Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Several social media users are circulating a graphic that claims that FIFA is set to keep legendary footballer Pele’s feet in a museum after the Brazilian star’s death at the age of 82, owing to multiple organ failure, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on December 29, 2022. The viral graphic stated that Pele’s family had given permission to FIFA. Pelé had been receiving treatment for colon cancer in recent years.
The archived version of the tweets can be seen here and here.
Fact check
Newschecker first ran a keyword search for “Pele museum feet FIFA”, which did not throw up any credible news reports of such a proposal nor an official statement.
We then looked up the official FIFA website and Twitter handle, where there were tributes, videos and articles honouring the football legend, but no mention of preserving his feet in a museum.
We learnt that FIFA President Gianni Infantino paid his final respects to Pelé when he attended a memorial for the legendary Brazilian at the Vila Belmiro stadium, home of Santos FC, the only Brazilian club Pelé played for and where he spent 18 years of his career. Infantino said that FIFA had asked each of the 211 Member Associations around the world to hold a minute’s silence at every game in Pelé’s memory. He said he would also suggest that FIFA ask every MA to name at least one stadium in their country after Pelé.
We also saw that the viral posts attributed the news to TNT Sports Brazil, a subsidiary of ‘Warner Bros. Discovery’ responsible for sports broadcasts in the country. We looked up their website, where we did not did not find any news on such a decision. The portal also published an article stating that the FIFA president called for stadiums to be named after Pelé in every country in the world.
We have reached out to FIFA and TNT Sports Brazil, regarding the viral claim, and will update the article once their responses are received.
The viral photo was found to be of Pele’s feet. After a reverse image search, we found an Instagram post from American photographer Annie Leibovitz. Leibovitz had taken this photo in 1981 and had posted it in 2020 on Pele’s birthday, October 23.
Conclusion
There has been no statement nor decision by FIFA to keep Brazilian football legend Pele’s feet in a museum following his death on December 29, 2022.
Result: False
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
