The president of Santos, Andrés Rueda, said this Saturday that the club where Edson Arantes do Nascimento ‘Pelé’ was born for football will keep his number 10 shirt, as it has been discovered that this was the wish of the ‘King’ of football.
Pelé died last Thursday at the age of 82 as a result of complications from colon cancer that had been detected months before and, among the many tributes in his memory, the Santos club had considered the possibility of definitively withdrawing the number 10.
However, in statements to local media, Rueda explained that in recent days an interview that Pelé gave to a journalist in 2017 was discovered, in which he was asked directly about the possibility of Santos retiring the number 10.
“He clearly said that he did not like the idea,” said Rueda, who pointed out that, after that statement by Pelé himself, the idea has been ruled out by the club’s board of directors.
Thus, the number 10 shirt that Pelé immortalized at Santos will continue, at least for the next season, in the hands of Venezuelan Yeferson Soteldo.
This Saturday, Santos made progress in the preparations for Pelé’s wake, which will begin next Monday and last 24 hours.
It will be on the pitch of the Vila Belmiro stadium, in the city of Santos, which already has two white tents set up to receive the thousands of fans who wish to say goodbye to ‘O Rei’.
One of the tents, located in the center of the field, will house the coffin with the mortal remains of Pelé and the chairs where his relatives will sit; and the other, on one side, will be reserved for authorities.
Fans will be able to circulate on a walkway arranged on the grass, parallel to the central tent, about five meters from the place where the coffin will be located.