Fans of the Brazilian legend roam the city of 75,000 people, looking for rare memories of Pelé, who was born there into a poor family and spent the first years of his life there.

It has been exactly a month since Pelé was admitted to Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo, where he had been undergoing chemotherapy for colon cancer since the end of 2021.

In its last bulletin eight days ago, the hospital mentioned the progression of Pelé's cancer as well as “kidney and heart failure”.

The small town of Tres Coraçoes (Three Hearts) is located equidistant, about 250 km, from the three major metropolises Belo Horizonte, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and is surrounded by coffee plantations.

Its fame, it owes it to a single fact: the birth, in 1940, of Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pelé.

Very young, Pelé had changed town, before starting his career as a teenager at Santos FC, near Sao Paulo, where there is a Pelé museum, which presents the majority of his memories.

Photo taken on December 28, 2022 of a statue erected in honor of Brazilian football player Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as "Pelé", in his hometown of Tres Coracoes, in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil.

Pelé, 82, is currently hospitalized in a hospital in Sao Paulo with cancer.

© DOUGLAS MAGNO / AFP

In Tres Coraçoes, the worsening of his illness brought more visitors to the Pelé House, a replica of his first home, located on a steep street, with low houses, and which bears his name.

"I had never been to this house, which is already ten years old," Neilor Henrique, a 41-year-old neighbor, told AFP-TV.

"But the announcement of her hospitalization made me want to visit her".

Built based on the memories of Pelé's mother, Celeste Arantes do Nascimento, who turns 100 today, the house shows the family's humble origins: the bare minimum of wooden furniture, straw mattresses, an old radio, a framed portrait of the parents on a wall.

- Huge statue -

A few hundred meters away, the small Terra do Rei (King's Land) museum exhibits Santos jerseys signed by the ex-footballer, a ball he played with and his birth certificate.

But some Pele fans were hoping to see more in his hometown.

Rafael Antunes made a detour on a family trip to get there, in search of souvenirs of the "King".

"I found few traces of him in the city, almost none," said the 43-year-old entrepreneur, unimpressed by the huge statue of Pelé which sits at the entrance to Tres Coraçoes.

Photo of the birth certificate and baptismal certificate of Brazilian soccer player Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as "Pelé", taken on December 28, 2022 at the Terra do Rei Museum in his hometown of Tres Coracoes, in the state of Minas Gerais.

Pelé, 82, is currently hospitalized in a Sao Paulo hospital where he is being treated for cancer.

© DOUGLAS MAGNO / AFP

"I find it shows a certain lack of respect for the role he has played for football and our country," he says of the only footballer to ever win the World Cup three times.

But for Fernando Ortiz, family friend of the legendary number 10 of the Seleçao, the explanation comes from elsewhere.

"Many Brazilians can't bear to see their compatriots succeed. And when it comes to a black Brazilian, the rejection is even stronger", explains this sixty-something man, who is at the origin of the construction of the Pelé House. .

"Alas, I think that if Pelé had been a light-eyed white man, he would have been accepted by all".

© 2022 AFP