The stadium where Brazilian football great Pelé played some of the best matches of his career will also host his funeral on Monday and Tuesday.

Santos, the club where Pelé played in Brazil, said in a statement that the public would be able to pay their last respects at the Vila Belmiro stadium outside Sao Paulo.

Pelé, whose full name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, died on Thursday after a long battle with cancer. He was 82.

Santos said the three-time World Cup champion’s casket will leave Sao Paulo’s Albert Einstein Hospital early Monday morning and be placed in the center circle of the pitch.

The tour will start at 10am on Monday and end at the same time the following day.

Pelé’s coffin will be carried through the streets of Santos and will pass in front of the house of his 100-year-old mother, Celeste. Recent reports in the Brazilian media say that Pele’s mother is unable to leave her bed and is unwell.

Burial will take place at the Memorial Necrópole Ecumênica, a vertical cemetery in Santos. Only family will attend.

Pelé has a home in Santos, where he lived most of his life. He spent his last years in the city of Guarujá.

Pelé had a colon tumor removed in September 2021. Neither his family nor the hospital said whether it had spread to other organs. He returned to Albert Einstein Hospital on November 29 with COVID-19 and a respiratory infection.

Last week, the hospital said in a statement that his cancer had progressed.

Pelé led Brazil to World Cup victories in 1958, 1962 and 1970 and remains one of the team’s all-time top scorers with 77 goals. Neymar equaled Pelé’s record during this year’s World Cup in Qatar. (AP) MRJ

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