Brazil football legend Pelé has been taken to a hospital in Paris because of a urinary tract infection, his spokesperson said Wednesday.
The 78-year-old, who is widely considered one of the greatest footballers of all time, is “in the hospital taking antibiotics. Doctors thought he would be discharged within two days,” Pepito Fornos said.
Pelé, the only player in history to have won three World Cups, was attending an event in the French capital with PSG star Kylian Mbappe.
Pelé has had some health issues in recent years. In 2015, he went to a Brazilian hospital because of an enlarged prostate. He was hospitalized a year earlier for several days of kidney dialysis.
Known as “The Black Pearl” and simply “The King,” Pelé 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, in addition to 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, he and Argentina’s Diego Maradona were named co-Players of the Century by FIFA, the international soccer governing body.
Even after retiring from football, Pelé has remained in the public eye as a product pitchman, ambassador for the sport of football and advocate for Brazil’s poor, having grown up among them in Tres Coracoes.
CNN’s Martijn Edelman contributed to this report.
