--- description: The 74-year-old soccer star says he's ready for the Olympics title: Pele Discharged From Hospital Following Kidney Surgery image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Sports](/section/sports/) ## Sports Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Soccer](/tag/soccer/) ## Soccer Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Pelé Discharged From Hospital Following Kidney Surgery by [Victor Luckerson](/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 9, 2014 6:32 PM CUT by [Victor Luckerson](/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 9, 2014 6:32 PM CUT Soccer legend Pelé quipped that he may still be ready to take to the field, after he was released from the hospital following a procedure to remove kidney stones. The 74-year-old Brazilian star had contracted an infection during the operation and was placed in semi-intensive care, but he received his own room on Saturday and left the hospital in São Paulo Tuesday, the Guardian [reports](http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/dec/09/pele-rio-2016-olympics-discharged-hospital "undefined"). “It is gratifying and good to know that I had the support of so many people around the world who were hoping the situation improved,” he said at a press conference, according to the Brazilian newspaper _O Globo_. “Now I am preparing for the Olympics!” The soccer star underwent haemodialysis after suffering a urinary tract infection.Pelé had one of his kidneys removed when he was still a professional athlete. \[[_The Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/dec/09/pele-rio-2016-olympics-discharged-hospital "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3625833/pele-hospital-olympics/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3625833/pele-hospital-olympics/"},"headline":"Pelé Discharged From Hospital Following Kidney Surgery","datePublished":"2014-12-09T18:32:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:42:11.684Z","description":"The 74-year-old soccer star says he's ready for the Olympics","url":"https://time.com/3625833/pele-hospital-olympics/","keywords":["Soccer","World Cup","pele"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Victor Luckerson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/soccer/","name":"Soccer"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3625833/pele-hospital-olympics/","name":"Pelé Discharged From Hospital Following Kidney Surgery"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"10 Questions for Pele","description":"Brazillian soccer legend Pele talks to TIME's Belinda Luscombe about his new book 'Why Soccer Matters,' why he would play better now than he did in his prime, and how he got his name.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/wPIF8jIb/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-04-10T13:22:51.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/wPIF8jIb.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3625833/pele-hospital-olympics/","duration":"PT7M23S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3625833/pele-hospital-olympics/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```