The festival of places renamed in homage to Pelé is launched.
The avenue in front of Rio's illustrious Maracana stadium now bears the name of the "King", who died on December 29 from colon cancer.
“It's important that it's in front of the Maracana, where he scored his 1,000th goal.
It was there that he said goodbye to the national team in 1971, that he was champion with Santos in 1963”, justified to AFP Gomez Quintans, the mayor of the district of Tujica, where thrones the setting with 79,000 seats.
"Although Pelé played for Santos, a club from Sao Paulo, he had memorable moments at the Maracana with the Brazilian team," said Felipe Ferreira, a lawyer who attended the unveiling of the avenue's name sign, facing the main entrance to the Maracana.
🇧🇷 Rio de Janeiro inaugurated Wednesday the Avenida Rei Pelé ("Avenue Roi #Pelé") in front of the iconic Maracana stadium, in honor of the Brazilian football legend who died on December 29, at the age of 82 ⤵️ #AFP pic.twitter.com/7xtqGjcqej
— Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) January 5, 2023
Inaugurated on Wednesday, "Avenida Rei Pelé" is not the only one to pay tribute to the former footballer.
The Villavicencio stadium in southern Colombia has become the first stadium in Latin America to be renamed in honor of Pelé, the governor of the department of Meta announced on Wednesday.
Opened in 1958 under the name of Bello Horizonte, this stadium with a capacity of 15,000 seats will now be called "Bello Horizonte Roi Pelé".
“We support the initiative of Fifa, explained the Colombian governor.
Younger generations need to know who this icon of world football was.
At Pelé's funeral, Gianni Infantino called on countries around the world to rename one of their stadiums in honor of the Brazilian legend.
Also on Wednesday, the Prime Minister of Cape Verde announced that the stadium in the capital, Praia, would be renamed "Pelé Stadium".
Since 1979, there is already a "Rei Pelé" stadium in Brazil, in the city of Maceio.
However, the case is better known as "Trapichao".