Giant book documenting Pele's career sent to Brazil to be part of funeral

A giant book, created in the Midlands, which documents and celebrates the life of Pele, has been sent to Brazil to be part of his funeral proceedings.

The footballing great died last Thursday (29 December), aged 82. Brazil’s President declared three days of national mourning, and the funeral takes place today (3 January).

Pele is widely thought to be the greatest player to ever play the game, winning three World Cups in 1958, 1962 and 1970, and he was named Fifa's Player of the Century in 2000.

He scored 1,281 goals during a career which spanned 21-years with Santos, New York Cosmos and the Brazil national team. That number included in friendlies and is recognised as a world record.

In the last year of his life he had been working with a publisher based in Coventry to document his extraordinary playing career.

Opus is a publisher which produces luxury giant books featuring large-scale photographs and essays, to document the lives and careers of iconic sporting individuals and teams.

The company first spoke to Pele about celebrating his career back in 2011 when he visited the UK with the New York Cosmos, but it took more than 10 years for work to begin, at the beginning of 2022.

After a year of work, with designers sifting through thousands of photographs, many of which needed restoration work done to them, the book was released during the World Cup in November last year.

The creative director of Opus, Zenon Texeira, told us Pele was able to see all the stages of the project being put together, but sadly never got to take a look at the finished item before his death.

Now the company have been in touch with Pele’s team in Brazil, and have sent a copy of the book out to Brazil to feature in the funeral.

A procession is taking place through the streets of Santos before a private family burial takes place. Pele’s coffin has been lying in state in the centre of his former club’s pitch for the last day, for people to pay their respects.

Mr Texeira said, “Pele’s team were very keen to have a copy in Brazil. They had it sent out so that it could be part of the proceedings at the funeral.”

“We were very honoured that they wanted to, in some way, get the Opus into the proceedings.”

“What makes this book so special is that it was done with Pele involved. He was very excited about having something of this size and magnitude that covered his playing career. What he did on the field. It concentrated on how he rose through the ranks, his club career.”

“It allowed him to have a voice towards the end of his life where he could reflect as an elder statesman of the game, who had seen the game change over the decades, and he could still put into perspective his story, and how he could still be inspirational to young players today.”

“We’re very grateful that while he was still with us we were able to complete the project and have something that he was very grateful for, and he thought it was amazing.”

“He saw the whole project come together. We were sending updates as the book was coming along. He was looking forward to returning home from hospital where his copy was waiting for him to look at, and that just didn’t happen.”

“But we were very proud that we’ve made this Opus in Coventry. It’s been printed in Kenilworth, bound in Ludlow. It’s very much a Midlands project, and hopefully now the world can enjoy it.”

The graphic designer behind the project said the selection of images that made the book were chosen from thousands taken throughout Pele’s career.

Gary Maddison said, “The photographs chosen were the ones we thought would best convey the spirit of the man, the footballer, and a career from the Gods really.”

The company quotes Pele on its website, stating his appreciation for the book:

"I am honored to have my career celebrated in an OPUS. I am happy to be part of the OPUS family and hope you enjoy my story as much as I loved helping put this together."

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