Brazilians are preparing for the funeral of the legendary Pele, and thousands of people in the past 24 hours said goodbye to him at the Santos stadium where his body is on display.

Statements of the fans who came to say goodbye to the Brazilian legend also appear in the Brazilian media. 17-year-old Giovanna Samento waited in line at the stadium for three hours. She was accompanied by her father who wore a shirt from Brazil with Pele's name on it.

"I support Santos, like my father. But this man founded the national team of Brazil. He made Santos stronger, he made him big and how can you not respect him? He is one of the best people in the world, we had to honor him", said Samento.

Pele will be buried today in the city where he grew up and in which he became famous. Pele is the only soccer player to have won three World Cups, and he died on December 29 at the age of 82 after a long battle with cancer.

The proof of Pele's greatness is that even people who have never seen him play forgive him.

"I have never seen him play, but the love for Pele is a tradition passed down from father to son. I learned about him, watched videos of his goals. "I know some Santos fans whose kids support other clubs, but that's because they've never seen Pele play," said 32-year-old Claudio Karanka.