Entertainment world pays tribute to Brazilian football player Pelé, who has died

29 December, 2022

Pelé

The entertainment world has paid tribute to Brazilian football player Pelé following the news of his death earlier today (December 29), aged 82.

The death of the football star – often called the greatest player to ever live – was confirmed by the Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital in São Paulo in a statement. It said the athlete had died “due to the failure of multiple organs, a result of the progression of colon cancer associated with his previous clinical condition”, per Sky News.

Pelé’s daughter Kely Nascimento also posted a photo to Instagram of what looked like the hands of Pelé’s family on his body. “Everything we are is thanks to you,” Nascimento wrote in the caption. “We love you infinitely. Rest in peace.”

A message shared on the star’s official social media accounts read: “Inspiration and love marked the journey of King Pelé, who peacefully passed away today. On his journey, Edson enchanted the world with his genius in sport, stopped a war, carried out social works all over the world and spread what he most believed to be the cure for all our problems: love.

 

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A post shared by Pelé (@pele)

“His message today becomes a legacy for future generations. Love, love and love, forever.”

During his career, Pelé scored a world record 1,281 goals in 1,363 appearances, including 77 goals in 92 matches where he represented Brazil. He is the only player to win the World Cup three times – in 1958 at the age of 17, and then again in 1962 and 1970 – and was named the Player Of The Century by FIFA in 2000.

Stars of the entertainment world have begun to pay tribute to Pelé, with Burna Boy tweeting: “RIP Pele. A man with a strong legacy that will be remembered FOREVER. Legends Never Die they are always Remembered in the hearts of the People.”

See more tributes below.

In 2020, Pelé teamed up with Rodrigo y Gabriela to release a collaborative track titled ‘Acredita No Véio (Listen To The Old Man)’. The unlikely team-up saw the Brazilian legend take on vocal duties over the masterful guitar work of the Mexican duo.

Pelé originally wrote the song alongside Brazilian musician Ruria Duprat in 2005, but it received a new musical twist after Rodrigo Y Gabriela came on board. In a statement at the time of the new version’s release, the football icon said he “didn’t want the public to make the comparison between Pelé the composer and Pelé the footballer”.

“That would have been a huge injustice – in football, my talent was a gift from God; music was just for fun,” he explained. “I wrote this one because when I used to play with Santos, the coach used to say that when we lost, it was the players’ fault, but when we won, it was the macumba (black magic) had helped. The song is joking about that – of course, macumba doesn’t win games at all.”

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