Burial in Santos: Brazil pays its last respects to Pelé

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»Long live the king«: Pelé has found his final resting place

PHOTO: AMANDA PEROBELLI/ REUTERS

Brazilian football legend Pelé has found his final resting place after a mourning procession that lasted several hours through the streets of the port city of Santos.

Military police officers in gala uniform carried the coffin into the Memorial Necropole Ecumênica high-rise cemetery on Tuesday, as shown on TV Globo.

The three-time world champion was to be buried there with his family.

According to the Guinness Book of Records, the memorial is the tallest cemetery building in the world.

The resting place in the Marapé district has around 16,000 tombs on 14 floors.

The building has suites, a chapel and a restaurant and is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Pelé had already chosen his burial site during his lifetime.

The family still wanted to decide when the area would be open to the public.

Hundreds of thousands say goodbye

The coffin had previously been laid out on the roof of a fire engine and driven through the streets of Santos.

Scores of fans cheered the motorcade and waved flags from Pelé's longtime club FC Santos.

The convoy also passed the home of Pelé's 100-year-old mother.

Pelé's sister Maria Lúcia appeared on the balcony, waving at fans and making a heart shape with her hands.

Tens of thousands of fans had said goodbye to Pelé in the Santos stadium since Monday.

The corpse of the world star had been laid out in the center of the Estádio Urbano Caldeira for 24 hours.

More than 230,000 fans passed the coffin, as reported by the G1 news portal.

Among others, the Brazilian head of state Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Fifa President Gianni Infantino paid their last respects to the exceptional player.

"We all owe something to Pele, and Brazil owes him a lot," Lula said in an interview with club broadcaster Santos TV.

“Besides football, he also taught us about character, humility and dignity, and who knows, maybe he also taught people to be more humanistic, more solidarity and more brotherly.

He was born poor and black in a country where prejudice is very strong, but Pelé never cared about it.

He always knew how to be Pelé, the best and the humblest.«

Fifa wants to rename stadiums

The world association Fifa announced that it would ask its member associations to name a stadium in every country after Pele.

“The children, the coming generations around the world, need to know who Pelé was.

And if in 30, 50, 100 years they score a goal in a stadium named after Pelé and ask who he was, we can say: He was the greatest and he moved us," said Fifa President Infantino at the wake in Santos.

Edson Arantes do Nascimento, as the striker was called by his full name, died of cancer on Thursday at the age of 82.

The Brazilian government ordered a three-day state mourning.

Messages of condolence poured in from all over the world.

At the weekend, before many soccer games around the world, there was a minute's silence for the exceptional athlete.

Pelé shaped football like no other and was already a legend in his lifetime.

The world association Fifa had named him – like the Argentinian Diego Maradona – the »player of the 20th century«.

With 77 goals in 92 international matches, Pelé is still the record goalscorer for the Seleção, the Brazilian national football team - along with his 30-year-old compatriot Neymar, who also has 77 goals.

cev/dpa