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.
The Brazilian barber who cut Pele's hair for more than 60 years is lamenting the loss of both a customer and a close friend.
The world is grieving for Pelé, one of its most gifted sons, who won the universe with his football skills.
It’s impossible to talk about football without mentioning Pele.
All of Pelé's biographers agree that he wrote more than 100 songs and sold more than 100,000 copies of one of his albums.
Pele's life off the field was as eventful as his record-breaking career on it, with three marriages and a range of trailblazing sponsorship deals which helped modern-day players fill their pockets with corporate cash.
As soon as they got the news, Antonio Pereira and his son started running: Pele, the man widely considered the greatest footballer of all time, had died, and they wanted to be there to mourn him.
Before Pele made his debut for Brazil, the South American nation had never won the World Cup. By the time he retired, they had won three - more than any other team.
Pele was hailed by Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo on Thursday as a "source of inspiration for so many millions".
Argentina's World Cup-winning captain Lionel Messi bid Brazilian football hero Pele farewell on Instagram Thursday, posting photos of himself and "The King" taken in happier times.
France star Kylian Mbappe said on Thursday that Pele's legacy "will never be forgotten" after the Brazil legend died at the age of 82.
