Enternainment
Football Icon, Pele Laid to Rest
By Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#Brazil, January 11, 2023 – Three time world cup winner Pelé was laid to rest on Tuesday January 3 after a year-long battle with bowel cancer.
Internationally recognized as one of the best football players of all time, born Edson Arantes do Nascimento passed away on December 29th 2022 at 82.
Named the game’s greatest by FIFA, he played for his home team Brazil and local club Santos despite being heavily scouted by European clubs and teams throughout his career. Pele holds a number of records even in death; he’s the only man to have won the world cup thrice (1958, 1962 and 1970). Pele scored a goal in nearly every match he
Celeste Arante was only 17 years old when she had Pele after marrying his father João Ramos do Nascimento, a footballer himself, at 16. His talent was evident even as a child, by 15 he was playing for Santos, by 16 he was on the National Brazilian team, by 17 he was a World Cup champion.
He holds some of the most exclusive titles in history including Athlete of the Century bestowed on him by the International Olympic Committee, World Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) and FIFA Player of the Century, which he shares with Diego Maradona who passed in 2020.
Even with his illness the great didn’t miss this year’s World Cup, laying witness to one of the best matches of all time via television and congratulating Lionel Messi and Argentina via Instagram.
Pele’s funeral procession was attended by thousands and began at the home of his old club Santos, the Urbano Caldeira Stadium,and went on to Memorial Necrópole Ecumênica cemetery where he was laid to rest privately.
Pele leaves behind his 100 year old mother and seven children.