Pele played his last game in 1977—a friendly farewell match between his New York Cosmos team and the team of his heart, the Santos Football Club in Brazil, where he began and ended his Brazilian career. In saying goodbye to professional play, Pele played the first half for Cosmos and the last half for Santos.
Now, Santos stadium is ready for Pele’s last act—his funeral.
For days, as Pele fought cancer to the end, his former club began preparing its stadium for the ceremony that will mark the beginning of Pele’s eternal life. The field that saw him play in the city that saw him go from a 15-year-old newbie to a global superstar will be the site of his funeral on Monday and Tuesday. The Santos website displayed scenes of the football legend on the field, along with a note: “Obrigado, Rei Pele” [Thank you, King Pele].
A hearse will carry the body of Brazil’s national treasure early Monday from the Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital where he died Thursday, to Santos, 80 km south of Sao Paulo on the coast.
The Vila Belmiro Stadium will hold Pele’s coffin in the centre circle of its field. There, Brazil and the world will say its final goodbye to the greatest football personality of all time. Visitation will start at 10am and will go on for 24 hours.
Plans are to carry Pele on one last journey through the streets of Santos, where until a few years ago, the superstar could be seen at restaurants, and ice cream shops, graciously granting autographs and chatting with fans. The funeral procession will pass through landmarks of Pele’s life in the city, including the home of his mother Celeste, now 100 years old and in poor health, reportedly unaware of what happens around her.
Final burial will be at the towering Memorial Necrópole Ecumênica Cemetery which brims with architectural style and solemnity, 14 stories of vertical mausoleums with 17,000 final resting places among breaks of open spaces, surrounded by beautiful landscaping.
He will be buried near his younger brother Zoca, who died in 2020, and his daughter Sandra who died in 2006. The cemetery holds the graves of notable Brazilians and celebrities including Pele’s Santos teammate in the 1962 and 1963 champion teams, Wilson Honorio Coutinho, who died in 2019.
But the goodbyes won’t end there. The Telegraph reported that fans are asking FIFA to rename the World Cup trophy. If so, football will hold its global championship in Pele’s eternal honour and memory.
