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According to Fifa president Gianni Infantino, every country will be asked to name a football stadium after the legendary Brazilian footballer Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé.

Infantino stated this at Pele’s funeral in Brazil on Monday, saying renaming a stadium after “the king of football” is a tribute to him.

Pele, the only player to win three World Cups and score 77 goals for Brazil, passed away on Thursday December 29, 2022, and his country observed three days of national mourning in his honor.

On Monday, Brazil began a 24-hour public mourning, with Pele lying in state at Estadio Urbano Caldeira in Vila Belmiro, his former club’s ground, where he spent 18 years as a player and scored a remarkable 643 goals in 659 games.

Thousands of mourners gathered to pay their respects to his coffin, which was placed in the center of the pitch.

Some fans waited in line overnight to see the coffin, and thousands more gathered on the streets as the hearse passed by on its way to the stadium.

Edinho, Pele’s son, and former Brazil midfielder Ze Roberto assisted in carrying the coffin onto the pitch, while current Brazilian players Neymar and Vinicius Junior sent floral wreaths.

“We’re talking about a global icon here,” BBC football journalist Tim Vickery said. “As a result, this is going to be a huge global event.”

“For Brazil, Pele is a source of great pride. He is not from Santos, but he has made it his home, and he is theirs – but he also belongs to the rest of the world.”

Pele, the three-time World Cup winner who scored over 1,000 goals in his career, is widely regarded as the undisputed greatest of all time (GOAT) in football.

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After the public wake on Tuesday 3 January, his coffin will be carried through the streets of Santos and the home where he spent the majority of his life, before a private family funeral at Ecumenical Memorial Necropolis cemetery, where he will be laid to rest.

Following Pele’s death, the Brazilian government declared three days of national mourning.