PanaTimes

Monday, Jun 05, 2023

'Thank you, King': Brazil lights up in honour of Pelé

'Thank you, King': Brazil lights up in honour of Pelé

Brazil has woken up to its first day without footballing legend Pelé.

"The King", who won three World Cups and was widely considered the greatest footballer of all time, died at the age of 82 in São Paulo on Thursday.

Overnight, Pelé's face shone on buildings across the South American nation and landmarks were lit up in his memory. Fans took to the streets dressed in his iconic number 10 shirt.

Brazil's government has declared three days of national mourning.

The front pages in Brazil were all talking about Pelé on Friday. One read "Pelé died, if indeed Pelé can die", because for Brazilians, he is their eternal King.

The last time national mourning was declared was when Queen Elizabeth II died. Lots of parallels have been drawn between Pelé and royalty - he was the closest Brazil had.

Supporters started gathering outside São Paulo's Albert Einstein hospital the previous afternoon when they heard news of Pele's death.

Pelé had been undergoing treatment for colon cancer since 2021. Knowing his condition was worsening, Brazilians had spent weeks reflecting on his life and legacy.

Many feel relieved his suffering is over - but he is an iconic sportsman who will be dearly missed.

The hospital issued a statement confirming his death from multiple organ failure connected to his cancer.

But in a reflection of his status, the hospital added it shared the suffering felt by the family and everyone over the loss of "our beloved King of football".

One man, standing outside the Fiesp building in São Paulo as it displayed a colourful tribute, spoke of the intensity of feeling for Pelé.

"It is indescribable to say at this moment what we are going through here; the loss," Widisley Guimarães told Reuters news agency.

At São Paulo's Museum of Football, an exhibition was erected overnight to promote Brazil's beloved King, even putting on display the football shirt he wore in 1970 when he scored the first goal against Italy and Brazil ultimately won. That was his third World Cup title, cementing his status as footballing legend.

"For us, he's a national symbol who turned into an international symbol, who took our country to all corners of the world," said Romulo Rezende Dias, who had come to see the display with his wife and three children.

"Brazil may not have a monarchy, but in football we have our King."


Andres Moreno Castillo Junior is among Pelé's admirers

Andres Moreno Castillo Junior, whose father founded one of the biggest supporters' clubs for Corinthians, a rival to Pelé's Santos, said that whenever the late footballer was on the pitch, the opposition almost always lost.

"Pelé and his legacy will be eternal. With the football he achieved in his era, imagine what he could have done with today's technology."

Tributes have poured in for him, including from Brazil forward Neymar, who said: "Before Pelé, football was only a sport.

"Pelé changed everything. He turned football into art, into entertainment. He gave a voice to the poor, to black people."

France striker and Neymar's Paris St-Germain team-mate Kylian Mbappé added "his legacy will never be forgotten".

Pelé scored a world record of 1,281 goals in 1,363 appearances during a 21-year career, including 77 goals in 92 matches for his country.

The only player to win the World Cup three times, lifting the trophy in 1958, 1962 and 1970, Pelé was named Fifa's Player of the Century in 2000.

But he was a cultural icon, too.

As a black man, Pelé rose to the status of national treasure in a country with a deep history of slavery and legacy of segregation that persists.

He regularly faced monkey chants on the pitch and was called several racist nicknames. But Pelé once said that if he had stopped every game after a monkey taunt, he would have had to stop them all.

Pelé was key to carving out space and recognition for black people in Brazilian football, his biographer Angelica Basthi has said, but he was never directly involved in the fight against racism.

While national mourning will last for three days, São Paulo state authorities have said their period of mourning will go on for a week. But really, Brazilians will mourn for much longer.

Pelé's wake will be held on Monday at the Santos Football club - for many years, his home stadium.

The following day, his coffin will be carried through the streets of the coastal city of Santos, before a private burial.

This weekend was expected to be momentous in Brazil as Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva - whose swearing in takes place on Sunday - returns to the presidency, 20 years after the start of his first term in office.

Instead, Brazilians will be paying tribute to a man who transcended politics - a man who represented this entire footballing nation.

The Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro - where Pelé scored the 1,000th goal of his career - was lit in gold in tribute

An image of Pelé was displayed on the facade of a shopping centre in São Paulo with the caption: "Thank you, King"

The Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro was illuminated in the colours of the Brazilian flag

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

PanaTimes
Close
0:00
0:00
Nvidia Joins Tech Giants as First Chipmaker to Reach $1 Trillion Valuation
Drone Attack on Moscow's Wealthiest Neighborhoods Suspected to be Launched by Ukraine
Elon Musk Meets Chinese Finance Minister in Beijing
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to Hold Power Talks with President Biden in Washington
AI ‘extinction’ should be same priority as nuclear war – experts
Prominent Hacker Forum RaidForums Suffers Substantial Data Breach
Nvidia CEO Huang says firms, individuals without AI expertise will be left behind
WPP Revolutionizes Advertising with NVIDIA's AI Powerhouse
Two US Employees Fired For Chasing Robbers Out Of Store As They Broke ''Company Policy''
If you donated to BLM, you got played
Pfizer, the EU, and disappearing ink - Smoke, Mirrors, and the Billion-Dose Pfizer Vaccine Deal: EU's 'Open Secret
Actor Tom Hanks told Harvard University graduates to be superheroes in their defense of truth and American ideals, and to resist those who twist the truth for their own gain
The Sussexes' Royal Rebound: Could Harry and Meghan Markle Return to the UK?
A provocative study suggests: Left-Wing Extremism and its Unsettling Connection to Psychopathy and Narcissism
France Arrests 10 on Suspicion of Failing to Respond in Time to Migrant Drowning
Neuralink Receives FDA Approval for First-in-Human Clinical Study
Saudi Arabia and Canada Restore Diplomatic Relations
Bernard Arnault Loses $11.2 Billion in One Day as Investors Fear Slowdown in US Growth Will Reduce Demand for Luxury Products
Russian’s Wagner Group leader: “I am not a chef, I am a butcher. Russia is in danger of a revolution like in 1917.”
TikTok Sues Montana Over Law Banning the App
Ron DeSantis Jumps Into 2024 Presidential Race, Setting Up Showdown With Trump
Last Walmart in North Portland Closing Down
Florida's DeSantis seeks to disqualify judge in Disney case
Talks between US House Republicans and President Biden's Democratic administration on raising the federal government's $31.4tn debt ceiling have paused
Disney has canceled plans to build a new campus in Florida worth almost $1 billion
Biden Administration Eyeing High-Profile Visits to China: The Biden Administration is heating things up by looking into setting up a series of top-level visits to Beijing by top officials in the coming months
New evidence in special counsel probe may undercut Trump’s claim documents he took were automatically declassified
A French court of appeals confirmed former President Nicolas Sarkozy's three-year jail term for corruption and influence peddling
Debt Ceiling Crises Have Unleashed Political Chaos
Weibao Wang, a former software engineer at Apple, was charged with stealing trade secrets related to autonomous systems, including self-driving cars
Mobile phone giant Vodafone to cut 11,000 jobs globally over three years as new boss says its performance not good enough
Elon Musk compares George Soros to Magneto, the supervillain from the Marvel Comics series.
Warren Buffett Sells TSMC Shares Over Concerns About Taiwan's Stability
New Study Finds That Secondary Bacterial Pneumonia Is a Major Cause of Death in COVID-19 Patients Who Require Ventilator Assistance
King Charles III being crowned.
'Godfather Of AI' Geoffrey Hinton Quits Google To Warn Of The Tech's Dangers
A Real woman
Vermont Man Charged with Stalking After Secretly Tracking Woman with Apple AirTag
Elon Musk Statements About Tesla Autopilot Could Be 'Deepfakes,' Lawyers Claim. Judge Evette Pennypacker Does Not Understand How Far and Advanced This Technology Became
Ukraine More Prepared for Counterattack as Reinforcements Arrive
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni Discuss Migration, Defence, and Ukraine
Tucker Carlson is back, soon!
AT&T's Successful Test of Satellite-Based Phone Call Raises Possibility of Widespread Coverage
CNN: "Joe Biden is asking for four more years — when 74% of Americans think the country is heading the wrong way“
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Cuts Short Live TV Interview Due to Health Issue
US Congresswoman threaten Twitter Files journalist with arrest
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh slams New York Times' pro-government stance and treatment of sources
Enough is enough: it's time to end the war in Ukraine. While Russia may be to blame for starting it, Russia is not the one refusing to stop it
Fox News Settles their case with Dominion Voting Systems for a staggering $787.5 MILLION
The land of the free violence
×