The “King” is crying in heaven: Brazil’s football legend Pele would have been “sad” about the current crisis in his home country’s national team. His son Edinho (53) told the AFP news agency a few days before the first anniversary of his father’s death on Friday.
“This crisis did not happen overnight, there are big and complex problems,” said Edinho, who is one of seven children of Pele, who died in 2022. Brazil is experiencing “a decline” in the Selecao, he explained: “We still have great players, but in earlier times we had more players at a high level than today.”
In fact, the record world champion is having great difficulties in qualifying for the 2026 finals in North America. In sixth place, the five-time title winner occupies the last place that would be enough to take part, just ahead of Paraguay and Chile. The Selecao recently lost three games in a row, including the “Superclasico” against world champions Argentina (0-1).
But there would have been even more reason for icon Pele to be sad: his heart club FC Santos, for which he played for almost his entire career, was relegated for the first time in the club’s history a good three weeks ago. Had Pele experienced these disappointments, there is “no doubt, he would have been very sad,” assured Edinho. Santos’ crash was “unfortunately not a surprise”.