Today, Friday, the English and French Leagues and the Italian Football Association announced honoring the Brazilian legend Pele, who died yesterday after a long struggle with colon cancer, with a minute of silence and applause before the start of the matches, following the example of the Spanish Federation’s initiative on Thursday.
In turn, the President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) said - today - that "King Pele" was a unique source of inspiration for the continent, stressing that he "will live forever in the hearts of football fans."
And the Premier League said that Pele will be honored before the opening matches of the 18th stage today, between Liverpool and Leicester City, and West Ham United and Brentford.
In tribute to Pele, Premier League clubs will remember his contribution to football during Matchweek 18 (Dec 30-Jan 1) by holding a minute's applause prior to kick-offs.
Players and match officials will wear black armbands.
https://t.co/BpufJGGcda
— Premier League (@premierleague) December 30, 2022
She added that the players and referees will wear black armbands, and clap for a minute before the start of the two matches.
And the Premier League continued: The honor will be renewed in all stage matches, Saturday and Sunday, and a picture of Pele will be shown on the stadium screens.
Eterno O REI ❤️🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/lPVpDeejYu
- Lega Serie A (@SerieA) December 29, 2022
For its part, the Italian Federation announced that the players will observe a minute of silence in the stadiums during the next stage of the league.
"On the occasion of all the friendly matches scheduled for Friday and the 16th stage of the First Division that will be held on Wednesday, January 4, the federation calls for a minute of silence in memory of Pele," he said in a statement.
For its part, the French League announced that the matches of the 17th stage of the first and second divisions, starting from Friday, will witness the allocation of a minute of applause for the legend.
King Pelé 👑🙏 pic.twitter.com/SNTBM6aNqB
- Ligue 1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) December 29, 2022
The French League said that a picture of Pele with the World Cup won by Brazil in 1970 (the third title in its history at the time) will be shown on the screens.
The King.
O Rei.
Pelé.
🕊️🖤🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/FNyJfb3grj
— LaLiga English (@LaLigaEN) December 30, 2022
The Spanish League was the first to honor Pele by announcing Thursday - in a statement - that a minute of silence would be observed before each of the 15th round matches from Thursday to Saturday evening.
Atletico Madrid and Elche were the first to respect this initiative, as the players stood - yesterday - around the central circle before the start of the match.
The players of both teams also wore a black armband in honor of Pele.
For his part, South African Patrice Motsepe (who is CAF president) considered Pele's death "a huge loss for football fans and amateurs."
He also saluted Pele's "commitment to improving the lives of the poor and marginalized".
Pele, the only one to win the World Cup 3 times, died on Thursday at the age of 82.
The death of Pele, who is considered the best soccer player in history, sparked a wave of emotion in the whole world at a time when Brazil declared a national mourning for 3 days.