Brazilian football icon Pele, widely regarded as the greatest player of all time and a three-time World Cup winner, has died at the age of 82 after a long battle with cancer.
The standard bearer of the “beautiful game” had undergone treatment for colon cancer since 2021. The medical centre where he had been hospitalised for the last month said he died of multiple organ failure as a result of the cancer.
“Pele changed everything. He transformed football into art, entertainment,” Neymar, a fellow Brazilian soccer star said on Instagram.
“Football and Brazil elevated their standing thanks to the King! He is gone, but his magic will endure. Pele is eternal!”
Named athlete of the century by the International Olympic Committee in 1999, Pele is the only footballer in history to win three World Cups- 1958, 1962 and 1970.
Nicknamed “O Rei” (The King), scored more than 1000 goals before he retired in 1977.
He had been in increasingly fragile health, battling with kidney problems and colon cancer- undergoing surgery for the latter in September 2021, which was followed by chemotherapy.
A funeral was planned for Monday and Tuesday, with his casket to be carried through the streets of Santos, the coastal city where his career began, before burial.
Born October 23, 1940, in the southeastern city of Tres Coracoes, Edson Arantes do Nascimento- Pele’s real name- grew up selling peanuts on the street to help his impoverished family get by.
He was soon given the nickname Pele, for his mispronunciation of Bile, the name of a goalkeeper at Vasco de Sao Lorenco, where his football father once played.
Widely regarded as one of soccer’s greatest players, Pele spent nearly two decades enchanting fans and dazzling opponents as the game’s most prolific scorer with Brazilian club Santos and the national team.
Beyond his records, Pele will be remembered for revolutionizing the sport while wearing his number 10 jersey.
Source: The Guardian, BBC News, Sky Sport, News24 Sport, AP News, image from Twitter: @Phil_Lewis_