Celeste Arantes, Pelé’s mother, turned 100 on November 20, the day the World Cup in Qatar began. Although she does not know of the death of the King of football, the funeral procession in Santos this Tuesday (3) will pass by her house before the burial.
Dona Celeste was 17 years old on October 23, 1940 when she gave birth to her eldest son, who would become the best football player in history with 1,283 goals and the unprecedented feat of winning three World Cups.
Married to João Ramos do Nascimento at age 16, she later had Jair (‘Zoca’), who died in 2020 of cancer, the same disease that killed the King last Thursday (29). The youngest daughter is Maria Lúcia, with whom she lives in Santos.
Dona Celeste has always dedicated herself to taking care of her three children.
“She is fine, although she is in her little world (…) aware [de que seu filho] is not present”, said Maria Lúcia to the ESPN channel on Friday (30).
“Thank you mom”
On the occasion of his mother’s birthday, Pelé made a series of publications on his social networks. “Since I was a little child, she taught me the value of love and peace. I have more than a hundred reasons to be grateful for being her son. I share these photos with you, with a lot of emotion to celebrate this day. Thank you for all the days by your side, mom,” wrote the former star on Instagram.
Pelé accompanied the publication with three photos of mother and son at different times, in which a short lady is seen, with great resemblance to the former star.
Nine days later, the player was admitted to the Albert Einstein Hospital, in São Paulo, where he died.
A Gift Cup
Pelé lost his father, known as Dondinho, in November 1996.
The former star used to say that he promised his father he would win a World Cup after seeing him cry after the Maracanazo: Uruguay’s 2-1 upset victory over Brazil in the 1950 World Cup final, played at Maracanã, in Rio de Janeiro.
In addition to winning the first cup for the Brazilian national team in Sweden-1958, Pelé gave Dondinho, also a former player for clubs such as Atlético-MG, and the Brazilians two other World Cup trophies: Chile-1962 and Mexico-1970.
Despite his incomparable trajectory, the former star learned the virtue of modesty from his parents.
“I never thought I was better or more than anyone else. It’s the education I had”, he explained in the Netflix documentary “Pelé”.
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