By Victor Kanayo
It has been revealed that late Brazilian soccer legend Pele eventually acknowledged the only child he denied all his life in his will.
Incidentally, his offspring, a female simply identified as Sandra died in 2006.
Pele’s marriage/family life
Pele married three times and had multiple affairs which culminated in him fathering seven children, though he acknowledged only six of those children.
According to ESPN, Pele had an affair with his housemaid Anizia Machado in 1963 and bore Sandra Regina. He denied her all her life before she passed away in 2006.
The superstar also never acknowledged her all his life despite a 1991 court ruling affirming it.
It has now emerged he named her in his will and apportioned a share of his property to her two sons, as reported by Mirror.
As reported by Express, the three time World Cup winner’s final wish was to meet Sandra’s two sons – Octavio Felinto Neto and Gabriel Arantes do Nascimento and he met them on December 28, a day before he died.
Gone, but not forgotten
He eventually passed away on December 29, 2022 and received global mourning and tributes, as well as a national funeral at the Santos Stadium where he played the majority of his career.
Pele’s mother, Celeste, is unaware of her son’s death, as she was not informed by the only surviving sibling of the late star, Maria.
The mother of the legend is still alive and at 100 years, but rarely makes public appearances and still tells people around her to pray for her son’s recovery.
