Did King Pelé, who died at the age of 82, leave behind not seven but eight children? In his will, the Brazilian legend mentioned a woman who could be his daughter, according to his widow. Pelé’s last wife also inherited 30% of the former footballer’s property.
The three-time world champion specified in his donation that the widow had to keep 30% of her property, among which “compulsorily” the house where they lived in Guaruja, a seaside resort in Sao Paulo, said forensic expert Luiz Kingel.
His inheritance includes this residence, other real estate and a stake in the Pelé brand, explained Me Kignel, who specified that the complete inventory has not yet been carried out and that consequently the total amount of the estate not known.
A DNA test remains to be done
The lawyer added that the will mentions the possibility of Pelé having an unrecognized daughter who would be entitled to part of the remaining 70% of the estate, which has been reserved for the legendary ex-player’s seven other children.
“He indicated the possibility of the existence of another daughter, whose recognition will depend on a DNA test which could not be carried out (on Pelé) due to the pandemic and his state of health” , he explained.
She is a Brazilian, according to Me Kignel, who asks to be recognized as her daughter and of whom we do not know much except that she has taken legal action in Brazil for a paternity search.
In September 2022, a court in Sao Paulo ordered Pelé to submit to a DNA test, according to the G1 website. The latter must now be performed on one of his recognized children.
Seven recognized children
This woman would be the eighth child of the Brazilian football legend, who died of cancer in Sao Paulo on December 29. Married three times, he officially recognized seven children.
From his first marriage in 1966 three children were born: two girls and a boy. During this period, Pelé also had a daughter, the fruit of an extramarital relationship in 1968, whom he recognized in 2002. From his second union in 1994, two twins were born.
He is also the father of a daughter born in 1964 from an affair with a housekeeper whom he did not recognize at first. But after five years of legal battle, the courts ruled in favor of the young woman in 1996 who demanded recognition of paternity. She died of cancer in 2006.
He remarried in 2016 to Marcia Cibele Aoki, a businesswoman, but no children were born from this union.