Football legend Pele's dead body could be dug up after woman's 'secret love child' claims

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.