The hospital currently treating Pele has provided a positive update on the condition of the Brazilian football icon.
In a brief statement, doctors at Sao Paulo’s Albert Einstein Hospital told the media on Thursday that the 82-year-old’s condition continues to improve after being treated for a respiratory infection.
Reports over the weekend had claimed that Pele was receiving end-of-life care in hospital after no longer responding to chemotherapy treatment for colon cancer.
However, those claims were dismissed by daughters Flavia and Kely Nascimento, who insisted their father - who contracted Covid-19 three weeks ago - was not under palliative care and would be going home once his respiratory issues improved.
And this latest update will further boost hopes that arguably football’s greatest-ever player and one of sport’s biggest global icons will continue to fight on.
“The patient continues to show progressive improvement in his general condition, in particular the respiratory infection,” doctors said on Thursday.
“(He has) stable vital signs, is conscious, and with no new complications.”
Pele first returned to hospital last week amid concerning reports that he was suffering from major swelling all over his body and decompensated heart failure.
However, his family and Pele’s own official social media accounts later insisted that he was merely there for a monthly visit to re-evaluate his cancer treatment and regulate his medication, having undergone surgery to remove a tumour from his colon last September. Pele was also hospitalised earlier this year due to a urinary tract infection.
There has been an outpouring of support for the football great from across the globe and particularly at the World Cup in Qatar, where Brazil’s players, staff and fans all paid tribute during their 4-1 last-16 win over South Korea on Monday night.
Pele remains the only player ever to have won the World Cup on three separate occasions - in 1958, 1962 and 1970 - and is still Brazil’s top goalscorer of all-time. His incredible career brought world-record figures of 1,279 goals in 1,363 games, including friendlies.
