No Santos player will wear Pelé’s No. 10 until the club returns to Serie A

SAO PAULO – No player of Brazil’s Santos team will wear the number 10 jersey made globally famous by the late Pelé as long as the club plays in the country’s second division, the new club president said Saturday.

Marcelo Teixeira, elected on Saturday as Santos’ president, said he made the decision as a tribute to the club’s biggest star, who died on Dec. 29 at 81 due to colon cancer.

“Until Santos is back in Serie A, which is its standard, we will not play with the number 10 shirt,” said Teixeira, who was Santos’ president on two previous occasions. “This year’s Brazilian league was named after King Pelé. We will continue in this mission. We will be back in the top division, but until then, we won’t wear our most glorious shirt.”

Every match of this year’s Brazilian league celebrated Pelé in the 10th minute of play, in a reference to the number on the shirt that he wore for Santos and Brazil.

Teixeira, a businessman, beat four rivals and ended with 53% of the vote to return to the presidency at Santos on