STORY: Wearing Santos FC jerseys and wrapped in the team’s flag, some fans were seen crying outside the Albert Einstein Hospital where the icon had been undergoing treatment for colon cancer since 2021 before his death.
“Pele was part of our life. Feels like we’re losing a family member,” said tearful fan Everton Lucio. “Who didn’t dream of being Pele?”
Fans wearing Brazil and Santos soccer shirts waved flags with pictures of Pele on them, outside the Urbano Caldeira Stadium.
Pele, the legendary Brazilian soccer player who rose from barefoot poverty to become one of the greatest and best-known athletes in modern history, died on Thursday at the age of 82.
He had been in and out of hospital in recent months, and was hospitalised for the last month due to multiple health issues.
