After three days of mourning in Brazil, the final farewell to the football legend has begun. A farewell that arouses great interest. Already on the night of January 1-2, the media broadcast how the car with the coffin leaves the hospital and, together with the escort, goes on an almost two-hour journey to Santos to the Vila Belmiro stadium, where despite this, it was there that the sporting part of Pele’s farewell began on Monday. Farewells mainly to the fans, to whom the Brazilian has provided sports emotions for years.
Body at Santos Stadium
Pele played at the Santos Stadium for 18 years, the last game in October 1974. He scored several hundred of his over a thousand goals here, including those in unofficial matches. On Monday afternoon, Polish time, he made his last, only symbolic, visit here. The body with the open coffin of the football player was placed under a special tent set up in the middle of the pitch. The club hoisted three large flags in the stadium’s stands. “Long live the king” was written on one of them. The chairs were covered with hundreds of wreaths sent and donated to the club. Pele was first bid farewell by the club’s activists with tears in their eyes, then the stadium gates were opened for fans who, wearing Santos and Brazil national team shirts, and often with World Cup figurines, could approach the footballer’s coffin. According to Brazilian media, the first fans waited in front of the stadium 14 hours before the gates opened, spending the night under the facility. This farewell to the fans with the footballer will last 24 hours, tens of thousands of people should pass through the facility. Teammates Jairzinho, Rivelino and Gerson also paid tribute to the football legend, while FIFA President Gianni Infantino also flew to Santos.
On Tuesday afternoon, Polish time, the coffin with the footballer’s body will be transported to . It is quite an original cemetery a kilometer from the Santos stadium, and the funeral ceremony is also a kind of tribute to the footballer’s parents.
High-rise cemetery and 9th floor for dad
Pele wanted his body to rest on the 9th floor of a skyscraper after his death, overlooking the stadium of his beloved club. This 14-story skyscraper is a private cemetery, and thus the tallest burial facility listed in the Guinness Book of Records. It has space for about 15,000. tombstones. In the building we will find not only crypts, burial chambers, a crematorium and a mausoleum, but also a tropical garden, a rooftop cafe and even a waterfall. There is also a car museum in the building. This original building has also become a tourist attraction and tourists often flock to it. Will definitely be visiting more often now.
Pele acquired a seat there in 2003. Not because he had any special requirements for the original burial, but because the facility overlooks his beloved stadium. This is how he wanted to honor his club. Secondly, he confessed, he felt that the place “radiates peace and quiet and does not look like a cemetery.” Thirdly, because he could symbolically honor his father, who as a footballer wore the number 9 shirt. Hence the choice of the ninth floor where he will be buried. Pele referred to his father, who died in the mid-1990s, many times during his career. As he mentioned, it is also thanks to him he got to the top. Because they used to play at Fluminense Dondinho, he saw football potential in his small and skinny son. Especially when this skinny kid kicked the ball better and jumped higher than his bigger peers. Even when Pele reached the top, his father mobilized him that it was not the end of the road.
– When in 1958 I won the first World Cup, my father was not delighted that I played beautifully, but pointed out what and where I could have done better. He commented that there is still a lot of learning ahead of me – once described Pele. While this curbing of praise may have taken the young world champion a bit by surprise, it spurred him to win the championship three times in total, making his mark on football history and breaking almost every other record imaginable. As the media later joked, he did not break only one record of his father, who once scored 5 goals with his head in a match.
Mom will attend the funeral symbolically
Pele’s mother, Celeste Arantes, was against Pele’s football career at first. She told her son to look at his dad, who had just suffered a serious meniscus injury and not only couldn’t play, but also fought for money, because he didn’t get it on sick leave. That’s why Pele helped support his family by working as a shoe shiner. His father’s career, also because of his health, despite performing in good clubs, did not look as if he wanted it, and his mother did not want to have two lame at home. She saw Pele as a teacher or a doctor, but she also quickly came to terms with his love for football and supported him in his sports life.
In 1966, when Pele was already a two-time world champion, Celeste even received the “Mother of the Year” award from the Brazilian newspaper “O Globo”. On the same day, she came to visit her son for national team training. The footballer was preparing for the 1966 World Cup at the time. Seeing his mother, he immediately stopped training and ran to hug her. My teammates were a bit surprised by this scene.
A month before his death, Pele posted a photo together on Instagram and wrote on the occasion of her 100th birthday.
“From an early age, she taught me love and peace. I have over a hundred reasons to be grateful to be her son. I share this photo with you, excited to celebrate this day. Thank you for every day by your side, Mom.”
These wishes were symbolic, because they could not reach my mother. As Pele’s sister reported, even after her son’s death, the 100-year-old mother no longer understood what had happened.
Our mother doesn’t know he’s gone. We talked, but she’s in her own little world,” she said
The mother, who is also unable to move independently, will miss her son’s funeral, but the procession with his coffin is to pass by her house, so she will take part in the funeral in a symbolic way. The funeral ceremony is to be family-oriented.
Pele died on December 29 after being hospitalized for a month. He had been battling cancer for several months.
Source: Sport
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
