Fans have begun to form a line outside the Vila Belmiro Stadium ahead of Pele’s funeral in his hometown of Santos.

After a battle with cancer, the Brazilian soccer legend died on Thursday. He was 82.

At the 16,000-seat stadium outside Sao Paulo, Pele scored some of his best goals of his career.

His funeral will begin at 10 a.m. local time, and he will be buried in a vertical cemetery only 600 metres away on Tuesday.

Fans began arriving at the stadium early Monday to pay their respects to Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pele.