Brazilian football legend Pele dies at 82 after long cancer battle

Brazil's football legend Pele died at the age of 82 following a long battle with cancer on Friday (December 30). Recently, the eldest daughter of Pele said her father "was still in the fight" against cancer. The legendary footballer has left the football community along with the world sad after the shocking news. 

His daughter again posted holding his hand along with other family members with an emotional caption as a tribute to his father, who was the greatest footballer of all-time.

"Everything we are is thanks to you,” Nascimento wrote. “We love you infinitely. Rest in peace.”

A inspiração e o amor marcaram a jornada de Rei Pelé, que faleceu no dia de hoje.

Amor, amor e amor, para sempre.
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Inspiration and love marked the journey of King Pelé, who peacefully passed away today.

Love, love and love, forever. pic.twitter.com/CP9syIdL3i — Pelé (@Pele) December 29, 2022

"Inspiration and love marked the journey of King Pelé, who peacefully passed away today. Love, love and love, forever," was tweeted by Pele's official Twitter handle informing the world about the sad news for his fans and the football community.

Called by various names such as 'Gasolina', 'The Black Pearl' and 'O Rei' (The King), the nickname that stuck like glue to Edson Arantes do Nascimento, who, as 'Pele', became the greatest footballer the world has ever known. It is with that name he left the world as the most cherished and loved sports star we have ever seen.

Labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, football's world governing body, named Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee in 1999 and included in TIME Magazine's list of 100 most important people of the 20th century, Pele was in 2000 voted World Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) and was one of the two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the Century award.

But for millions of fans of the game around the globe, Pele was the first person who made football Jogo Bonito, "the beautiful game".

He was the original No. 10 of world football, a number now sported by Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbapp. He was the genius who played the game with passion and was so unstoppable that fouling him was the only option for the numerous defenders that he faced. A player of sublime skills, great presence in the field, immaculate positional sense, magical dribbling skills, two brilliant feet and a devastatingly powerful shot, right-footed Pele was thus far the only footballer to have lifted the World Cup thrice -- 1958, 1962 and 1970. (With IANS inputs)