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Soccer star Pele will be re-evaluated Monday to see if he needs to go back on dialysis
He went to a hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil, last week for a urinary tract infection
The hospital says the 74-year-old is getting better as he's being treated in the ICU
Pele is a three-time World Cup champion and shared Player of the Century award
Almost one week after he was hospitalized with a urinary tract infection, soccer legend Pele’s condition is continuing to improve, but he remains in an intensive care unit.
The 74-year-old was taken off kidney dialysis Sunday, the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo said. Pele’s condition will be re-evaluated Monday to see if further dialysis is needed.
The hospital said he is lucid.
Pele, who was born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, was admitted to the hospital November 24. He had recently undergone surgery at the same facility to remove kidney stones.
The athletic icon had one kidney removed during his days as a player, his aide Jose Fornos Rodrigues told CNN.
Pele tweeted Thursday that he was looking forward to spending the holidays with family and starting “the new year with renewed health, with many international trips planned.”
“I am blessed to receive your love and support,” Pele said, “and thank God this is nothing serious.”
Known as “The Black Pearl” and “The King,” Pele is one of the best known names in all of sports.
He burst onto the scene as a teenager, helping lead his native Brazil to the 1958 World Cup championship.
Pele went on to star on two other World Cup title teams, in 1962 and 1970. He also had a breakthrough career with the Brazilian club Santos and later with the New York Cosmos of the now-defunct North American Soccer League.
In 2000, Pele and Argentina’s Diego Maradona were named co-Players of the Century by FIFA, the international soccer governing body.
Even after retiring from soccer, Pele has remained in the public eye as a product pitchman, ambassador for the sport of soccer and advocate for Brazil’s poor, having grown up as one of them in the inland city of Tres Coracoes.
CNN’s Greg Botelho, Barbara Arvanitidis and Steve Almasy contributed to this report.
