Woman claiming to be Pele's daughter wants body dug up

'Secret love child' demands paternity test

-  Gerard Couzens

A WOMAN who says she is World Cup legend Pele's secret daughter has launched a legal move to exhume his body in a bid to prove her claims.

Maria do Socorro Azevedo, 60, has instructed a lawyer to act nearly five years after she first launched a paternity lawsuit.

In his will, Brazilian football ace Pele, who died aged 82 in 2022 following a battle with colon cancer, recognised the possibility that he could have had another child.

He is said to have agreed to a DNA test. However, he died before it could take place.

But Augusto Miglioli, a lawyer for Pele's family, said they would contest any exhumation demand because previous DNA tests had shown Maria was not the star's daughter.