DAILY STAR
A woman claiming to be football legend Pele’s secret daughter has demanded the exhumation of his body.
Maria do Socorro Azevedo, 60, instructed a lawyer to make the move nearly five years after first launching a paternity lawsuit. Pele, who died aged 82 on December 29 2022 in a Sao Paulo hospital after having a tumour removed from his colon, recognised the possibility he could have another child in his will.
He married three times and officially has seven children, although one is a stepdaughter. Two of his children, Edinho Nascimento and Flavia Christina, agreed to DNA tests after the reading of their father’s will.
Reports in Brazil, quoting Maria do Socorro Azevedo’s lawyer Marcos Fernando dos Santos Sousa, said the initial tests they had done came back negative but his client’s DNA test had come back with “high possibilities” of a blood link. Mr dos Santos Sousa said they now had “no option” but to request the exhumation of Pele’s body to “resolve the situation.”
The football star is said to have agreed to a DNA test but died before it could take place. Maria do Socorro Azevedo spoke publicly about her claims she is Pele’s daughter on a Brazilian TV programme on Sunday and insisted she was not interested in his money. She said her late mother had never told the former Brazil and Santos forward she was pregnant with their child after a fling in Sao Luis in the Brazilian state of Maranhao.
