Thousands of fans line up to pay their respects to Pele at 24-hour wake inside the stadium of his home team

• Football legend Pele died on Thursday aged 82 after a long battle with cancer
• Today, thousands of Brazilians are queuing to pay their final respects to him
• His coffin will be on display at the centre of Vila Belmiro, Santos’s stadium 

Thousands of Brazilians are lining up to bid a final farewell to football giant Pele today ahead of a 24-hour public wake at the stadium of his long-time team, Santos.

The oceanside home of the team nicknamed ‘Peixe’ – ‘fish’ in Portuguese – is expecting a huge influx of fans looking to honour the ‘King’ of football, who died aged 82 on Thursday after a long battle with cancer.

Stadium doors will open at 10:00 am local time (1300 GMT). The coffin bearing the remains of the only player to have won three World Cups will be displayed in the centre of the field.

Known as Vila Belmiro after the neighbourhood where it is located, the black-and-white Urbano Caldeira Stadium has a capacity of 16,000 people.

Pictured: Thousands of Brazilians are lining up to bid a final farewell to football giant Pele today ahead of a 24-hour public wake at the stadium of his long-time team, Santos

Pictured: Police work in Urbano Caldeira Stadium before football legend Pele’s funeral, which begins later this morning at the stadium, on January 2, 2023 in Santos

In the stands, three giant flags could be seen Sunday, one with an image of Pele displaying the famous number 10 on his jersey.

Another bore the message ‘Long live the king’; the third said simply, ‘Pele 82 years.’

Entry to the stadium will be allowed until 10:00 am Tuesday, officials said.

After that, a procession will be held through the streets of Santos, a port city about 75 kilometers (47 miles) from the state capital Sao Paulo.

The parade will pass the house of Pele’s mother, 100-year-old Celeste Arantes, who is unaware that her world-famous son has died. ‘She doesn’t know,’ Pele’s sister Maria Lucia do Nascimento told ESPN on Friday. ‘She is not conscious.’

The procession will end at a cemetery in Santos, where Pele will be interred in a special mausoleum.

Stadium doors will open at 10:00 am local time (1300 GMT). The coffin bearing the remains of the only player to have won three World Cups will be displayed in the centre of the field (pictured over the wall of the Santos stadium in this aerial image of the queue outside)

Pictured: Fans line up to see Pele’s tomb in front of the Vila Belmiro Stadium during the Brazilian football legend Pele’s funeral ceremony in Santos, Brazil on January 2

Pictured: A man holds a World Cup replica and wears a t-shirt with a picture of Pele on the front, while draped in a Brazilian flag, as he queues to enter the Santos stadium

Aerial view of the Urbano Caldeira Stadium ahead of football legend Pele’s funeral, which begins later this morning at the stadium on January 2

Pictured: The hearse carrying Pele’s coffin arrives to Santos as a firework goes off in the early morning ahead of the football legend’s funeral in the stadium on January 2, 2023 in Santos

Pele, the ‘King’ of football, died aged 82 on Thursday after a long battle with cancer

Pele will be buried overlooking the Santos pitch that made him famous: Click here to read more

Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pele is widely considered to have been the best player yet of the beautiful game. His death sparked a global outpouring of tributes, with his native Brazil holding three days of national mourning.

He scored 1,283 goals in a career of 21 years, most of them played at Santos.

Wreaths of flowers left by his fans have brought a splash of colour Vila Belmiro, which houses a bust and a statue of the football great.

Silvio Neves Souza, an electrician on holiday from Sao Paulo, took a moment Sunday to visit the stadium since he will not be able to attend the official ceremony.

‘I’m sure a lot of people will come to the wake, not just old people who saw him play, but also young people,’ the 54-year-old said.

Elsewhere in the city, banners with Pele’s face decorate another monument erected in his likeness. ‘I loved the world with the ball at my feet,’ read one sign.

At the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio de Janeiro, a giant poster with Pele’s image bears the word ‘eternal.’

And at the inauguration on Sunday of Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the ceremony began with a minute’s silence in Pele’s memory.

Military police in Sao Paulo state, where digital street screens also pay tribute to the prolific striker, said there would be a ‘robust’ deployment for the posthumous tributes.

Security will be strengthened at Congonhas airport in Sao Paulo ahead of the expected arrival of throngs of athletes, politicians, dignitaries and fans for the wake.

Pictureed: Fans cheer as they line up to see Pele’s tomb in front of the Vila Belmiro Stadium during the Brazilian football legend Pele’s funeral ceremony in Santos, Brazil

Pictured: Fans queue outside the Urbano Caldeira Stadium ahead of football legend Pele’s funeral, which begins later this morning at the stadium on January 2

Pictured: Tributes inside Vila Belmiro stadium before the start of the wake for Brazilian soccer legend Pele in Santos, in Sao Paulo on January 2

Pictured: A man carries a flower wreath inside Vila Belmiro stadium before the start of the wake for Brazilian soccer legend Pele in Santos, in Sao Paulo on January 2

Aerial view of the Urbano Caldeira Stadium ahead of football legend Pele’s funeral, which begins later this morning at the stadium on January 2

Pele’s body arrived under fireworks in Santos – a city of about 430,000 people – in the early hours of Monday, from hospital.

On Tuesday, a procession carrying his coffin will pass through the streets of Santos, ending at the Ecumenical Memorial Necropolis cemetery, where he will be buried in a private ceremony.

Santos’ press office said some 5,000 journalists from all over the world had been accredited to cover the wake. People started gathering outside the stadium on Sunday, taking pictures next to a statue of Pele.

Street vendors were selling Santos and Brazil jerseys with his name. Inside the stadium, the structure for the wake was ready amid messages such as ‘Long live the King’ and ‘The only man to stop a war.’

Several authorities are expected to attend the memorial, including newly sworn-in Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin – a longtime Santos supporter – and FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

‘I’ll be here all day, 24 hours, from 10 a.m. to 10 a.m.,’ fan Roberto Santos said. ‘Pele deserves it’. 

Pictured: Pele jerseys are seen available for sale outside Urbano Caldeira Stadium ahead of football legend Pele’s funeral

Pictured: Football fans line up to attend the funeral of the late Brazilian soccer legend Pele at the Vila Belmiro stadium in Santos, January 2

Pictured: An elderly fan of Santos is seen looking through a window ahead of Pele’s wake

Pictured: A child waits for the start of the wake for Brazilian soccer legend Pele taking place at Vila Belmiro stadium in Santos, Sao Paulo on January 2

Pele had been hospitalised at the Albert Einstein Hospital for a month until his death on December 29.

‘We were with him’ on December 21, his sister recounted. ‘It was very quiet, we talked a little, but I already sensed that he was feeling it, he already knew he was leaving.’

Born on October 23, 1940, Pele grew up selling peanuts on the street to help his impoverished family.

He got his famous nickname after mispronouncing Bile, the name of a goalkeeper at Vasco de Sao Lourenco, where his footballer father once played.

Pele exploded onto the scene at age 15, when he started playing professionally with Santos.

At just 17, he helped Brazil to its first World Cup championship, in 1958. That was followed by World Cup titles in 1962 and 1970. The latter marked the pinnacle of his career, as he starred on what many consider the greatest team of all time.

Pele had been in increasingly fragile health in recent years.

He remained active on social media, cheering on Brazil during the World Cup in Qatar and consoling the pre-tournament favourites when they were eliminated in the quarter-finals just three weeks before his death.

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