The Santos club, where Pele has spent most of his career, announced that a wake will be observed on Monday before the Brazilian legend’s funeral scheduled for the next day in Santos. The iconic number 10 of the Seleção died this Thursday of colon cancer.
The funeral wake of footballer Pelé, who died Thursday in Sao Paulo, will take place Monday at the stadium of Santos FC, the club where the “King” played almost all of his career, and he will be buried the next day. “The funeral wake of the greatest footballer of all time will take place at the Urbano Caldeira stadium, (in the district of) Vila Belmiro, where he amazed the world”, announced in a press release the club which counted the legendary Brazilian in its ranks from 1956 to 1974.
The remains of the triple world champion will be brought from Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo overnight from Sunday to Monday to Santos, a port city located 80 km from the megalopolis. “The coffin will be placed in the center of the field” where Pelé shone as a teenager, said Santos FC.
A private funeral
Open to the public, the wake will begin Monday at 10 a.m. (1 p.m. GMT) and will last 24 hours. On Tuesday, a procession will follow the coffin through the streets of Santos, passing in particular the house of the mother of Pelé, still alive and aged 100 years. The burial at the Memorial Necrópole Ecumênica cemetery, will be “reserved for family members”.