FIFA President Gianni Infantino said he was dismayed after receiving backlash for taking a selfie in front of Pele’s open coffin at Monday’s public wake.
Pele died Thursday at the age of 82, and mourners lined up to see Pele’s body in the middle of the field at Vila Belmiro Stadium, home of Santos Football Club.
Infantino was one of the first to arrive at the service but was criticized after a photo surfaced of him taking a selfie with Pele’s former teammates just meters from the former footballer’s body.
In a strongly worded post on Instagram, Infantino said: “I have just landed from my trip to Brazil where I had the privilege of attending the beautiful tribute to Pele held at Vila Belmiro in Santos. I’m dismayed after being informed Apparently I’m being criticized by some people for taking a selfie and photos at the ceremony yesterday [Monday].
“I want to make it clear that I was both honored and humbled that teammates and family members of the great Pele asked me to take some photos with them. And of course I immediately agreed.
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“In the case of the selfie, Pele’s teammates asked to take a selfie of us all together, but they didn’t know how to do it. So, to be helpful, I took the picture of one of them and took the picture of all of us for him.
“If helping a team-mate of Pele’s brings criticism, I’ll gladly take that and will continue to be helpful where I can to those who helped write legendary pages of football.
“I have so much respect and admiration for Pele and for yesterday’s ceremony [Monday] that I would never do anything that would be in any way disrespectful.
“I hope that those who have published or said things without knowing it and without looking for information will have the decency to admit they were wrong and correct what they said.
“The most important thing is definitely to pay tribute to King Pele and while I have humbly suggested that at least one football stadium or venue be named after him across our 211 member associations, we will lead by example by turning the pitch into provide our headquarters with the name “Estadio Pele – FIFA Zurich.” Um abraco e viva o Rei!”
Pele’s coffin will be taken to the Ecumenical Memorial Necropolis on Tuesday, where he will be buried in a private ceremony.
Pele, who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most powerful athletes of the past century, had been hospitalized last month with multiple ailments and had been treated for colon cancer since 2021.