| Full name | Maria Lúcia do Nascimento Magalhães |
|---|---|
| Known as | Maria Lúcia Nascimento |
| Nationality | Brazilian |
| Known for | Younger sister of Pelé |
| Parents | Celeste Arantes and João Ramos do Nascimento (Dondinho) |
| Spouse | Davi Benedito Magalhães |
| Children | Daniele, Débora, and João Paulo |
| Relationship to Pelé | Younger sister |
Maria Lúcia do Nascimento Magalhães is the youngest sibling of Brazilian football legend Pelé. While her brother became one of the most recognized athletes in history, Maria Lúcia has lived a private life largely away from the spotlight, defined by her family rather than any public role. Brazilian media have described her as uma figura quase anônima — a nearly anonymous figure — outside family circles, even as she carries one of Brazil’s most famous surnames.
Her Place in the Arantes do Nascimento Family
Maria Lúcia is the youngest of three children born to Celeste Arantes and João Ramos do Nascimento, the man widely known as Dondinho. Her father was a footballer himself, and that connection to the game runs through the whole family.
The sibling order, as confirmed across multiple Brazilian outlets, places Pelé as the eldest, followed by Jair Arantes do Nascimento — known as Zoca — and then Maria Lúcia as the youngest. Zoca also had a professional football career, playing for Santos among other clubs, before his death in 2020.
Roughly four years younger than Pelé, Maria Lúcia was around 78 years old in the period following his death in December 2022. In interviews she has given since then, she refers to her famous brother not as Pelé but as “Dico” — the family nickname he carried long before the world knew him by any other name. It is a small but telling detail about how differently the same person can appear depending on whether you are watching from the stands or from the kitchen table.
Life in Santos and Caring for Dona Celeste
Maria Lúcia lives in Santos, São Paulo state, alongside her mother, Celeste Arantes — known affectionately throughout Brazil as Dona Celeste — who lived past 100 years of age. In the years after Pelé’s passing, Brazilian outlets including ESPN Brasil and UOL described Maria Lúcia’s day-to-day life as largely organized around caring for her mother.
When Pelé died on 29 December 2022, public interest in his immediate family grew considerably. Maria Lúcia gave interviews in which she spoke about their last conversation and what his death meant to her. Her remark that “o futebol morre um pouco” — football dies a little — was widely quoted. But reporters who followed up in the months after noted that her routine in Santos had not changed dramatically. Her focus remained on her mother and her home.
One year after Pelé’s death, a Globo outlet in Santos returned to interview her. Alongside her daughter Daniele, she reflected on her brother and on the family life they shared growing up — memories that belong to the private world of the Arantes do Nascimento household rather than to any public archive.
Her Husband and Children
Maria Lúcia married Davi Benedito Magalhães, a former professional footballer who had a career that included stints at Santos, Corinthians, and Grêmio, among other clubs. Football-history records of Davi note that he is married to Maria Lúcia Nascimento Magalhães, identified as Pelé’s sister — a description that has followed her throughout public records of the family.
Together, Maria Lúcia and Davi have three children: a daughter named Daniele, a daughter named Débora, and a son named João Paulo. Of the three, Daniele has the most visible public presence. She accompanied her mother at a court-related event reported by Globo and appeared with her again in anniversary interviews about Pelé. Débora and João Paulo are cited in football-history profiles connected to their father but maintain a similarly low public profile to their mother.
For readers who follow the wider stories of football families and the people behind sporting legends, resources like CEO Success Model offer context on the lives that intersect with public achievement.
Maria Lúcia do Nascimento Magalhães is not a public figure in the conventional sense. She did not seek the attention that came with being Pelé’s sister, and for most of her life she has not received it. What the record does show is a woman who has remained close to her mother, raised three children with a husband who also understood professional football from the inside, and spoken openly — when asked — about what it was like to grow up alongside one of the most celebrated athletes the world has known, calling him simply “Dico.”
