The memorial service for Brazilian football legend Pele will be held at the stadium of his former football club Santos, from an eponymous city in the state of Sao Paolo, the G1 news portal reported, Trend reports citing TASS.
According to the report, deliveries of various equipment to the stadium for a large-scale public funeral ceremony began shortly after doctors reported that Pele’s health was deteriorating. The ceremony is expected to continue for 36 hours.
The coffin will be displayed in the center of the field, where Pele started his football career for Santos in November 1956 and where he kneeled to bid farewell to the club in 1974.
Mourners will be allowed in via Gates 1 and 2. They will leave the stadium via Gate 7. They will not be permitted to stop near the coffin.
The portal reported that the club’s administration and city authorities started drafting the contingency plan a few months ago, designing protocols similar to those used during the lying-in-state and funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.
All preparations at the stadium have already been completed, the report says.
The date of the ceremony is yet to be announced.
After the memorial service is over, the hearse, accompanied by a police convoy, will drive along the streets of Santos, passing by the house once owned by Pele’s mother.
The famous footballer will be laid to rest at the Memorial Necropole Ecumenica, the world's tallest cemetery where Pele's friends and relatives are also buried. This part of the ceremony will be closed for the public and officials.
The mayor of Santos, Rogerio Santos, announced a seven-day mourning period in the city over Pele’s death.
Brazilian football legend Pele died of multiple organ failure at the age of 82 on Thursday, the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in Sao Paolo said. He was admitted to the hospital a month earlier, as his health deteriorated due to progressing colon cancer.