Football: Tributes pour in as Brazil prepares to bid Pele farewell

SAO PAULO – A day after Pele’s death, fans of Brazil’s greatest football star took to the streets on Friday to mourn their hero and celebrate the man they called “The King of Football”.

On Monday, a wake will be held at the Estadio Urbano Caldeira, known popularly as Vila Belmiro, in Santos, where Pele shot to stardom and spent almost his entire career. His body will remain at midfield for 24 hours, until Tuesday morning, to allow what is expected to be a throng of mourners to pass by.

The coffin will then be taken through the streets of Santos to the Ecumenical Necropolis Memorial for a private interment.

Before the official farewell, grief-stricken fans were quick to gather at football’s major landmarks in Santos, a Brazilian port city of 430,000, to pay homage to Pele, who was declared a national treasure and rose to a level of global stardom that few athletes have known.

Across the street from the stadium, Eva de Souza Nunes, an 84-year-old retired nurse, hung two oversized flags bearing Santos’ crest from her balcony. “I’m in mourning today,” she said. “And it’s not just me – Brazil is in mourning, the whole world is in mourning.”

Fondly, she remembered Pele visiting her home; her husband, Jose, used to fix his television, she said. “He wasn’t my family, but at the same time, it felt like he was.”

Across town, fans flocked to a bronze statue depicting Pele’s famous “air punch” goal celebration, laying flowers and snapping selfies. Rafael Barbosa, a 32-year-old bar owner, and his daughter Livia, 10, drew close to the statue for a picture, lifting their fists and striking the iconic pose.

“Pele is our king,” said Barbosa, who had travelled nearly 500km from the city of Paraguacu Paulista to pay his respects. “He’s history. He lives on in our memories, in the memories of our grandparents.”

“Before Pele, football was just football,” his cousin Andre Barbosa, a 23-year-old agricultural engineer, chimed in. “After ‘The King’, football became this incredible spectacle.”

Pele’s impressive athleticism and unrivalled creativity on the field have become the stuff of legend, leaving a lasting mark even on those who never witnessed his mastery of the sport.

“I never saw him play,” Thiago do Santos, a 37-year-old real estate agent, said as he took a selfie with his two dogs in front of the statue. “But I was in the crowd outside the stadium when he came out after a ceremony one time. And he hugged me. ‘The King’ hugged me! I’ll never forget it.”

Vilma Mattos de Lima, a 69-year-old special-education teacher, donned a white Santos jersey signed by Pelé and laid a hand on the statue with reverence. She had never missed a game, she said as she clutched a pair of old photos of herself next to her idol.

“I was 10 years old when I saw him play for the first time. And I was enchanted from that moment,” she said. “Losing him is heartbreaking.”

At a Santos-themed bar, lifelong fans reminisced about Pelé’s masterly passes and dazzling goals, which popularized Brazilian soccer around the world and ushered in a new form of the sport that he called the Beautiful Game.

“What I liked was that, every game, he did something new,” said Carlos Eduardo Fernandes, 69, owner of the bar, which is adorned with faded images of Pelé. “We were dying to see what wild play he had come up with.”

But Pelé’s reach went far beyond the field. In a deeply unequal Brazil, his meteoric rise from poverty to global stardom made him a national symbol, beloved by the country’s poor and marginalised.

“What made Pelé so popular was his simplicity,” said Sérgio Luiz Alonso, 61, a retired oil rig worker. “He came from humble beginnings. He was just like us, like the people.” As a child, Alonso waited outside the Santos training centre for Pelé to come out after practice. “He would sign autographs for us; he never turned us away,” he said.

Condolences and reminiscences for the most famous football player in history also poured in from politicians, athletes and artists at home and abroad.

“I had the privilege that the younger Brazilians did not have: I saw Pele play live at Pacaembu and Morumbi,” said Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s incoming president, referring to two stadiums in Sao Paulo. “Not merely play. I saw Pele presenting a master class. When he got the ball, he always did something special, often ending in a goal.”

“Pele changed everything,” said Brazilian superstar Neymar. “He turned football into art, into entertainment. He gave a voice to the poor, to Black people and, above all, he gave visibility to Brazil. Football and Brazil raised their status, thanks to ‘The King.’ He is gone, but his magic will remain. Pele is eternal.”

“He will be immortalized in every magnificent goal, in every moment of genius, but mainly in each one of us who were inspired by him and his generation,” said former Brazilian great Cafu.

“By your feet we were and will continue to be blessed by your art,” said Marta, one of the best women’s players ever. “I love you, king.”

“Michael Jordan was the Pele of basketball,” said Antonio Tabet, a Brazilian comedian. “Muhammad Ali was the Pele of boxing. Michael Phelps was the Pele of swimming. Roger Federer was the Pele of tennis. Pele was Pele. Eternal, unrestricted and an adjective.”

NYTIMES