<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">An emotional Brazil began paying its final respects Monday to football legend Pele with a wake at the stadium where he first took the world's breath away with his dazzling skill.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Throughout the day, thousands of fans and football dignitaries slowly filed through the Vila Belmiro, home to Pele's longtime club, Santos.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">More continued to join the queue as night fell, waiting their turn to walk past the body of "O Rei" (The King), lying at the center of the field.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pele's coffin was draped in the flags of Santos and Brazil and surrounded by white flowers, including bouquets from the likes of Real Madrid or current Brazil star Neymar, whose father was in attendance.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his wife also sent a wreath, local media reported.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lula's office announced earlier that he would attend the wake on Tuesday morning, less than 48 hours after taking office, to "pay his respects and tribute," before a funeral procession and interment later in the day.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pele, a three-time World Cup winner widely considered the greatest footballer of all time, died Thursday at age 82 after a battle with cancer.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who attended the wake with the heads of the South American and Brazilian football confederations, said the sport's governing body would ask all member countries to name a stadium in Pele's honor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"Pele is eternal. He's a global icon of football," he told journalists in Santos, a southeastern port city 75 kilometers (45 miles) from Sao Paulo.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Carlos Mota and his 12-year-old son Bernardo had traveled more than 500 kilometers from Rio de Janeiro to pay tribute to their hero.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"My whole childhood was influenced by what Pele did for Brazil, by his World Cup wins. He was a national idol," Mota, 59, told AFP.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I've always told my son, there are three indisputable facts: the ball is round, the grass is green and Pele is the greatest of all time."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bernardo clearly took the lesson to heart.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I never saw Pele play, but I've seen the videos. He's the greatest player who ever walked the Earth," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Seventy-five-year-old retiree Vera Lucia, who had made the trip from Sao Paulo, was also braving the scorching sun to stand in line, which stretched to two kilometers in the early afternoon.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I'm just devastated," she said. "We always loved watching his matches as a family."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Tributes to 'eternal' star -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pele exploded onto the scene at age 15, when he made his professional debut with Santos.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He went on to win the World Cup three times with Brazil, in 1958, 1962 and 1970 -- the only player in history to achieve the feat.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tributes have poured in from around the world since his death, with a Who's Who of current and former football greats hailing his genius for the "beautiful game."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A stream of athletes, politicians, dignitaries and fans are expected in Santos for the wake, though turnout may be dented somewhat by the New Year's holiday weekend.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some 7,000 people had filed past the casket by mid-afternoon, according to Brazil's TV Globo.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pele's coffin was carried into the stadium by pallbearers dressed in black, led by his son Edinho.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The late icon's widow, Marcia Cibele Aoki, his third wife, whom he married in 2016, cried before his open casket as she reached out to touch his head. She also placed a rosary in his coffin.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- National mourning -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Other tributes have come in from around Brazil, which held three days of national mourning.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio, a giant poster with Pele's image bears the word "eternal."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And Lula's inauguration Sunday began with a minute's silence in Pele's memory.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pele had been in fragile health, suffering from kidney problems and then colon cancer.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But he remained active on social media, cheering on Brazil from his hospital bed in Sao Paulo during the World Cup in Qatar and consoling the pre-tournament favorites when they were eliminated in the quarter-finals, three weeks before his death.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The wake will be followed by a funeral procession Tuesday through Santos, including past the house of Pele's mother, 100-year-old Celeste Arantes, who is still alive.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The procession will end at Santos's Memorial Cemetery, where a Catholic funeral service will be held before Pele is interred in a special mausoleum. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>