Jean-Claude Gerez (in Santos), edited by Gauthier Delomez
“Sadness” and “gratitude” are the words that come up most often in the mouths of the thousands of Brazilian fans of football legend Pelé, who died Thursday at 82. After having traveled 100 km on Monday, the body of the “King” is exposed in the center of the lawn of the stadium of FC Santos, his lifelong club. The gates to the Vila Belmiro stadium were opened at 10 a.m. (1 p.m. GMT) for a 24-hour funeral wake. Europe 1 met fans who wanted to pay a last tribute to the triple world champion.
Pamela, 27, arrived Monday morning at 6 a.m. She waited four hours to bid a final farewell to her idol. “He’s beautiful! I thought he looked at peace after completing his mission,” she says after seeing Pelé’s body up close.
“We will never forget it”
This Brazilian continues: “Even if we didn’t want him to die, everyone’s existence has a time and a meaning. So the time has come for him to rest because he was fighting against a thankless illness. Thanks to the ‘ Roi’, the eternal king. We will never forget him”, concedes Pamela.
In the crowd, Zelko, a 52-year-old Frenchman from Ain, was on vacation with his beautiful family in Santos. He himself lived there for three years, and met Pelé. He therefore postponed his return flight to come and bow to the king of football. “Let’s say that the emotion is growing,” he says, stressing that he had already had the opportunity to go and see matches there.
“I had the opportunity to see and even be able to talk to Pelé a few years ago in this stadium. So to go into it in those moments, and the way it was organized, it’s really extremely moving”, testifies this French fan at the microphone of Europe 1. The funeral wake will last 24 hours. The legendary player of the Brazilian selection will be buried Tuesday in the intimacy of the family.
In addition, the president of Fifa Gianni Infantino was also present at the funeral wake. He announced that all FIFA member countries will soon have to name a stadium in the name of the legendary number 10 of the Brazilian selection.