Pele put under 'special care'

Brazil great Pele, 74, was on Thursday taken into a "special care" unit in a Sao Paulo hospital after his health worsened, three days after being admitted with a urinary infection, the hospital confirmed.

"Edson Arantes do Nascimento [Pele] remains in hospital. To receive the best care he was transferred in order to be monitored in a special care unit," read a statement released by the Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo.

Pele underwent surgery for kidney stones on November 13 before being released two days later.

"The patient has been transferred to a room where he will be more closely monitored, but it is not intensive care, it is an intermediate stage," a hospital spokesman explained to AFP.