Rio de Janeiro, March 2: The son of football legend Pele will be allowed to appeal against a 13-year jail term as a free man, a Brazilian judge has ruled.

All leagues special site; Pele's son to serve 13-year prison sentence

Edson Cholbi Nascimento, known as Edinho, was originally given a 13-year prison sentence in 2014 for laundering money to a drug gang, reports Xinhua news agency.

The 46-year-old was detained last week and ordered to begin serving a sentence that had been reduced to 12 years and 10 months.

But on Wednesday, judge Antonio Saldanha ordered Edinho be released by Thursday evening, according to the former Santos goalkeeper's lawyers.

Pele is considered one of the greatest football players of all time, scoring more than 1,000 career goals and winning three World Cups.

IANS