Brazilian football legend Pele has died at the age of 82.

His death was confirmed by family on social media.

He had been battling colon cancer since 2021, with a medical report just before Christmas showing that he required care for cardiac and renal dysfunction.

He had been admitted to the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in Sao Paulo on November 29.

Earlier this week, Pele’s daughter, Kely Nascimento, had confirmed members of his family would spend Christmas in the hospital with him.

On Saturday, she posted a picture on Instagram which showed her sitting next to one of Pele’s sons, Edinho, and two of his children at the hospital.

“He (Edson) is here,” Kely Nascimento wrote alongside the picture, adding in a hashtag “I will not be leaving, nobody will take me out of here.”

Pele appeared on the global scene as a 17-year-old at the 1958 World Cup, helping Brazil to the first of their record five successes.

Injury affected Pele’s contribution to the 1962 and 1966 finals, but he returned to lead Brazil to a third triumph, this time in Mexico in 1970 as part of what is widely regarded as the greatest international team of all time.

Officially, Pele scored 757 goals in 831 games during a career from 1957 to 1977, although club Santos claim his tally was closer to 1,000.