Brazilians in thousands at farewell
Thousands of mourners, including high school students and supreme court justices, began filing past the body of Pele´ yesterday on the century-old field where he made his hometown team one of Brazil’s best.
The soccer great died last week after a battle with cancer. The only player ever to win three World Cups was 82.
Pele´ ’s coffin, draped in the flags of Brazil and the Santos FC football club, was placed on the midfield area of Vila Belmiro, the stadium outside Sao Paulo that was his home for most of his career. A Catholic Mass was to be celebrated there before his burial at a nearby cemetery. Brazil’s newly inaugurated President Luiz Ina´ cio Lula da Silva was to visit shortly before Pele´ ’s coffin is removed from the stadium.
The 16,000-seat stadium was crammed with mourning fans, and covered with Pele´ -themed decorations inside.
Fans coming out of the stadium said they’d waited three hours in line, standing under a blazing sun.
Forty-five years after Pele´ played his last game, he’s still a central part of Brazil’s national story.
Geovana Sarmento, 17, came with her father wearing a Brazil shirt with Pele’s name.
“I am not a Santos fan, neither is my father. But this guy invented Brazil’s national team. He made Santos stronger, he made it big, how could you not respect him? He is one of the greatest people ever, we needed to honour him,” she said.
In the 1960s and 70s, Pele´ was perhaps the world’s most famous athlete. He met presidents and queens, and in Nigeria a civil war was put on hold to watch him play. Many Brazilians credit him with putting the country on the world stage.
Caio Zalke, 35, also wore a Brazil shirt as he waited in line. “Pele´ is the most important Brazilian of all time. He made soccer important for Brazil and he made Brazil important for the world,” he said.