Antonio da Paz from Bahia, 69, Swiss-Italian Gianni Infantino, 52, Emílio Carmo from São Paulo, 58, Paraguayan Alejandro Domínguez, 50, Adriana Bonfim from Brasília, 53 and Paulo Roberto Falcão from Santa Catarina, 69. People from different parts of the world. From the most diverse areas. From different generations, religions and beliefs. From a street vendor's assistant, to the president of FIFA. Political authorities, past and present players. Santos supporters or not.
Everyone who stopped by Vila Belmiro this Monday (2) went through the same struggle: putting into words the importance of Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pelé.
The mere presence of each of them at the wake of the King of football is one way of expressing the greatness of the only player in history to win three World Cups.
In the early hours of the morning, lines began to form around the Vila, where Pelé's body had been laid to rest. During the day, even under a scorching sun of almost 30°C, lines reached more than 1.5 km, occupying streets around the stadium. Some took up to three hours just to get inside. According to Santos, over 27,000 people stopped by the field to pay their last respects until early Monday evening.
Translated by Cassy Dias