By Victor Kanayo
Day after his demise, Monday January 2, 2023 has been scheduled for the burial of late World soccer icon Pele.
This was disclosed in a statement by his former Brazil club Santos.
The statement made available on Friday reads, “The body of the greatest football player of all time will be laid to rest at Estadio Urbano Caldeira, in Vila Belmiro, where he enchanted the world.
“The body will go straight from the Albert Einstein Hospital to the Stadium at dawn on Monday [January 2] and the coffin will be placed in the centre of the lawn.
“The public wake is expected to begin at 10am.”
Meanwhile, the outgoing Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro has declared three days of mourning for the football legend, who died on Thursday, December 29, 2022.
Pele, died in a Brazilian hospital where he received treatment since November while he suffered from advanced colon cancer.
Bolsonaro, who will depart as president on January 1, wrote a decree that said, per Brazilian news outlet G1: “Official mourning is declared throughout the country, for a period of three days, counted from the date of publication of this Decree, as a sign of regret for the death of Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pele, a former football player.”
Pele was one of the most celebrated footballers of all time, winning the World Cup three times – in 1958, 1962 and 1970.
He also remains Brazil’s joint-top all-time goalscorer, alongside Neymar, with 77 goals and scored a remarkable 643 goals in 659 games for Santos.
Pele scored 1,282 goals in 1,366 games in his football career, which included 77 in 92 appearances for his country.
