King Pelé is dead, long live the king! This Thursday, December 29, 2022, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as Pelé died at the age of 82, following colon cancer, at Albert-Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo. The announcement of his disappearance, made by one of his daughters, Kely Nascimento, mourned the world of football around the world, resulting in three days of national mourning in Brazil.

Considered football’s greatest legend, Pelé was “a genius striker who revolutionized the practice of football”, according to AFP. According to his immense record, the great Brazilian footballer is the only one to have won the World Cup three times (in 1958, 1962 and 1970). Elected athlete of the century by the International Olympic Committee in 1999, he inspired great renowned players such as Kylian Mbappé, Neymar and Lionel Messi.

The sudden disappearance of Pelé, whose funeral will be celebrated on Monday January 2, leaves a huge void within his family. Married three times, the Brazilian footballer shared the life of Rosemeri dos Reis Cholbi (1966-1982), Assiria Lemos Seixas (1994-2008) and Marcia Cibele Aoki, whom he married in 2016.

As Le Point relays, King Pelé had met “his definitive love” 26 years his junior in New York in the 1980s. But the couple started dating seriously in 2010 “when they met in an elevator of Sao Paulo”. This Japanese is a businesswoman who formalized her relationship with the footballer by accompanying him on the red carpets, but also during his numerous hospitalizations.

If the couple never founded their family, Pelé was the father of a large family of seven children. A secret and complex personal life that has long fueled the media. While his young widow has yet to speak publicly about his death, Pelé’s loved ones have been there by his side, giving fans updates just days before his death. Focus on the last years of de Pelé’s life in pictures.