Scottish football fans will have the chance to pay tribute to Brazilian legend Pele throughout a packed New Years fixture list.
Record Sport understands the SPFL has written to all clubs to sanction a country wide celebration of the great man who passed away aged 82 in Sao Paulo on Thursday night after losing his long running battle with colon cancer. Individual clubs will have the choice of deciding what form those tributes should take - with Rangers also holding the traditional minute’s silence to mark the anniversary of the Ibrox disaster ahead of Monday’s Old Firm derby with Celtic.
England’s Premier League announced on Friday that their clubs will hold a minute’s applause, with players wearing black armbands in honour of the three times World Cup winner. Pele’s body will be laid to rest at the home of his former club Santos on Monday, while the SPFL has a busy schedule of matches across the divisions.
Pele’s coffin will be transferred from the Albert Einstein Hospital straight to the Estadio Urbano Caldeira in Vila Belmiro at dawn. It will be placed in the centre circle with a huge public wake to begin at 10am.
SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster said: "Scottish football fans appreciate skill, class and achievement. No player in the game better typified those qualities than Pele.
“Arguments will rage forever about who is the greatest player. But, for his sheer impact on the worldwide game and his achievements in winning three World Cups, it’s doubtful we will ever see his like again.
“To be able to look out over the national stadium and realise that this global icon graced the Hampden turf during a friendly with Scotland in 1966 is a humbling experience. Everyone who appreciates all that is good about football - from his incomparable goalscoring prowess, his outrageous skill and his simple, overwhelming joy at playing the game - will recognise just what gap the great man’s passing has left.”
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