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.
Football legend Pele, who died Thursday at the age of 82, "transformed football into an art," said Brazil and Paris Saint-Germain superstar Neymar in a tribute to his country's greatest sporting icon.
Pele burst onto the global stage at just 17 with dazzling goals as Brazil won the World Cup for the first time in Sweden in 1958.
"I was born to play football, just like Beethoven was born to write music and Michelangelo was born to paint."
Pele was the best-loved footballer of his or any other generation, the eternal master of the beautiful game.
Pele, the legendary Brazilian soccer player who rose from barefoot poverty to become one of the greatest and best-known athletes in modern history, died on Thursday at the age of 82.
Jurgen Klopp has hailed Lionel Messi as 'the greatest player of his lifetime' and explained why he was happy to see Argentina winning the World Cup.
Pele, the world soccer star will remain hospitalized at the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Sao Paulo, to receive the New Year because his clinical condition has worsened and he no longer reacts to treatment, so he is only receiving palliative care to help him mitigate the pain and breathe better.
Pele urged Neymar to "keep inspiring us" on Saturday after the Brazil forward dropped a retirement hint following his team's shock World Cup defeat to Croatia.
Brazil's players paid tribute to legend Pele, who is receiving hospital treatment in Sao Paulo due to his ailing health, after sauntering to a 4-1 World Cup victory over South Korea.
Soccer great Pele on Monday backed Brazil's national team ahead of their World Cup round of 16 match against South Korea, saying he will watch the game from hospital after being admitted there last week as he battles colon cancer.
