The Sao Paulo hospital where Brazilian football legend Pele is being treated has announced an " evolution "in his cancer and the need for"greater care for the treatment of kidney and heart failure".

"King" Pele, 82, was admitted to Albert Einstein Hospital on November 29 to re-evaluate his chemotherapy treatment after a colon tumor was discovered in September 2021.

"Pele suffers from the development of an oncological disease and requires more thorough care for the treatment of renal and heart failure,"the doctors explained in a statement addressing the health of the three-time world champion.

The Brazilian will remain in the hospital "in a regular room, where he will receive the necessary care".

A few minutes before the release of the statement, two of Pele's daughters, Kelly Nascimento and Flavia Arantes, announced via Instagram that their father would spend Christmas in the hospital: "Christmas is over at our house. Together with the doctors, we decided that, for various reasons, it is better to stay here, with all the care that our new family provides from Albert Einstein Hospital,"he said.

Many classify Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pele, as the greatest football player of all time, and he has been experiencing an increasingly deteriorating state of Health in recent years. He has been undergoing regular chemotherapy treatments since being diagnosed with colon cancer last year. He also underwent surgery to remove the tumor in September 2021, and spent a month in the hospital.

Pele is the only player in the history of the round ball to have won the World Cup three times (1958, 1962 and 1970), scoring more than 1,000 goals before retiring in 1977.

Despite not appearing in public much, Pele is active on social networking sites, where he regularly posted during the Qatar World Cup, including a message of support and sympathy for the Brazilian star Neymar after the exit of "celisao" from the tournament after losing to Croatia on penalties in the quarterfinals.