Image source, Reuters

Sporting greats have posted messages on social media to pay their respects to Pele, who died at the age of 82 yesterday.

Argentina captain Lionel Messi posted several photos of the pair on Instagram and wrote: "Rest in peace, Pele."

Tennis great Rafael Nadal posted on Instagram: "Today a world sport great is leaving again. A sad day for the world of football, for the world of sports. His legacy will always be with us.

"I didn't watch him play, I wasn't that lucky, but I was always taught and told that he was the King of football. Rest in Peace! The King!"

World snooker champion Ronnie O'Sullivan said: "A footballing legend but most of all what a man. Genuinely a lovely person I was honoured to meet. Remember, everything you see now in football, Pele did it first! RIP."

As we've already seen, the arch above London's Wembley Stadium was lit up to pay its repects to Pele last night - just one of many tributes to the football star.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, Getty Images

We have also had several people messaging us about Pele's appearance (and magnificent overhead kick!) in the 1981 film Escape to Victory, alongside Sylvester Stallone and Michael Caine.

Former Argentina and Tottenham player Ossie Ardiles, another World Cup winner to star in the movie, shared this message and image on Twitter.

In 2017, BBC Sport's Neil Johnston met former Aston Villa and Coventry City player Steve Hunt - then manager of non-league Cowes Sports - to discuss his time playing alongside the Brazil great at the New York Cosmos.

Read it here.

BBC Radio 5 Live

More from Clive Toye, general manager of the New York Cosmos when Pele made his trailblazing move to the United States in 1975.

“The impact was absolutely immediate,” he explained to BBC World Service’s Sporting Witness programme.

“It was not just in New York where we went from 5,000 a game to 28,000, then moved to the Yankee Stadium and had 48,000 and then the Giants Stadium and were getting 80,000.

“Everyone suddenly wanted to televise the games and on a Tuesday, every school in the area would close to come and see him training. That was the impact he had.

“He changed the whole thing!”

More on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast

BBC Radio 5 Live

Clive Toye, general manager of New York Cosmos, was instrumental in convincing Pele to play football in the United States.

He told BBC World Service's Sporting Witness programme how he managed to persuade the greatest player in the world to end his career playing "soccer".

"It took four years," he explains. "My strategy was to tell him he was the person who could break through the crust of indifference in the US - nobody else could do it.

"I knew Juventus and Real Madrid wanted him so I said: 'If you go there, you can win a championship, if you come to America, you can win a country.' I liked that line then and I like it now."

More on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast

Image source, Getty Images

Notable figures across the world have been paying tribute to the late football great, Pele.

President of football's world governing body Fifa Gianni Infantino said he was "heartbroken" on "a truly tragic day for football" and described Pele as "the athlete of the century".

He added: "He had a magnetic presence and, when you were with him, the rest of the world stopped. Today, the whole world mourns the loss of Pele; the greatest footballer of all time."

Richarlison, one of several current Brazil players who paid tribute, described Pele as football's "most beautiful chapter" and said he "changed the history of the game forever".

Pele's former club Santos posted a picture of a crown with the word "eternal".

Pele's 1958 and 1962 World Cup-winning team-mate Mario Zagallo said: "My friend of so many victories, titles and shared stories. He leaves an eternal, unforgettable legacy."

Stephen Warnock
Former England defender on BBC Radio 5 Live

I think he symbolises everything about the game and he moved the game forward, giving it more of a worldwide appeal.

I watch all the clips of Pele as I wasn't fortunate to see him play but as a football fanatic you want to pick up clips of him and see what he is capable of doing with a football. When you watch all the skills that are on show now, he was the first of his kind to adopt and showcase those skills.

When you look around world football everyone wants to wear the number 10 because of him.

Pele grabbed the attention of the football world in 1958 when, aged just 17, he helped Brazil win the World Cup for the first time.

Click on the play button below to watch his semi-final hat-trick against France.

This video is available to UK users only.

The dummy against Uruguay in 1970 that James refers to in the previous group of texts is one of the most brilliant pieces of skill I've ever seen on a football pitch.

Every time I watch it, I expect him to score after outfoxing the goalkeeper, but I forget that Pele shoots wide afterwards!

You can watch that and some more of Pele's finest moments here, although some of the videos are only available to UK users.

More from Brazilian football journalist Fernando Duarte, speaking to BBC Breakfast:

"For many decades, he was Brazil. You thought of a reference to the country and he came as an immediate reference.

"I remember travelling to places as different as the United States and Burkina Faso, and Pele would come up straight away after I said where I was from.

"He was the first Brazilian superstar and it will be a difficult loss. His family is struggling now but I think everyone is going to be proud of what he did.

"It's like the Dr Seuss quote: 'Be glad it happened, don't be sad it's over'."

Brazilian football journalist Fernando Duarte, speaking to BBC Breakfast:

"He was a very simple man, but a man aware of his role as an ambassador and diplomat for the game.

"He was very careful and very proud of his legacy, but he wasn't like a celebrity.

"You never saw minders around him, he was always very unguarded. That was perhaps something that exposed him sometimes; he would say something out of context and the press would make a meal out of it."

There are plenty of articles on the BBC website with various memories of Pele on and off the football field, but one of my favourites is by Brazilian football journalist Fernando Duarte recalling the times he met the great man.

"Every time that our paths crossed, I would spend the following days wondering what had just happened. It was like being in the presence of one of the Avengers - one who always seemed happy to see you," writes Duarte.

You can read it here.

This video is available to UK users only.

If you are joining for the first time today, we are sharing tributes and remembering the life of Brazil football legend Pele, who has died aged 82.

Pele is considered by many to be the greatest footballer ever, and is the only player to have won the World Cup on three occasions.

You can get involved too - send your tributes to #bbcfootball on social media, via WhatsApp on 03301231826 or text 81111 (standard network charges apply).

Simon Ashby: In a World Cup final you don't chest the ball in mid-air, lob it over the defenders head and volley it in the corner. Pele did aged just 17. Incredible.

Daragh: RIP Pele, whom I met by chance when visiting my grandfather in Brazil in the 1970s. Proud moment, true gent.

Steven: Such sad news over the death of Pele, not just the best ever footballer but one of the greatest sports athletes of all time. A person that transcended sport, a person that was called the king, and who made the game beautiful.

Tributes have poured in from around the world following the death of Brazil great Pele at the age of 82.

Hollywood actor Will Smith led tributes from the world of entertainment, saying Pele was "the greatest to ever do it" adding "Rest in peace King Pele".

Entrepreneur Richard Branson said on Twitter Pele was the "original GOAT, and an inspiration to generations of football players and fans".

Former England striker Sir Geoff Hurst tweeted to say he has "so many memories of Pele" who he said is "without doubt the best footballer I ever played against.

"For me Pele remains the greatest of all time and I was proud to be on the pitch with him. RIP Pele and thank you."

Fellow former England player Alan Mullery - who played against Pele three times including the 1970 World Cup - called him the "greatest of the greatest".

Image source, PA Media

Image source, Reuters

Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo has paid tribute to Pele on Instagram describing him as "an inspiration to so many millions".

"A mere goodbye to the eternal King Pele will never be enough to express the pain that is enveloping the whole of the football world right now.

"The love you always showed me was reciprocated in every moment we shared even from distance.

"His memory will live forever in each and every one of us. Rest in peace King Pelé."

Read more tributes to Pele here.