Farewell To The King: Pelé Buried In Santos

It seemed to last forever – such was the outpouring of love, reverence, and renewed admiration that his 24-hour funeral stretched the notion of time: often dressed in the club shirt of Santos, sometimes in the yellow of Brazil, supporters and mourners filed past the coffin of Edson Arantes do Nascimento. They sang ‘Mil Gols’, threw flowers and kissed the grass of the Vila Belmiro stadium where Pelé had risen to global stardom, becoming soccer’s greatest ever player and Brazil’s number one ambassador. Outside the venue’s main entrance Clodoaldo and Antonio Lima, both Santos legends, said that there would never be another Pelé.

Last week, Pelé passed away at the age of 82 following a battle with colon cancer and on Monday and Tuesday Santos staged a grand farewell for the soccer icon. Pelé was back one last time at his beloved Vila Belmiro. Here the boy from the ‘interior’ debuted for Santos before storming onto the world stage at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. That victory signaled Pelé’s arrival and Brazil’s coming of age, a country that had been looking to find its way in the 50’s. With that victory, Brazil also dispatched its inferiority complex of the 1950 World Cup.

And so, Pelé and Brazil began their ascent, defending their title in 1962 and then falling in 1966 before cementing their reputations at the 1970 World Cup. Pelé indefinitely entered the pantheon of the gods and Brazil became the futebol nation. His career with Brazil followed the script of the Greek theater: the hero who rose, fell and ultimately triumphed.

Pelé and the Brazilians of 1970 seized the moment as well. Those grainy, chromatic images of Mexico remain etched on everyone’s mind. It was soccer in technicolor for the first time, accessible to the world, with Brazil at their best. Pelé was at the heart of the team – the standout player in the greatest team of all time – and so Pelé was essential in turning the World Cup into what it is today, an unrivalled global tv spectacular and one of the last, if not the last, cultural phenomenon that brings humanity together.

He was a trailblazer and the first genuine global superstar of any description. He transcended the game and sports. Everyone wanted a small part of Pelé – kings, queens, presidents, heads of state, celebrities, rock stars, fans, the media, hangers on and just about everyone else. They all attributed characteristics to him that he might not have possessed. At the same time, that rendered him a blank canvas and the perfect fit for a life of commercials and advertisement. It also left him open to criticism – for not speaking up for the black cause and for never criticising the military dictatorship. In line, Filipe Ferreira rejected some of the criticism, saying that Pelé had shown black people that they could be very successful.

Always being on duty took a toll on Pelé. In the end one wondered where Edson was? A lot of soccer players have difficulties to separate their playing life from their own person in later life. From Brazil’s 1970 team, it was perhaps only Tostao, a doctor after his soccer career, who succeeded in separating the two. It was also the difference between Pelé and Maradona – Diego didn’t want to be Maradona and that was part of his tragedy. He wanted to dance, to sing and to party. Pelé was the role model as well as the man of the establishment, who usurped Edson – to the point where Pelé, who would refer to himself in the third person, wondered himself who would die – Edson or Pelé?

In Santos, it became clear that Edson had passed away, but that Pelé entered eternity. Those in the queue – that often snaked for blocks with a wait time exceeding 3 hours – emphasized how important it was to pass Pelé’s memory onto the next generation and explain what Brazil had lost with the passing of the soccer legend. They wanted this funeral and the ensuing four-hour cortege to be more than just one last, long embrace of their hero, but instead be the confirmation of what they had all internalized: Pelé is eternal.