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Sao Paulo, Brazil | Xinhua | The funeral of Brazilian football legend Pele will be held at the home of his former club Santos on Monday.
The event at the Vila Belmiro stadium, around 50km southeast of Sao Paulo, will be open to the public, Santos said in a statement on Thursday.
Pele died at Sao Paulo’s Albert Einstein hospital on Thursday after a battle with cancer. He was 82.
Funeral proceedings are scheduled to begin at 10am on Monday after the coffin carrying the former Santos and New York Cosmos No. 10 is transported from the hospital to the stadium’s center circle.
The casket will then be carried through the streets of Santos before being taken to the Memorial Necropole Ecumenic cemetery for a private burial service.
Pele, whose given name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, had been hospitalized since late November for treatment of a respiratory infection and other cancer-related complications.
On December 21, his eldest daughter, Kely Cristina Nascimento, announced her father would spend Christmas in hospital because he required “more extensive care”.
Considered by many as the greatest footballer of all time, Pele is the only player to win the World Cup three times, having lifted the sport’s most prestigious trophy in 1958, 1962 and 1970.
His celebrated career included 732 goals in 792 games for club and country. His Brazil record of 77 international goals was equaled by Neymar in the South American team’s World Cup quarterfinal defeat to Croatia in early December.
