The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), through its top brass, has expressed sadness at the death of Brazilian football legend Pele who passed away on Thursday at the age of 82.

Considered the greatest to have played the game, Pele — christened Edson Arantes do Nascimento — had been battling colon cancer and attending complications for the year or so.

Pele had surgery to remove a tumour from his colon in September 2021 at the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo, after the tumour was detected in routine tests. He was readmitted to hospital in late November 2022.

JFF President Michael Ricketts has described Pele as one of the greatest footballers to have ever played the game, and according to him, the former Brazilian star will be sadly missed globally.

“The entire football fraternity is certainly saddened by the passing of the legend Pele and the Jamaica Football Federation offers its sincere condolences [to the family] for someone who would have impacted the sport of football so much,” said Ricketts.

“The JFF certainly stands in support of the family members who are now grieving for the loss of a real legend. This is a huge loss for football and for someone who would have impacted the sport at the highest level, and so we are just deeply saddened with the loss of an icon,” he added.

Ricketts said he was honoured to be inside the National Stadium in 1975 to witness a Pele-led New York Star Comos team that went up against an invitational team led by Allan “Skill” Cole.

“I remembered seeing him playing at the National Stadium several years ago and Jamaicans were enthralled by his skills,” Ricketts said.

JFF General Secretary Dennis Chung, who also witnessed Pele playing against the Jamaica Invitational team in 1975, has described the Brazilian legend as the greatest footballer that he has ever seen.

“The passing of Pele is a great loss to football because despite his many years after his retirement, he has still been seen as the ultimate of the sport. He was the one who not only, in my view, was the best player in the world, but someone who broke down a lot of barriers for black football players,” said Chung.

“The reason why people loved Brazil so much is because of Pele. Pele is the person who people identify with… Brazil and Jamaicans, especially, are going to miss Pele. I saw Pele play in 1975 when he came to the National Stadium, I was a little boy then, but it was just an amazing experience being there watching him on the field,” he went on.

Widely regarded as one of, if not, the game’s greatest players, Pelé spent nearly two decades enchanting fans and dazzling opponents as the game’s most prolific scorer with Brazilian club Santos and the Brazil national team.

Pele is credited with scoring a world record 1,281 goals in 1,363 appearances during a 21-year career, including 77 goals in 92 matches for his country.

Pele is the only player to win the World Cup three times, lifting the trophy in 1958, 1962 and 1970. He was named Fifa’s Player of the Century in 2000.

— Robert Bailey