Pele's funeral: Santos bid final goodbye to Brazilian legend

A hearse arrived late Sunday 1 January at Sao Paulo's Israeli Albert Einstein Hospital, where soccer star Pele's remains are getting ready for transport ahead of what is expected to be a massive funeral for the three times World Cup champion. The legend’s body will set off to his hometown club Santos for a wake on Monday, 2 January. 

A fireworks display greeted the convoy carrying Brazilian soccer star Pele’s coffin on Monday, 2 January, as it headed for his hometown club Santos ahead of a wake. A hearse escorted by a motorcade left Sao Paulo’s Albert Einstein Hospital, where Pele died on Thursday (29 December), in the early hours to Santos where a wake and memorial are set to take place in the coming days. 

The coffin of Brazilian soccer legend Pele arrived at a stadium in Santos on Monday morning ahead of a wake. Drone footage showed the hearse driving through Santos in the early hours of Monday morning. Santos, the club where Pele played, in a statement said that the public would be able to pay tribute at the stadium. On 1 January, Premier League teams Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Chelsea paid tributes to Pele before the start of their respective matches. A minute's applause was also observed in the stadiums.

A general view shows the Vila Belmiro stadium before the start of the wake for Brazilian soccer legend Pele in Santos city, in Sao Paulo on 2 January 2. A 24-hour wake for Pele will be held at Vila Belmiro stadium in Santos starting 2 January, following by what is expected to be a massive funeral procession through the city before his burial at Santos's Necropole Memorial Cemetery in a private ceremony on 3 January.

A football fan remains outside the Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital, where the Brazilian football legend Pele died after a long battle with cancer, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Tributes poured in from across Brazil and beyond Friday for football legend Pele, as the country held three days of mourning for the player widely regarded as the greatest of all time after his death at age 82. 
 

General view of the Necropole Memorial Cemetery, where Brazilian football legend Pele will be buried on January 3 after dying on 29 December 2022. It was Pele's last wish to choose the ninth floor of a cemetery in his beloved home city of Santos for his final resting place which is a special poignant homage to his dear dad who always wore the Number 9 shirt as a player.

People headed by the son of late Brazilian football legend Pele, Edinho, transports his coffin into the Urbano Caldeira stadium in Santos, Sao Paulo. Brazilians bid a final farewell this week to football giant Pele, starting Monday with a 24-hour public wake at the stadium of his long-time team, Santos. Hundreds of fans file into Santos FC stadium for a final tribute to 'King' Pele, whose coffin lies in the centre of the pitch

Pele's wife Marcia Aoki, son Edinho, FIFA president Gianni Infantino and CONMEBOL chief Alejandro Dominguez pay final respects on Monday to football legend Pele during a 24-hour wake at the stadium where he first took the world's breath away with his exploits. Hundreds of fans also fill into Santos FC stadium for a final tribute to 'King' Pele, whose coffin lies in the centre of the pitch. FIFA president Gianni Infantino joins the crowd to pay his respects to the football legend.

Maracana stadium is illuminated with a golden light in honour of Brazilian football legend Pele, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on the day of his passing at a Sao Paulo hospital. Brazilian football icon Pele, widely regarded as the greatest player of all time and a three-time World Cup winner who masterminded the "beautiful game," died on Thursday at the age of 82. A flag of Brazil and a flag of Santos are seen on top of the coffin of Brazilian football legend Pele during his wake at the Urbano Caldeira stadium in Santos, Sao Paulo, Brazil on 2 January, 2023. 
 

Mourners queue to see Pele's coffin in the Urbano Caldeira Stadium, the home ground of the Brazilian football legend's longtime club, Santos. For 24 hours, ahead of a funeral procession and burial scheduled for Tuesday, Pele's coffin has been been placed in the middle of the pitch for members of the public to pay their last respects to "O Rei" (the King).

A crown and the logo of Brazilian team Santos are projected on a screen at the Urbano Caldeira stadium, also known as Vila Belmiro, during the wake of Brazilian football legend Pele, in Santos, Sao Paulo State.