Football - Pele's son and former goalkeeper Edinho sentenced to 33 years in jail

         

                                               Brazil legend Pele (AFP)

                                                                                                                                                                       The 43-year-old, a retired footballer himself, will serve the sentence for laundering money raised for drug trafficking, the BBC has reported.
Edinho was first arrested back in 2005 and has served a sentence for drug trafficking offences, in addition to having links with a notorious drug dealer in the city of Santos.
The son of the great Pele played as a goalkeeper for his father’s old club Santos in the 1990s.
Edinho, who currently works as a goalkeeping coach at Santos, reportedly says that he is a drug addict but denies the trafficking charges levelled against him. Continue below....

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Brazilian media have not been able to reach Edinho, whose real name is Edson Cholbi do Nascimento. He is expected to appeal.

Edinho is Pele’s third son from his first marriage and was just five when the family moved to New York with his father playing for the Cosmos.

He was the Santos goalkeeper in 1995 when the team reached the Brazilian league final, losing the title to Botafogo.

In 2006, Pele went to visit his son in jail and said: "God willing, justice will be done. There is not a shred of evidence against my son.”

Pele won the World Cup in 1958, 1962 and 1970 and was acclaimed as the greatest footballer of his generation.