President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva led tributes Tuesday as Brazil bid a final farewell to late soccer legend Pele, considered the greatest player of all time.
A flood of fans, politicians and football officials were seen paying their respects to the player known as “The King” in the southeastern city of Santos, home to the club where Pele, who died last week aged 82, spent much of his time. story career.
Santos FC said around 250,000 people had held a 24-hour vigil at the Vila Belmiro stadium, where mourners continued to arrive throughout the night.
That was followed by a large funeral procession, as Pele’s coffin – draped in the black-white flag of Santos and the green-yellow of Brazil – was placed on top of a firetruck for the final parade through the city, including an emotional stop in front of the house where his elderly mother was still alive. 100 years.
Lula, who took office on Sunday in a ceremony that began with a minute’s silence for Pele, appeared shocked as he and First Lady Rosangela “Janja” da Silva paused before the coffin at the wake and hugged the player’s widow, Marcia Cibele Aoki, who was in tears.
“Farewell to the King. Rest in peace, Pele,” the president wrote on Twitter.
– Last parade –
Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pele is the only player in history to win three World Cups (1958, 1962 and 1970).
He scored a world record 1,281 goals during his more than two-decade career with Santos (1956-74), the New York Cosmos (1975-77) and the Brazilian national team.
He died Thursday after a battle with cancer.
Tributes have poured in from around the world since his death, with current and former footballers hailing the genius for his “great game,” including Brazilian star Neymar, France’s Kylian Mbappe and Argentina’s Lionel Messi.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who attended on Monday, called Pele a “global football icon” and said the sport’s governing body would ask all member states to name stadiums in the player’s honour.
The wake ended Tuesday morning with a short Catholic service, after which 10 state police guards in uniform put a lid on Pele’s black coffin.
A bright red fire truck then carried the coffin through the city, as crowds of fans, some in tears, screamed in the streets and gathered on balconies to say their final goodbyes, chanting “1,000 goals, only Pele!”
The longest stop was outside the beige house where Pele’s mother, Celeste Arantes, still lives.
“Dona Celeste,” as she was known, had cognitive difficulties, and did not know that her world-famous son had died, according to the family. But Pele’s sister, Maria Lucia, who lived with him, held his hand and wept before the crowd in gratitude, surrounded by family in the balcony of the house.
The funeral procession ends at the port city’s Memorial Cemetery, near the stadium, where a private funeral service will be held before Pele is laid to rest in the 10-story mausoleum that holds the Guinness World Record for being the tallest cemetery on Earth.
The cemetery said Pele’s embalmed body would be laid in a coffin, displayed in the middle of a 200-square-meter (2,150-square-foot) replica football stadium with artificial turf, surrounded by golden pictures from his glory days.
– ‘Pele is everything’ –
Longtime Santos fan Katia Cruz, 58, who lives a block from the stadium, said she had queued for four hours overnight to get into Vila Belmiro, visiting Pele without her husband because she was “not comfortable.”
“Pele is everything. He is the King. He deserves this,” he told AFP.
Tributes continued to pour in from around Brazil, which held three days of national mourning.
Rio de Janeiro’s mayor says the city will rename the street outside the iconic Maracana Pele Avenue stadium.
At the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation, a giant poster with Pele’s image bears the words “immortal”.
Pele’s son Edinho said the family was grateful for the gesture.
But “any tribute we can pay him is small compared to what he represented and the life story he wrote,” he said.
“I’m just thankful and proud.”