Mourners lined the streets in the coastal city of Santos, Brazil, on Tuesday as Pele’s body was transported in a black coffin from the Vila Belmiro stadium to the late football legend’s final resting place at the Necropole Ecumenica Memorial Cemetery.
A band greeted the casket as it entered the cemetery, playing a Catholic hymn and the team song for the local Santos football team, where Pele played for much of his career. Fans also serenaded the casket with samba music, as a tribute to the fallen sports star.
Pele was laid to rest in a 200sq metre mausoleum, near where his father, aunt, brother and daughter are interred. His burial place will be decorated like a football stadium, with images of his career highlights.
The burial marked the end of a 24-hour public memorial service for Pele, who died last week at the age of 82 after battling colon cancer for a year.
More than 230,000 people, including Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, had come to Santos to pay their respects to the three-time World Cup winner, who was placed in an open casket on the midfield line of Santos’s Vila Belmiro stadium.
Santos was not only where Pele grew up but also where he became famous, making the city into a global capital of football. He remains the only player ever to win three World Cups.
“Pele represents a lot for us Brazilian people,” Thiago Mostazo, a football fan, told Al Jazeera outside the stadium. “It’s a sad moment, but it’s also a moment to honour his life and his career as the greatest football player ever.”
Mourners ranged from high school students to Supreme Court justices, some of whom spent hours lining up to pay their respects to Pele in the century-old stadium where he made his hometown team one of Brazil’s best.
Geovana Sarmento, 17, waited for three hours to view Pele’s body as it lay in repose at the stadium. She came with her father, who was wearing a Brazil shirt with Pele’s name.
“I am not a Santos fan, neither is my father. But this guy invented Brazil’s national team. He made Santos stronger, he made it big, how could you not respect him? He is one of the greatest people ever, we needed to honour him,” she told the Associated Press news agency.
The public filed past Pele’s body from Monday and overnight into Tuesday. The coffin was draped in the flags of Brazil and the Santos Football Club.
