Folha reports record that Pelé’s locker was opened in 1990

During Pelé’s wake, the president of Santos, Andres Rueda, said that the closet used by the King in Vila Belmiro would be locked. The player, who left the club in 1974, reportedly locked it at the time, took the key away and left an unidentified object inside.

“They say it was to bring luck to Santos,” said the manager.

But the closet was not only opened but also used after the King’s farewell.

“This was my father’s locker. I used it when I arrived at Santos”, recalled Edinho, Pelé’s son, to Sheetin 2020, in Vila Belmiro.

Before that, in 2012, also in an interview with Sheet, Pelé himself declared that he does not understand where the mystery about the closet comes from. He also said that “there’s nothing important there”.

Two reports published by the newspaper in 1990 and its photographic collection prove that the space was used without great ceremony.

The first of these reports was published on September 20, when Edinho, aged 20, began his football career at Santos. The young goalkeeper, at the time the only son of the King, posed for photojournalist Luiz Carlos Murauskas next to the closet and talked about his football plans.

In one of the images, which was never published by the newspaper, you can see the open closet. On a landing, there is an image of Our Lady next to a product that appears to be shaving cream. On another level there are papers, similar to magazines and newspapers.

The text highlights that the closet will remain closed for 16 years. Upon Edinho’s arrival, “he was already prepared, with the key, a goalkeeper’s shirt and training pants.” “I felt very proud. For me, he is my father and he is also Pelé. I’m a fan of his, like everyone else”, said the archer.

A month later, Pelé himself used the closet, sharing it with his son. He was getting ready for the friendly commemorative of his 50th birthday, in Italy, where the Brazilian team would face a combination of players from other countries.

The King did physical work at Vila Belmiro and had his passage registered by the Sheet. The newspaper only published a photo with father and son posed side by side. But the collection has an image captured by photojournalist Luiz Paulo Lima in which Pelé gives an interview in the locker room –dressed only in underwear, as was common–, in front of the open closet.

The report consulted Santos about the source of the information that the locker had never been opened and about the object that would have been left in it by the former player, but received no response.