A woman claiming to be the daughter of football legend Pelé, who died in 2022, has revealed she asked a Sao Paulo court to have his body exhumed after the first DNA test came back negative.
"I don't do it for money, it makes no difference to me being the daughter of Pelé or someone else who doesn't have money," Maria do Socorro Azevedo, 60, told Record TV.
According to the woman, her mother, now deceased, had a romantic encounter with 'O Rei' in São Luis, capital of the state of Maranhão, but she never revealed to him that she had become pregnant.
Edson Arantes do Nascimento, who died of colon cancer at the age of 82 on December 29, 2022, had mentioned the possibility of having another daughter in his will and had decided to undergo a DNA test, but he died before that exam could take place.
In 2022, his children agreed to carry out the tests after learning of Maria do Socorro's action.
Pelé's widow, Márcia Aioki, however, stated through her lawyer that the request of her alleged daughter is "unreasonable" and she considers it "unlikely" that the justice system will accept it.
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