the world, and the presence of the Brazilian legend to tops the list of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) for the best players of the twentieth century, the International Olympic Committee also awarded him the title of best athlete of the last century, in addition to his solutions in the list of the American magazine ” Time” for the 100 most important personalities of the last century.
Pele also shared the title of player of the century from FIFA with the late Argentine legend Diego Maradona, as well as from the International Federation for History and Statistics, thanks to his busy career as well as being entered in the ‘Guinness’ World Records, after scoring 1279 goals in 1,363 matches in all competitions, for both club and country.
It is worth noting that Addison Arantes Donascimento, better known as (Pelé), was born on October 23, 1940, in the state of Minas Gerais, and became known in Brazil as the “King of football”, after winning the World Cup three times in 1958, 1962 and 1970.
