Football Legend Pele Not Dead, Viral Posts False

Claim

Football legend Pele has passed away amid the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Fact

Newschecker first ran a keyword search for the term “Pele death”, which did not throw up any reports stating that the Brazilian icon had passed away.

We, however, came across this Instagram post from the 82-year-old footballer, dated December 3, sharing a medical bulletin released by the hospital where he has been admitted. “Pele, who is suffering from cancer, was admitted to the hospital for chemotherapy-related tests. He also had a lung infection. He is responding favourably to treatment and his condition has not worsened in the last twenty-four hours,” the medical bulletin read.

“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,” Pele’s post read.

A further search led us to this New York Times report, dated December 3, dismissing the viral claims. According to the post, ageing Brazilian soccer star Pelé sought to reassure the public that he was continuing his treatments to fight cancer after a Brazilian newspaper reported that he was no longer responding to chemotherapy and had been moved to palliative care.

“In São Paulo, his three doctors at the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein said in a statement on Saturday that Pelé, 82, was in stable condition after being admitted earlier this week to reassess chemotherapy. Pelé had ‘a good response’ to treatment for a respiratory infection, the statement said, and his health had not worsened in the last 24 hours,” the article read, confirming that the three-time World Cup winner is alive. The article added that Pelé’s daughter Kely Nascimento had said that there was “no surprise or emergency” in her father’s condition.

We also came across this Times Now report, dated December 6, 2022, which gave a health update of Pele amid Brazil’s round-of-16 clash with South Korea. According to the report, with fans worldwide on edge over his health, Pele said on Monday (December 5) that he was cheering for the Brazilian national team from hospital as they stormed to a spot in the World Cup quarter-finals.

Result: False

Update: The Albert Einstein hospital at Sao Paulo confirmed on 30/12/2022 that the Brazilian footballer died at 3:27PM due to multiple organ failure.

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