Pele issues health update as football icon undergoes treatment ‘as usual’ after end-of-life care reports

Marc Mayo3 December 2022

Football icon Pele has issued an update on his health following reports he was receiving end-of-life care.

Fans and players around the world paid tribute to the Brazil hero, 82, after it emerged that he had stopped responding to treatment for bowel cancer.

He was admitted to hospital on Tuesday having suffered a respiratory infection but, on Saturday, medical staff at Sao Paulo’s Albert Einstein Hospital stated that Pele was in a stable condition and responding well to treatment.

In a statement posted to Instagram, the three-time World Cup winner said he will continue to receive treatment “as usual”.

He wrote: “My friends, I want to keep everyone calm and positive.

“I'm strong, with a lot of hope and I follow my treatment as usual. I want to thank the entire medical and nursing team for all the care I have received.

“I have a lot of faith in God and every message of love I receive from you all over the world keeps me full of energy. And watch Brazil in the World Cup too!

“Thank you so much for everything.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT