Pele, the legendary Brazilian football star has died at the age of 82, confirmed his daughters, Kely Nascimento, on Instagram on Thursday.
According to the details, the football legend, who became one of the greatest and best-known athletes of the modern history, had been in and out of the hospital in recent months after a tumor was found on his colon.
Pele had surgery to remove the tumor from his colon in September 2021 at the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo and his daughter used to regularly post updates about her father’s health from the hospital on social media.
On Thursday, she posted a photo of what appeared to be Pele’s family’s hand on his body and wrote the caption, “Everything we are is thanks to you. We love you infinitely. Rest in peace.” Later, the hospital also confirmed that Pele had died due to a failure of multiple organs as a result of his colon cancer.
Pele, whose real name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, held the world record for 1,281 goals and he is the only player to ever win the World Cup three times, including 1958, 1962, and 1970. Furthermore, the football star was also named FIFA’s player of the century in 2000.
Meanwhile, Pele’s Twitter handle also announced his passing with a Tweet that read, “Inspiration and love marked the journey of King Pele, who peacefully passed away today.” adding, “Love, love and love, forever.”
