Pele has been in hospital for six days with an undisclosed health problem but the 80-year-old is not seriously ill, an advisor to the former Brazil forward has said.
The Globo news site said Pele was undergoing routine examinations in Sao Paulo’s Albert Einstein Hospital when the issue was detected.
Pele’s business manager Joe Fraga said there was no cause for concern.
“Full battery of tests/scans/colonoscopy/blood etc,” Fraga wrote in a message, “he doesn’t do everything in one day.”
The scare came a few days after Pele was forced to correct reports he had fainted.
In an Instagram message accompanied by a smiling picture of the three-times World Cup winner, Pele wrote: “Guys, I didn’t faint and I’m in very good health.
“I went for my routine exams, which I had not been able to do before because of the pandemic. Let them know I don’t play next Sunday!”
While his health aged 80 remains good, Pele was pictured in a wheelchair in 2017, he collapsed from exhaustion and was taken to hospital around a month after attending the 2018 World Cup in Russia, and underwent an operation to remove kidney stones in 2019.
