Pele’s funeral plans and location announced
Pele’s body will be moved to Santos’ stadium, the place where he made his name, ahead of a public wake on Monday.
The Brazilian football legend, who last night died aged 82, will be taken from the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo to the Estadio Urbano Caldeira at dawn on New Year’s Day.
His coffin will then be placed on the pitch with the public ceremony, where fans will be given the chance to pay their respects to the three-time World Cup winner, expected to start at 10am.
The wake will last for 24 hours before a parade through the streets of Santos, a satellite town of Sao Paulo, on Tuesday. Millions are expected to descend onto the streets of cities around Brazil to honour the former Santos striker, who died of colon cancer on Thursday.
Preparations for the ceremony have already begun, with pictures appearing to show stands being erected at the stadium, in the suburb of Vila Belmiro.
Santos, where Pele spent the vast majority of his career, is currently observing a week’s mourning. The club have added a crown to their crest, between the stars representing the Intercontinental Cup titles he helped them win in 1962 and 1963.
Commemorations will take place at all Premier League and Football League matches this weekend. Fifa, the world governing body, told Telegraph Sport it had issued a circular to member associations calling upon all competitions to hold “a minute of silence ahead of every football match this upcoming weekend and the week thereafter”.
Flags at Fifa headquarters will be flown at half-mast for the next week too while some fans have also called for Fifa to rename the World Cup trophy.
