The remains of Pelé, the eternal number 10 who marked generations of football lovers, joined his final resting place on Tuesday: a 200m2 mausoleum in the vertical cemetery of the Brazilian city of Santos, where a huge crowd of fans paid him a heartfelt tribute.
“Now he will be able to rest,” Edinho, one of his six children still alive, told reporters at the entrance to the ecumenical necropolis where the funeral took place in the intimacy of the family.
This necropolis, an ultra-modern 14-storey building with an immaculate facade, is the highest vertical cemetery in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records. On the first floor, the mausoleum where Pelé’s coffin was laid is reminiscent of a football stadium, with its synthetic turf and photos of the “King”, a communication manager at the cemetery confirmed to AFP on Tuesday.
Before the funeral, the Brazilian people’s last tribute to the triple world champion ended with a moving four-hour procession through the streets of Santos, a seaside resort town and the largest port in South America, 75 km from Sao Paolo.
The coffin, which during the wake had remained open and covered with a veil of tulle, leaving only the face of the deceased visible, was sealed at 10 a.m. (1300 GMT), after being exposed for 24 hours in the center of the Vila stadium. Belmiro of Santos FC, where Pelé shone from 1956 to 1974.
More than 230,000 people gathered in front of his remains, an incessant parade, day and night, of admirers often moved to tears.
Huge guard of honor
Removed from the stadium in a cart, the black coffin was hoisted on top of a fire truck, then covered with two flags: that of Brazil and that of Santos FC.
Throughout the funeral procession, which traversed the streets of the city, passing in particular by the seaside, thousands of supporters formed a huge hedge of honor.
Some sang: “1000 goals, only Pelé did it!”. The legendary Brazilian scored 1,091 of his 1,283 goals in the white and black jersey of legendary club Santos.
The most poignant moment of the procession was passing in front of the house of Pelé’s mother, Celeste Arantes. Aged 100 but suffering from cognitive disorders, she is unaware of the death of her son.
The truck stopped for a few minutes in front of this residence with a beige facade where a large green flag bearing the image of Pelé had been hung.
His sister Maria Lucia, 78, appeared on the balcony, along with other family members. Visibly moved, she greeted the supporters massed in front of the house for a long time.
“He was the greatest player in the world, so it’s worth being here,” said 77-year-old retired Maria Benedita, very moved as the red and white fire truck passed by.
President Lula facing the “King”
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva came specially to Santos from Brasilia to pay his respects to the remains of Pelé at the end of the funeral wake.
Arrived near the stadium by helicopter, Lula, who took office on Sunday, immediately offered his condolences to Pelé’s widow.
The Head of State attended a brief religious ceremony near the coffin, during which the priest evoked an imaginary dialogue in Paradise between Pelé and God, who would have said to him: “Here you are still King, but I am the Lord”.
“He was incomparable, as a footballer and as a man,” Lula said in a video broadcast by Santos TV shortly after the president’s visit.
“No tribute would be strong enough for what he represented, for the history he wrote. It is a great feeling of pride, and of gratitude”, summarized his son Edinho, former goalkeeper and current coach of Londrina, club of the Brazilian second division.
“It’s a deserved farewell for the greatest player in history, a celebration fit for a king,” said Rene Rodrigo da Silva, a 29-year-old psychologist who attended the funeral procession.
Tributes have poured in from around the world since Pele’s death on December 29, with football’s biggest names, current and former, hailing his genius for the “beautiful game”.
Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as Pelé, spent a month in Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo until his death at age 82 from kidney and heart failure, bronchopneumonia and colon adenocarcinoma , according to the death certificate published by local media.