Pele, the iconic Brazilian soccer player who climbed from poverty to become one of the finest and most famous sportsmen of the modern era, passed away on Thursday at the age of 82.
The Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo, where Pele was receiving treatment, said that he passed away at 3:27 p.m.
“due to multiple organ failures resulting from the progression of colon cancer associated with his previous medical condition.”
“Inspiration and love marked the journey of King Pele, who peacefully passed away today,” it read, adding he had “enchanted the world with his genius in sport, stopped a war, carried out social works all over the world and spread what he most believed to be the cure for all our problems: love.”
