Football is often compared to a religion for its fans, and Francis held numerous giant masses in football stadiums during trips abroad.
Pele's New York Cosmos took on Eusebio's Boston Minutemen in a North American Soccer League (NASL) game for their first meeting since the 1966 FIFA World Cup England, when Brazil and Portugal met in the group stage at Goodison Park.
Santos won promotion back to Brazil's Serie A with a 2-0 win over Coritiba on Monday as Pele's former club secured top flight status a year after being relegated for the first time.
Yamal started for Spain in the final a day after celebrating his 17th birthday and became the youngest player ever to play in a major international final, breaking a record Pele had set way back in the 1958 World Cup final.
Sixteen-year-old Yamal eclipsed Brazilian great Pele to become the youngest player to score in a World Cup or Euros with a stunning 21st-minute strike that sailed into the top corner, helping Spain come from a goal down to beat France 2-1.
Considered by many the greatest footballer of all time, Edson Arantes do Nascimento -- better known as Pele -- won three World Cups with Brazil and scored more than 1,000 goals over his storied career.
Celeste Arantes, the mother of Brazilian football legend Pele, has died aged 101, outliving her famous son by 18 months, the family announced Friday.
The country of Pele, Garrincha and Ronaldinho, which once wowed the world with its 'samba' style, has not won the World Cup since 2002. Nor has it produced a Ballon d'Or winner since Kaka in 2007.
The five-times World Cup winners are renowned for their "jogo bonito" philosophy and reputation of churning out the world's most talented players, the latest being 17-year-old starlet Endrick who scored against England on Saturday.
Cristiano Ronaldo's new club coach Rudi Garcia on Sunday compared the Portuguese star's arrival at Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia to Pele's signing with the New York Cosmos in 1975.
FIFA chief Gianni Infantino insisted Wednesday he would never be disrespectful to Pele as he came under fire over a photo call at the Brazilian legend's wake.
Pele was a footballer like no other, and his final resting place will be exceptional, too: a large replica stadium complete with artificial turf inside the world's tallest vertical cemetery.
Rodrygo scored the only goal and celebrated by paying tribute to Pele as Real Madrid advanced to the Spanish Cup last 16 on Tuesday with a hard-fought 1-0 win over fourth-tier Cacereno.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva led the tributes Tuesday as Brazil said its final farewell to late football legend Pele, widely regarded as the greatest player of all time.
The world lost Pele, the "king" of football in 2022, but his name will live on in more than 700 Peruvian children born last year, according to a list published by Peru's National Registry of Identification and Civil Status.
An emotional Brazil began paying its final respects Monday to football legend Pele with a wake at the stadium where he first took the world's breath away with his dazzling skill.
FIFA will ask all the world's countries to name a stadium for Brazilian football legend Pele, the head of the sport's governing body, Gianni Infantino, said Monday at the late icon's wake.
An emotional Brazil began paying its final respects Monday to football legend Pele with a wake at the stadium where he first took the world's breath away with his dazzling skill.
Brazilians bid a final farewell this week to football giant Pele, starting Monday with a 24-hour public wake at the stadium of his long-time team, Santos.
