Pele to be honoured at Kolkata's Eden Gardens during 2nd IND-SL ODI

KOLKATA: Pele, the legendary football player who passed away on December 29, 2022, will be honoured on Thursday during the second ODI cricket match between India and Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata.

The Brazilian legend has a substantial fan base in India, particularly in Kolkata, which is known as the nation's football capital. The famous Mohun Bagan vs. New York Cosmos football game, played in 1977 at one of India's biggest stadiums, Eden Gardens, included Pele playing for the American club.

During the second match of the current three-match ODI series between India and Sri Lanka, footage of Pele's skills will be shown on the enormous screens at the Eden Gardens.

The 80,000-seat stadium, which serves as the Cricket Association of Bengal's (CAB) headquarters, has also scheduled a laser show for the mid-game break as per the Olympics website.

The King of Football, Pele, made three trips to India. His first trip to India was in 1977 to play in a friendly match at the Eden Gardens versus Mohun Bagan while playing for the New York Cosmos. He returned to India in 2015 and 2018 as a guest for events.

It was Pele's penultimate match of his career. He stayed only a day in Kolkata and played his final match a week later. In a hard-fought match, Mohun Bagan, led by Indian veteran PK Banerjee, held the famed New York Cosmos to a 2-2 tie.

Over 65,000 people filled the stadium to see the game, giving it a reason to rejoice for Kolkata's football supporters.

All of the surviving players from the Mohun Bagan team that faced the New York Cosmos have also been invited. Footballing maestro Pele was laid to rest at Vila Belmiro, the home ground of Santos FC where he spent the majority of his club career, from 1956 to 1974.

Pele passed away at the age of 82 following a cancer battle. In September 2021, Pele had a colon tumour removed. However, on November 29, he checked into the Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo, according to Al Jazeera.