Pelé is dead, but Pelé is "immortal": the media around the world salute the legendary Brazilian, who died Thursday December 29 at the age of 82, the only winner of three World Cups and who gave "futebol" its hours of glory and letters of nobility.

The images of the "King" and the comments are looping on televisions around the world, flooding social networks and engulfing the front pages of newspaper websites, before their publication.

"Mourning" for the "immortal king of football", headlines the Brazilian daily O Globo on its site, with images of the player in the national jersey, in particular the iconic one, where all smiles, he raises his right arm, carried by his teammate Jairzinho seen from behind with his number 7.

"Pelé is dead, footbal loses its king", headlines O Estado de S. Paulo, a man who, according to Folha de Sao Paulo, "showed the power of sport and pushed the limits of fame".

On the website of this Paulista newspaper, Juca Kfouri praises the "best player in history" and quotes the writer Carlos Drummond de Andrade (1902-1987): "It is not difficult to score a thousand goals like Pelé: what is difficult is to score a goal like Pelé". 

This journalist, who is authoritative in Brazil, concludes his beautiful obituary thus: "No, it is not true that Pelé is dead. The one who died is Edson" - the first name of Edson Arantes do Nascimento, says Pele.

In Argentina, country of Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, who are also applying for the unofficial title of best player of all time, Clarin sees in Pelé "the first great football star", a "great among the greats" according to Luis Vinker.

"The ball is crying: Pelé is dead", title Olé.

And the Argentine sports daily is a good player: "Beyond the rivalry that exists between Argentina and Brazil, no one can doubt that Pelé was one of the greatest footballers in history, for many the best. beyond Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi. What is certain is that he marked an era since his teenage debut, both with Santos and the Brazil national team".

Still in Latin America, the Mexican press favors the image of "Rei" celebrating his 3rd world title in 1970, at the Azteca stadium in Mexico City, carried by his teammates, shirtless and wearing a sombrero.

"Football is in mourning", title El Universal.

In Ecuador, El Universo de Guayaquil says "farewell to Pelé, the supernatural footballer".   

"The greatest" and "the most beautiful"

In the United States, a country much less focused on the king sport, the New York Times evokes the disappearance of the "global face of soccer", which "helped to popularize this sport in the United States", during its visit to Cosmos New York (1975-1977).

"Brazil and the world in mourning: there was only one Pelé", recognizes the Washington Post, on the site of which the sports journalist Liz Clarke writes: "We nicknamed him the king of football, but it is the other nickname of Pelé - the 'Pérola Negra', or Black Pearl - which best evokes the rare intelligence that he contained in his small frame".

It is also this extraordinary talent that Vincent Duluc magnifies in L'Équipe (22 special Pelé pages): "Behind the sadness hides the happiness of having seen him play, of having seen him dance, even on images old, and to have seen it give another meaning to the most universal game on the planet".

The editorialist of the French sports daily ends his column with a sigh of "saudade" thinking of the Brazilian No. 10 and the 1970 World Cup, "he was the greatest, and she was the most beautiful".

🗞🇧🇷 "Pelé, he was a King"



The front page of L'Équipe newspaper on Friday December 30, read the edition > https://t.co/aPoUTl2x9R pic.twitter.com/wa3LdJoBEB

– THE TEAM (@lequipe) December 30, 2022

The biggest?

This is also the opinion of the French newspaper Le Monde about the "absolute monarch of the round ball".

"O Rei. The king, quite simply. With all of his attributes. His crown, never disputed, not even by Cruyff, Platini, Maradona, Zidane, Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo", advances Bruno Lesprit.

Liberation, always watched for its front page during the deaths of personalities, offers a surprising photo: we see Pelé on a field, in shorts and shirtless, but a long coat placed on the shoulders, and looking back (photo taken in Liverpool in 1966 after a Brazil-Portugal).

The title "Seleciao" contains a play on words ("Seleçao" and tchao) and Paul Quinio's editorial, titled "Forever the first", likes to imagine Pelé completing a "fantastic four gang" with Diego Maradona, Johan Cruyff and George Best: "They are so different, probably wouldn't have gotten along down here in a locker room, but the joy, the fire, the tactics, the alcohol, mix where they are now in a extraterrestrial, almost childlike harmony".   

"Absolute Legend"

So the biggest?

"Pelé was better than Messi, Maradona and Ronaldo together," says Alfred Draxler, sports editor of German tabloid Bild.

Die Zeit, still in Germany, recalls that Pelé "started barefoot in the streets of Bauru and became the footballer of the century".

"I thought Messi was the best of all time, but now I realize it's Pele," said John Carlin of Britain's The Times.

Richard Williams, of the Guardian, retains "the joy" that emanated from Pelé: "The world's first football superstar made everyone smile and his sleight of hand was never meant to belittle his opponents".

"Pelé will always be associated with the 'beautiful game' - and no one has played it more beautifully," says the BBC's Phil McNulty in his obituary.

"Pelé, the 'black pearl' who enchanted the world, is no more", headlines The Times of India.

"Absolute legend", abounds Today Morocco.

Similar tone in Spain, where El Pais celebrates "Pelé, world football in four letters".

La Vanguardia evokes "the last great legend of world football", and Marca highlights on its site the portrait of the young Pelé with a crown on his head, the years 1940 and 2022, and a black border, the color of mourning.

The sports daily also links the video "which shows that all the great actions of Cruyff, Zidane, Messi... Pelé had already invented them".

🔊 Podcast 'Hoy en EL PAÍS' |

Pelé, the end of an era.

Fallece el único futbolista que consiguió ganar tres Mundiales, y hacemos un repaso por su carrera con los periodistas Íñigo Domínguez, David Álvarez, Naiara Galarraga Gortázar y Enric González 👉 https://t.co/MK1ANxpgLg pic.twitter.com/bQV9p1j7ZF

— EL PAÍS (@el_pais) December 30, 2022

El Mundo recalls "the two most beautiful goals in history", regretting that we "cannot see them" for lack of any video recording: a goal in 1959, after four shots from the sombrero, and another in 1961, when Pelé receives the ball in front of his surface, eliminates seven opponents and scores his goal.

"The world of football is losing its 'Rei'", laments La Stampa, in Italy.

On the website of the Turin daily, Matteo Giusti begins his article with a quote attributed to the Brazilian writer Jorge Amado: "If football had not been called that, it should have been called Pelé".

With AFP

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