pele biography resume

Biography Online

Pele Biography

“I was born for soccer, just as Beethoven was born for music.” – Pele

Pele was born Edson Arantes do Nascimento on 23 October 1940 in Três Corações, Minas Gerais, Brazil. He was named after the American inventor Thomas Edison (his parents removed the i). In his childhood, he gained a nickname ‘Pele’ – after he mispronounced the name of a goalkeeper ‘Bile’ – Initially Pele disliked it and complained, but the more he complained, the more it stuck. Pele has no meaning and was intended as an insult, though later it was found that the word Bilé is Hebrew for “miracle.”

Pele grew up in poverty in São Paulo. He was taught to play football by his father (who used to play football), but often he had to practise with a sock stuffed with newspapers because he could not afford to buy a football. As well as playing football, he worked as a waiter in local tea shops.

In his youth, Pele played in indoor leagues, and this helped increase his speed of reactions. He rose through the youth leagues and at the age of 15 was signed by Santos FC. He was soon marked out as a future star. By the age of 16, he was the top scorer in the Brazilian league and received a call up for the Brazilian national side. Interest was such that the Brazilian President declared Pele a national treasure to prevent him being bought by foreign clubs such as Manchester United.

Pele’s World Cups

1970 World Cup

Style of play

Pele was relatively short at  5″ 8′, but he more than compensated in terms of speed, power, agility and strength. He was superb with both feet, powerful in the air, great timing and accuracy and an extraordinary perception of the game. He could mesmerise defenders with his eyes and send them the wrong way. He had a scoring ratio of 0.94 goals per game and often rose to the big occasion, scoring at crucial moments in big games. Whilst very competitive, he was also considered to be a fair player with good sense of sportsmanship. A good example was his warm embrace of Bobby Moore, the England caption after England’s defeat in the 1970 World Cup. It is sometimes held up as an embodiment of sportsmanship. Without any doubt, he is universally regarded as the greatest player of the twentieth century – if not all time. He is one of the few sportsman like Muhammad Ali and Usain Bolt, who transcend their sport to become a global icon. French footballer Michel Platini said of Pele.

“There’s Pelé the man, and then Pelé the player. And to play like Pelé is to play like God.

In the domestic league, Pele made his debut for Santos aged just 16. He played for Santos in the Brazilian league from until the 1972-73 season.

Pele finished his career in the lucrative US league. In 1975, he signed for New York Cosmos and played three seasons. He led the New York Cosmos to the US title in 1977 – the year of his retirement.

Personal life

Pele was married three times and had several children, some out of wedlock. In 1970, he was investigated by the authoritarian Brazilian government for suspected sympathy to left-wing political prisoners. Pele was investigated for handing out leaflets calling for the release of political prisoners. After the investigation, he did not get involved in politics again.

After retiring has gone on to be a great ambassador for football and sport in general. In 1992, Pelé was appointed a UN ambassador for ecology and the environment. He was also appointed a UNESCO goodwill ambassador. He is not only one of the most gifted footballers of his generation, but, also a mild-mannered man who used his fame and prestige for a positive effect.

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan . “Biography of Pele”, Oxford, UK. www.biographyonline.net. Last updated 8 March 2020. Originally published 18 April 2010.

Some Highlights of Pele’s Career

• Athlete of the Century , by Reuters News Agency: 1999
• Athlete of the Century , elected by International Olympic Committee: 1999
• UNICEF Football Player of the Century : 1999
• TIME One of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century : 1999
• FIFA Player of the Century : 2000

Pele – autobiography at Amazon

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Home › Players › Pelé

B orn on October, 23, 1940 in Minas Gerais, Brazil, Edson Arantes do Nascimento would become more commonly known around the world as Pelé. His father, João Ramos do Nascimento, played professional soccer himself, but his career never brought him much in the way of money. As the legend goes, Pelé’s family could not even afford to buy a ball for him, so he stuffed socks and molded them into the shape of a ball to kick around.

Basic facts

Birth: 1940 Death: 2022 Country: Brazil Position: Forward

Santos FC (1956-1974) New York Cosmos (1975-1977)

Club football: 694 matches, 650 goals National team: 92 matches, 77 goals

Early career

Although he continued to struggle financially in São Paulo, working a variety of jobs to help his family, the young Pelé found his true talent on the field. Under the tutelage of his father and a former national team player named Waldemar de Brito, Pelé began to mature as a player on the Bauru Athletic Club juniors. Coach de Brito recognized his ability and recommended him for a tryout with Santos FC. The team’s management agreed with de Brito’s assessment and signed Pelé in June 1956. A mere three months later, Pelé scored a goal in his debut match. Although few people knew it at the time, this foreshadowed the success to come in the rest of Pelé’s professional career.

Stardom of a youngster

Only a short year later, Pelé topped the list of scorers in the league. His performance, at the tender age of 17, caught the attention of the national team. He would not disappoint. In his first appearance on the world stage, he scored key goals in both the semifinal and the final match of the 1958 World Cup to win it for Brazil . At this point, he had achieved superhero status in Brazil and became a household name around the world. The Brazilian government honored him as a “national treasure,” which elevated his status at home, but also prevented him from taking advantage of offers a broad.

Struggle with injuries

On an individual level, the next two World Cups turned out disappointing due to injuries. The Brazilian side still won the tournament in 1962, but they fell way short in 1966 without their star player—they were eliminated in the group stage. During this era, though, Pelé continued to excel on his club team, Santos. Consistently a top scorer, he often faced teams who had altered their play specifically to deal with the threat he posed. Despite this, he still managed to score 60 goals in the 1964 season and 101 goals the year after that.

Retirement and comeback

By the time 1970 rolled around, Pelé had reportedly decided to hang up his hat and leave while he was on top. However, he was eventually coaxed into playing one last World Cup for Brazil in Mexico on what many consider as the best team in history. Pelé contributed to Brazil’s tournament win with goals and several important assists, earning himself the Golden Ball award for his play. Pelé continued with the Brazilian team for about another year, finally calling it quits in 1971. A few years after that, he said goodbye to his fans at Santos, too. His days as a player were still not over, though.

Late career

Although he had long said that he would only ever play for Santos, he could not resist answering the call from the New York Cosmos in 1975. The North American Soccer League (NASL) represented a significant step down in terms of the level of play that Pelé was accustomed to. The burgeoning league benefitted greatly from this ambassador of the game, though, and ticket sales rose. The American public, largely unfamiliar with the game, took notice. Pelé led the Cosmos to a championship before retiring for good, an event marked by an exhibition match between his adoptive New York team and Santos.

Legacy and life after the football career

At the time of his retirement in 1977, Pelé had amassed a series of seemingly unbreakable records. He had racked up a total of 1,283 goals in 1,363 matches, making him the top scorer in Brazilian national team history and FIFA history. Just as impressively, he managed to pull off 92 hat-tricks. He also set a record for the most FIFA World Cup wins for an individual, with three medals to his name. His early years should not be overlooked, though. The young Pelé burned bright, becoming the youngest player to score a hat-trick and the youngest player to score in a World Cup final match. Retirement saw “O Rei” go on to campaign for a variety of causes, including poverty reduction, anti-corruption movements, and environmental protection. He also received an honorary knighthood, served as the Minister of Sport in Brazil, and assumed the role of a UNICEF Goodwill ambassador. Of course, he never stopped promoting the game throughout the world, including FIFA events and Olympic ceremonies. Perhaps most memorable of all, he popularized the phrase “the beautiful game” as shorthand for the game he loved so much. Generations of enthusiasts have imagined themselves playing with the grace and beauty of “The Black Pearl.” He could strike the ball with astonishing accuracy or flick it off to a teammate through a thick web of defenders’ legs. His iconic goal-scoring bicycle kick in Belgium in 1968 sent young players from all over rushing outside for hours of painful practice. What dazzled many of his fellow players was his uncanny ability to work his way out of almost any situation with sheer skill. For those who have wondered about the origin of the name “Pelé,” the answer proves elusive. Some have claimed that it came from Pelé’s poor pronunciation of the name of a goalie he admired named “Bilé.” According to this version of events, his teammates half-mockingly gave him the name “Pelé” and he could not shake it. Pelé himself has never given a definitive account of how he got the name. In fact, he claimed he never cared for it much. Like so much else in this superstar’s life, though, the magic lies not in minute biographical details or trivia, but in the legacy that Pelé left on the field. Pelé passed away in december 2022, at the age of 82.

By Rosa Nelson

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References: http://www.biography.com/people/pel%C3%A9-39221#more-world-cup-titles http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/10874465/How-and-why-Peles-mystique-and-reputation-as-the-worlds-greatest-ever-footballer-has-been-overhyped.html http://www.goal.com/en/news/60/south-america/2010/10/21/2176031/70-facts-about-brazil-legend-pele Image source: Image sources: 1, 3 FIFA – World Cup Official Film 1970 2 Scanpix

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10 Things You May Not Know About Pelé

From the origins of his name to how he played his final pro game for both teams, here are some facts about the Brazilian soccer star.

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Thus began Pelé's storied career, and by the time he played his final professional game in 1977, he’d netted over 1,280 career goals as part of Brazil’s Santos Football Club and the New York Cosmos. Although he was widely considered to be the greatest soccer player of all time, here are 10 things you might not know about Pelé:

He was named after Thomas Edison

As Pelé explained in a September 2014 tweet , his father João Ramos, a soccer player also known as Dondinho, and mother Dona Celeste named him Edson, after Thomas Edison . ”Electricity had just been introduced to my hometown in Brazil when I was born,” wrote the Três Corações native. First nicknamed “Dico” by his family, Pelé later explained that the moniker by which he’s currently known worldwide “really bugged” him at first.

“I was really proud that I was named after Thomas Edison and wanted to be called Edson,” he wrote in a 2006 Guardian piece . “I thought Pelé sounded horrible. It was a rubbish name. Edson sounded so much more serious and important.” Although the sports star added he “can never be 100 percent certain about the origin,” the most probable explanation is that the nickname was given to him by classmates because he mispronounced the name of one of his dad’s soccer teammates: Vasco de Sao Lourenco, a goalkeeper affectionately known as "Bilé."

“So when someone said, "Hey, Pelé," I would shout back and get angry. On one occasion I punched a classmate because of it and earned a two-day suspension,” he wrote. “Now I love the name — but back then it wound me up no end.”

He got creative when he couldn’t afford a soccer ball or shoes

Growing up in poverty, Pelé practiced his dribbling skills with a sock stuffed with rags when his family couldn’t afford to buy him an actual soccer ball. When he was 6, the family moved to a larger town in southern Brazil, where he shined shoes and sold roasted peanuts outside movie theaters to earn money for a soccer ball. Unable to afford shoes himself, he also frequently played barefoot, and his friends eventually formed a team called the Shoeless Ones. Later, barefooted games played in vacant lots became known as “ pelada ,” believed to be named after Pelé.

His first contract was far from lucrative

At 15 years old, Pelé signed his first contract with Santos in 1956, earning just $10 a month. According to ESPN, he used his pay to buy his mother a gas stove, though their town didn’t haven’t the capability to pipe gas into homes. Years later, he signed a three-year $7 million contract with the New York Cosmos in 1975, making him the highest‐paid team athlete in the world at the time. The New York Times estimated that $2 million of the deal went to taxes for the native Brazilian, however. “He will pay his own taxes, just like every American,” Cosmos vice president and general manager Clive Toye explained in 1975, per the newspaper.

He’s a Brazilian national treasure — literally

After Pelé led Brazil’s national team to their first World Cup win in 1958, European clubs such as Real Madrid, Juventus, Inter Milan and Manchester United began courting the rising star. In order to prevent him from being traded to foreign teams, Brazilian President Jânio Quadros eventually had Pelé declared a national treasure in 1961.

“Well, first of all it was an honor for me. But I pay income tax like anybody else,” he joked to Esquire in 2016. “I was invited — I had several proposals to play in Europe. For Real Madrid, for AC Milan, for Bayern Munich. But at that time, we didn't have too many Brazilian players outside the country. I was very happy at my team, Santos. I didn't have the desire to play outside the country.”

He held two Guinness World Records

By the end of his career, Pelé had won three FIFA World Cups with Brazil (in 1958, 1962 and 1970), earning him the most wins by any player. Of course, that’s but one of the many records he broke on the soccer field. The four goals Pelé scored in his 1956 professional debut only set the stage for the 1,283 total goals he’d go on to rack up over the years. There is some debate over Guinness’ total number, however, since multiple outlets reported that he scored more than 500 of those goals in “unofficial friendlies and tour games,” rather than in professional competition.

Henry Kissinger convinced him to play in the U.S.

After Pelé retired from the Brazilian national team and Santos in 1974, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger traveled to Sao Paulo to convince him to return to gameplay for the New York Cosmos. "He invited me to go to the cafe with him, and there he said, 'Listen. You know I'm from the United States, and I'm in politics there. Soccer is coming along there-they're playing it in the schools. Would you like to help us promote soccer in the United States?'” Pelé, who didn’t speak English at the time, recalled to Esquire in 2016. “And I said, 'My God.'"

Prior to him signing a reported $7 million, three-year contract with the New York Cosmos, Kissinger reportedly sent him a telegram that read: “Should you decide to sign a contract, I am sure your stay in the United States will substantially contribute to closer ties between Brazil and the United States in the field of sports.”

He once (temporarily) stopped a war

Kissinger noted in a 1999 Time article that both sides in Nigeria’s civil war called a 48-hour cease-fire in 1967 so Pelé could play an exhibition match in the capital of Lagos. Santos' website elaborates that the region's military governor Samuel Ogbemudia declared a holiday and opened up a bridge so that both sides could watch Pelé’s 2-1 victory over Nigeria.

“We were asked to play a friendly match on Benin City, in the middle of a Civil War, but Santos was so beloved that they agreed on a ceasefire on the matchday. It became known as the day that 'Santos stopped the war,'” Pelé tweeted in 2020. (In recent years, however, some have debated the extent of the reported ceasefire.)

He was friends with Nelson Mandela

Pelé left a family holiday to play in 2007’s “ 90 Minutes for Mandela ” charity match in honor of the South African president ’s 89th birthday. During a joint press conference, Pelé awarded Mandela an autographed jersey, which the latter called a “priceless gift” he’d treasure for the rest of his life.

“He was my hero, my friend, and also a companion to me in our fight for the people and for world peace,” Pelé tweeted following Mandela’s 2013 death, also calling the leader “one of the most influential people” in his life.

He played for both teams in his final pro game

In October 1977, Pelé competed in his final professional game in an exhibition match between the New York Cosmos and Santos F.C. in front of 77,000 spectators — including Muhammad Ali — at New Jersey’s Giants Stadium. He played the first half of the game for Santos, scoring one goal, and then switched jerseys and played for the Cosmos in the second half. The Cosmos eventually won the match with a final score of 2-1.

He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II

Despite not being of British descent, Queen Elizabeth II bestowed upon Pelé the honorary title of Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE) in 1997 for his humanitarian work and activism. Beginning in 1994, Pelé served as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s Champion for Sport and a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, creating such campaigns as Children in Need fundraising in 1996, and the Match of the Hearth, in 2000. “It will always stay in my memory,” he tweeted in 2020 of his honorary knighthood. “I thank all the British people for their affection.”

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Skills, charisma, mysticism: The life of football legend Pele

The world bids farewell to one of the greatest footballers ever seen.

Santos, Brazil – A famous sports writer once said that “if Pelé had not been born a man, he would have been born a football”.

Pelé – real name Edson Arantes do Nascimento – one of the greatest footballers the world had ever seen, died on Thursday at the age of 82.

Keep reading

Brazilian football legend pele dies at age 82, pele, brazilian football ‘phenomenon’, leaves unparalleled legacy, photos: ‘the king’ pele, a lifetime of football memories.

Born in the state of Minas Gerais in 1940, Pelé’s family moved to a nearby city called Bauru looking for a better life. He grew up in poverty and his parents could not even afford a football. An old sock filled with newspapers was the first “ball” his magical feet kicked but it was enough for him to fall in love with the game and for people to start noticing he was different.

When Pelé was 15, a local coach, Waldemar de Brito, took him to play for the football club Santos. Upon arriving in the city that shares the name with the club, Brito told the coach, “This kid will be the best in the world.”

Within minutes, the coach was impressed with Pelé and signed him on the spot. This was 1956. Two years later, Pelé would be in Sweden, spearheading Brazil to a World Cup title, the first of six for the team. He scored two goals in the final against Sweden. He was still 17.

At the final whistle, the wonder kid fainted on the field while being carried by the celebrating crowd.

Pelé was famously easy-going, kind, joyful, and a reliable friend.

“Pelé was always a very nice guy. We would spend so much time talking. He didn’t have any star attitude,” Didi, 84, one of Pelé’s oldest friends and his barber of 55 years, told Al Jazeera.

“I tell my grandchildren that I had one client more famous than anyone else. This is a man who is known more all over the world than Coca Cola. So I feel proud of it and it’s very rare for someone to have a client like this.”

Pelé had a certain way of speaking Portuguese, something he would turn into a trademark. He would constantly finish his sentences with “entende?” which means “understand?”.

It seems he always wanted to make sure to facilitate conversations, just like he would smooth out his teammates’ game.

In addition to skills and charisma, a certain mysticism always surrounded the character of the King of Football. Pelé was from a city called Três Corações, which translates to Three Hearts.

One of his many famous quotes, made at his last match ever played in 1977 in New York, was honouring children and with his limited English, he just said “love, love, love.”

On the pitch, Pelé became an instant celebrity following the 1958 World Cup triumph. Upon returning to Brazil, he helped Santos build a dynasty, winning 25 titles in the 1960s. Despite being world-famous, Pelé kept living a down-to-earth life in Santos. He would share a guest house with other players and cycle around the city.

“The pay was pretty bad but he did it for love of the game and we had so much fun,” Carlos “Lala”, 86, a goalkeeper and Pelé’s former Santos teammate, told Al Jazeera.

Despite being a widely diverse country ethnically, Brazil is not often represented by people of colour. So having someone Black as its biggest celebrity and star had a cultural impact on the country.

Aside from being the world’s best footballer, Pelé also ventured into showbusiness. A lover of music, he recorded an album with Brazilian legendary singer Elis Regina and acted in a handful of movies, making him a pop star as well.

In 1962, Brazil won a second successive World Cup with an injured Pelé supporting the team.

It was in 1970, at the first World Cup broadcasted in colour, that Pelé put the cherry on top of his football legacy. The team that had Clodoaldo, Rivelino and Tostão, put in one of the most celebrated World Cup performances in history.

In the final, a 4-1 win over Italy, Pelé scored a header – the team’s opening goal – that some people said he managed by freezing midair. He celebrated the goal in his typical manner: Jumping and punching the air.

“I told myself before the game that Pelé is made of skin and bones just like everyone else. But I was wrong,” said Tarciso Burnigch, the Italian defender appointed to mark Pelé in the final.

That was Pelé’s 12th and final World Cup goal.

In 1969, he had become the first player to score 1,000 goals. The 1,000th goal was at the Maracanã, in Rio de Janeiro, known as the Mecca of Football.

In 1974, he left Santos and played his final years in New York, at a club called Cosmos.

It was the only team he played for other than Santos and Brazil’s national side.

“As we [the security team] were always with the team, traveling, at the games, we had a lot of contact with them, so we developed a friendship,” Pedro de Liberato, Pele’s security guard, and then his neighbour, told Al Jazeera.

“Pelé was always very joyful, always joking with people,” the 90-year-old added.

Pelé wore the number 10 jersey but he did not know which number he would have and was assigned 10 randomly.

The number 10 jersey has since then become associated with the world’s best – Maradona, Roberto Baggio, Zinedine Zidane and Lionel Messi are just some of them who have worn it.

Pelé retired after playing 1,363 games, winning 37 titles, scoring 1,281 goals, including 92 career hat-tricks.

He spent his post-football life involved in social activism, including being a UNESCO goodwill ambassador.

In 1995, he took public office as minister of sports, introducing the legislation that grants players their own rights after a certain age. Pelé also commented on games for television.

In recent years, Pelé struggled with his health. Aside from battling cancer, he also suffered from severe hip pain and spent most of his last years in a wheelchair.

Making a superhero: how Pelé became more myth than man

Netflix’s new film captures the legendary Brazilian’s genius, but its lead character remains a fascinating enigma

C asa Pelé , the small two‑room house in Três Corações where Pelé was born in 1940, is now a popular tourist attraction. As no photographs or descriptions of the original house have survived, it was rebuilt entirely from the memories of Pelé’s mother, Dona Celeste, and his uncle Jorge, with period furniture and fixings sourced from antique shops. And so what greets visitors today is really only a vague approximation of the house where one of the world’s most famous footballers spent his earliest years: a heavily curated blend of hazy memories and selective detail. As you walk in, a wireless radio plays classic songs from the early 1940s on an endless loop.

As it turns out, this is also pretty much how Pelé himself is remembered these days. It’s 50 years since he played his last game for Brazil . Only a fraction of his rich and prolific playing career has survived on video. The vast majority of us never saw him play live. And so for the most part, the genius of Pelé exists largely in the abstract: something you heard or read about rather than something you saw, a bequeathed fact rather than a lived experience, a processed product rather than an organic document.

And so naturally the most stirring and vivid passages in Pelé, the new biopic of the legendary Brazilian footballer , are of football itself: the pure speed, the elegant nutmegs, the emphatic finishes, the footwork as precise as music. The legacy of Pelé has become a fractured and contested thing over the decades, but the football itself: this, at least, is pure. And in these passages, when gliding past defenders as if operating on some higher plane of intelligence, or being hacked and crunched to pieces by cynical opposition tactics, or defining the world’s biggest games with pieces of euphoric skill, Pelé lives as he deserves to live: with the ball at his feet. And at Pelé’s feet, the ball was whatever you wanted it to be.

There is a natural cinematic arc to Pelé’s career, one you could barely have scripted more perfectly: the spectacular entrance as a 17-year-old at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, followed by a sea of trials and crises in the 1960s, and neatly appended with the protagonist’s triumphant return at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. This is the arc that Pelé follows to the letter: artistically speaking, the last half-century of Pelé’s life – New York Cosmos Pelé, world peace Pelé, erectile dysfunction Pelé , Mastercard Pelé – may as well never have happened. What we get is Peak Pelé, the force of light and heat and joy who ultimately just wants to make the Brazilian people happy.

And yet by the same token, this is no hagiography. Pelé’s extramarital affairs and uncomfortably close relationship with Brazil’s murderous military dictatorship are interrogated in some detail, pieced together from archive footage, interviews with teammates, politicians and journalists, and substantial access to Pelé himself. By accident or by design, Pelé does not emerge as some virtuous conquering hero, but as a flawed and credulous star: a man who could do everything on a football pitch, but away from it was often the product of forces he could neither harness nor fully understand. Perhaps the rawest and most moving footage is of Pelé himself, now 80 and in declining health: wheeling himself into the sparse interview room on a Zimmer frame, winching himself heavily into a chair, sighing deeply.

Pelé himself has never been the most reliable of narrators. Many of the stories he likes to tell about himself – like the time he supposedly stopped a civil war in Nigeria in 1969 – have been comprehensively debunked . His record-breaking goal tally is the subject of fierce dispute. At one point in the film, he tells us that he never dreamed of becoming a footballer. Later, he tells us that after Brazil lost the 1950 World Cup final to Uruguay, he consoled his distraught father by telling him he would win it for him one day. One of these is clearly bullshit. Both are included.

But then, when you have lived as eventful and celebrated a life as Pelé has, memory becomes a vague and splintered thing. Pelé didn’t simply create his own lore out of thin air, even if for the most part he happily went along with it. He’s not sitting there on Wikipedia diligently amending his own goal record. Pelé buys wholeheartedly into his own myth because over 60 years the course of his life led him inexorably in that direction. And so, ultimately, perhaps what you remember is more often what you remember remembering, or what someone else remembered, a well-cut anecdote that you have spent more than half your life polishing before a succession of simpering interviewers. Perhaps over time the fact and the legend blend into each other, to the point where it is no longer meaningful to tell them apart. This isn’t about greats and frauds, truth and lies. It’s about the pressing urge of Pelé’s generation to exalt this one man above all others in what is essentially the history of a team game.

“Pelé rose to fame at the moment of Brazil’s birth as a modern country,” the former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso says in the film. “He became the symbol of Brazilian emancipation,” says the musician Gilberto Gil. “He made Brazilians love themselves again,” says Juca Kfouri, a journalist and friend of Pelé’s. All this is told to us as if it’s simply the gospel truth, rather than scrutinised as what it is: a story, a persuasive theory in which the young Pelé is imagined as the emblem of Brazil’s booming economy and growing national confidence in the 1950s.

A similar shorthand applies to Pelé’s growing fame, which is narrated with the credulity of a biblical miracle. The teenage star who returns from the 1958 World Cup is handsome and charismatic and young and athletic and brilliant. Virtue generates fame, and with the growth of television beaming his face and feats to a mass global audience, the reverse also turns out to be true. To what extent is Pelé worthy of all this? To what extent does it place an intolerable burden on him? To what extent is his twinkly, inoffensive public persona – Brand Pelé – a means of coping with the ridiculous levels of fame and expectation invested in him while he was still basically a child?

It’s interesting to see what doesn’t make the finished cut. The women in Pelé’s life – his family, his first wife, an unspecified number of children – are barely mentioned. Money is barely mentioned: for more than a decade Pelé entrusted his financial affairs to his agent, Pepe Gordo, who invested a significant part of Pelé’s fortune in a number of failed businesses. By the late 1960s, Pelé was broke and forced to ask his club, Santos, to bail him out on unfavourable terms. This traumatic episode had a defining impact on Pelé, who in some respect has spent the rest of his life chasing down the riches he believes are his due.

Instead, the film takes a sharp, dark and gripping turn into politics. In 1964, an army coup – backed by the United States – overthrew the democratically elected government of João Goulart and established a brutal authoritarian regime, characterised by the torture and murder of political dissidents. The interviewer asks Pelé if the dictatorship changed anything for him. “No, football went on in the same way,” Pelé replies evenly, as footage of him scoring goals is intercut with newsreel of violent street protests.

Of course, he admits, he had an inkling of what was going on, even as he posed for photographs with General Médici at official functions, beaming and shaking hands in pictures he must have known would be distributed around the world as pro-regime propaganda. But even now there is no real contrition, no twinge of moral anguish, much less genuine remorse at a course of action he insists was the only realistic choice. “What were you doing during the dictatorship? Which side were you on? You get lost in these things,” he says in a tone that evokes not so much discomfort as a vague indifference.

In the age of the athlete-activist, Pelé’s immaculate neutrality comes across as both a little jarring and entirely understandable: the weariness of an octogenarian non‑combatant who is simply wired in a certain way. “You could tell me Muhammad Ali was different,” his friend Kfouri says. “Indeed he was, and I applaud him for it. Ali knew that he would be arrested for refusing the draft, but he ran no risk of being mistreated or tortured. Pelé had no assurance of that.”

Really, how else did we expect Pelé – a sportsman with no political ambition or credo – to act in the face of a frightening, omnipotent military junta? Rebel, resist, lose everything? Flash a defiant eye in those official photographs, just to show the world what he really thought? Perhaps, in measuring Pelé up to the athlete-activist ideal, we are simply guilty of doing what the world has been doing to Pelé ever since he emerged: moulding and forcing and chiselling him into our own preconceived expectations of what a hero should look and sound like.

The character of Pelé was created to fulfil multiple needs. For the Brazilian people he was the outsized superhero, a source of joy and exuberance in a sad, suppressed country. For the politicians who effectively kept him captive, preventing him from moving to Europe in the 1960s and coercing him into coming out of international retirement to play in the 1970 World Cup, he was a resource: a handy propaganda tool and icon of nationalistic devotion. For sponsors and commercial interests, he was an inexhaustible catalyst of ticket sales and product endorsements. For coaches and teammates, he was their quickest route to glory. For broadcasters and journalists, writers and film-makers, he was (and continues to be) content. For autograph and memorabilia hunters, he was the motherlode. For a generation of football fans, he would be the eternal Greatest: lifelong and irrefutable proof that their own happy memories were objectively better than those of any subsequent generation.

Of course Pelé went along for the ride. He was 17. What else was he going to do? What else did he know? As he matured into adulthood, he would discover that his life had already been built around him: a ceaseless treadmill of football and football and things around the football and more football. He would learn that he and he alone was the show (when he was injured for a while in 1962, Santos attendances dropped by 50%). And once the show moved on, he was essentially pensioned off and left to fend for himself.

Last year, Pelé’s son Edinho claimed in an interview that his father’s health struggles had left him depressed and reclusive , embarrassed to leave the house. Within days the man himself had issued an official statement rejecting the claims and insisting that he had “several upcoming events scheduled”. And in a sense, Pelé’s later years have increasingly felt like an attempt to keep breathing life into the character that once so transfixed the world, even as its physical feats recede ever further into the distance.

There’s a particularly poignant moment about halfway through the film that seems to encapsulate this eternal struggle. In November 1969, a capacity crowd gathered at the Maracanã in a state of feverish rapture, hoping to see Pelé score his 1,000th career goal against Vasco da Gama. The game was level until the 78th minute, when Pelé wriggled into the area and won a penalty. As he stepped up to take the kick, Pelé looked round to see that his teammates were not camped on the edge of the penalty area but all the way back on the halfway line, willing him on from a distance. Not for the first time, Pelé was alone with just the ball at his feet.

It’s not a great penalty. He places it to his right. Edgardo Andrada, the goalkeeper, flings himself to his left but can’t quite grasp it. The ball hits the net and in that same moment Pelé is bounding after it, scooping it up into his arms. And in that same moment he’s mobbed by a crowd of hundreds of photographers and radio reporters and jubilant fans. Strong hands try to grab the ball from him and so Pelé hoists it aloft, partly in triumph, partly because he’s just trying to keep hold of the ball. Then all of a sudden in the melee he drops it and the ball disappears into the throng, and the crowd are still going crazy, and Pelé is still frantically looking around, trying to glimpse the ball. But it’s gone. Forty-seven years later in London, the ball will sell for £81,250 at auction to a private bidder.

More on this story

Private burial of Pelé in Santos after eight-mile funeral procession

Brazil president joins mourners paying tribute to Pelé before funeral

‘I had to say goodbye’: thousands pay their respects to Pelé in Brazil

Fifa’s Infantino will ask every country to name stadium in honour of Pelé

Pelé’s shimmering legend was forged in the heat of the 1970 World Cup finals

Brazil prepares to say goodbye to Pelé as it welcomes a new president

‘He will be eternal’: Premier League managers lead tributes to Pelé

Pelé dies aged 82: tributes paid to a football great

Pelé radiated the quality of joy: an instant appeal to the eye and heart

Pelé obituary

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As ‘The King,’ Pelé enchanted fans and dazzled opponents

FILE - Brazil’s Pele is hoisted on the shoulders of his teammates after Brazil won the World Cup final against Italy, 4-1, in Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca, June 21, 1970. Pelé, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died in sao Paulo on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. He was 82. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Brazilian soccer star Pele relaxes after a workout in Santos, Brazil, June 3, 1975. Pelé, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died in Sao Paulo on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. He was 82. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Brazil’s Pele scores past Venezuela’s goal keeper Fabrizio Fasano in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug. 24, 1969. Pelé, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died in Sao Paulo on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. He was 82. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Soccer star Pele, of the New York Cosmos, listens to the star-spangled banner prior to a playoff game between the Cosmos and the Rochester Lancers in Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, Aug. 24, 1977. Pelé, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died in Sao Paulo on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. He was 82. (AP Photo/Ray Stubblebine, File)

FILE - Brazil’s 17-year-old Pele weeps on the shoulder of goalkeeper Gylmar Dos Santos Neves after Brazil’s 5-2 victory over Sweden in the final of the soccer World Cup in Stockholm, Sweden, June 29, 1958. Pelé, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died in Sao Paulo on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. He was 82. (AP Photo File)

FILE - Brazilian soccer legend Pele smiles during a media opportunity at a restaurant in London, March 20, 2015. Pelé, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died in Sao Paulo on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. He was 82. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

FILE - Pele gives a soccer demonstration during the taping of the Johnny Carson Show at NBC-TV studios in New York, May 9, 1973. Pelé, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died in Sao Paulo on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. He was 82. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Brazilian soccer legend Pele, center top, and his son Edson Cholbi do Nascimento, above at right, wave with children during during the centennial anniversary celebration of the team in Santos, Brazil, April 14, 2012. Pelé, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died in Sao Paulo on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. He was 82. (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine, File)

FILE - Former Brazilian soccer player Pele, left, celebrates at the end of the Copa Libertadores soccer final match between Brazil’s Santos and Uruguay’s Penarol in Sao Paulo, Brazil, June 22, 2011. Santos won 2-1. Pelé, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died in Sao Paulo on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. He was 82. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)

FILE - Soccer player Neymar, left, and Brazalian soccer legend Pele, share a laugh during a centennial anniversary celebration of the team in Santos, Brazil. Pelé, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died in Sao Paulo on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. He was 82. (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine, File)

FILE - Brazilian soccer legend Pele waves prior to the African Cup of Nations final soccer match between Ivory Coast and Zambia at Stade de L’Amitie in Libreville, Gabon, Feb. 12, 2012. Pelé, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died in Sao Paulo on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. He was 82. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

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SAO PAULO (AP) — Pelé was simply “The King.” He embraced “the beautiful game” of soccer in his 1958 World Cup debut for Brazil and never really let go.

He won a record three World Cups and was widely regarded as one of his sport’s greatest players. His majestic and galvanizing presence set him among the most recognizable figures in the world.

Pelé died Thursday at 82. He had undergone treatment for colon cancer since 2021.

Pelé was among the game’s most prolific scorers and spent nearly two decades enchanting fans and dazzling opponents. His grace, athleticism and moves on soccer’s highest stage transfixed all. He orchestrated a fast, fluid style of play that revolutionized the sport — a flair that personified Brazilian elegance on the field.

He carried his country to soccer’s heights and became a global ambassador for his sport in a journey that began on the streets of Sao Paulo state, where he would kick a sock stuffed with newspapers or rags.

“Pelé changed everything. He transformed football into art, entertainment,” Neymar, a fellow Brazilian soccer player, said on Instagram. “Football and Brazil elevated their standing thanks to the King! He is gone, but his magic will endure. Pelé is eternal!”

In the conversation about soccer’s greatest player, only the late Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are mentioned alongside him.

Different sources, counting different sets of games, list Pelé’s goal totals anywhere between 650 (league matches) to 1,281 (all senior matches, some against low-level competition). When Maradona once interviewed Pelé, he playfully asked the Brazilian how he accumulated so many goals.

The player who would be dubbed “The King” was introduced to the world at 17 at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, the youngest player ever at the tournament.

Pelé was the emblem of his country’s World Cup triumph of 1970 in Mexico. He scored in the final and set up Carlos Alberto with a nonchalant pass for the last goal in a 4-1 victory over Italy.

The image of Pelé in a bright-yellow Brazil jersey, with the No. 10 stamped on the back, remains alive with soccer fans everywhere. As does his trademark goal celebration — a leap with a right fist thrust high above his head.

Pelé’s fame was such that in 1967 factions of a civil war in Nigeria agreed to a brief cease-fire so he could play an exhibition match in the country. He was knighted by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in 1997. When Pelé visited Washington to help popularize the game in North America, it was the U.S. president who stuck out his hand first.

“You don’t need to introduce yourself because everyone knows who Pelé is,” Ronald Reagan said.

Pelé was Brazil’s first modern Black national hero but rarely spoke about racism in a country where the rich and powerful tend to hail from the white minority.

Opposing fans taunted Pelé with monkey chants at home and all over the world.

“He said that he would never play if he had to stop every time he heard those chants,” said Angelica Basthi, one of Pelé’s biographers. “He is key for Black people’s pride in Brazil, but never wanted to be a flagbearer.”

The Life of the King Pelé

Pelé’s life after soccer took many forms. He was a politician — Brazil’s Extraordinary Minister for Sport — a wealthy businessman, and an ambassador for UNESCO and the United Nations.

He had roles in movies, soap operas and even composed songs and recorded CDs of popular Brazilian music.

Pelé was an ambassador for his sport until his final years but as his health deteriorated his travels and appearances became less frequent. After needing a hip replacement, he started using a cane.

He was often seen in a wheelchair during his final years and did not attend a ceremony to unveil a statue of him representing Brazil’s 1970 World Cup team.

“He gets very shy, he gets very embarrassed,” his son Edinho told Globoesporte.com. “He doesn’t want to go out.”

Pelé spent his 80th birthday with a few relatives.

Pelé spent a month hospitalized in 2021 after surgery to remove a tumor from his colon. Pelé said he was ready “to play 90 minutes, plus extra time,” but soon started chemotherapy.

Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, in the small city of Tres Coracoes in the interior of Minas Gerais state on Oct. 23, 1940, Pelé grew up shining shoes to buy his modest soccer gear. His father was also a player.

Pelé’s talent drew notice when he was 11, and a local professional player brought him to Santos’ youth squads. Despite his youth and 5-foot-8 frame Pelé’ scored against grown men with the same ease he displayed against friends back home. He debuted with the Brazilian club at 15 in 1956, and the club quickly gained worldwide recognition.

The name Pelé came from him mispronouncing the name of a player called Bilé. He later became known simply as ‘O Rei’ – The King.

Pelé went to the 1958 World Cup as a reserve but became a key part for his country’s championship team. His first goal, in which he flicked the ball over the head of a defender and raced around him to volley it home, was voted as one of the best in World Cup history.

“When Pelé scored,” veteran Swedish midfielder Sigge Parling said, “I have to be honest and say I felt like applauding.”

The 1966 World Cup in England — won by the hosts — was a bitter one for Pelé, by then already considered the world’s top player. Brazil was knocked out at the group stage and Pelé, angry at fouls and hard tackles by Portugal, swore it was his last World Cup.

He changed his mind and was rejuvenated in the 1970 World Cup. In a game against England, he struck a header for a certain score, but the great goalkeeper Gordon Banks flipped the ball over the bar in an astonishing move. Pelé likened the save — one of the best in World Cup history — to a “salmon climbing up a waterfall.” Later, he scored the opening goal in the final against Italy, his last World Cup match.

In all, Pelé played 114 matches with Brazil, scoring a record 95 goals — including 77 in official matches. Most of his goals came with Santos, which he led to five national titles, two Copa Libertadores trophies and two club world championships — all in the 1960s.

His run with Santos stretched over three decades until he went into semi-retirement after the 1972 season. Wealthy European clubs tried to sign him, but the Brazilian government intervened to keep him from being sold, declaring him a national treasure.

On the field, Pelé’s energy, vision and imagination drove a gifted Brazilian national team, with intricate passing combinations slicing defenses while leaving room for players to showcase flashy skills.

The fast, fluid style of play exemplified “O Jogo Bonito” — Portuguese for “The Beautiful Game.” And at the center of it all, like a maestro in command of his orchestra, was Pelé. It was his 1977 autobiography, “My Life and the Beautiful Game,” that made the phrase part of soccer’s lexicon.

In 1975, he joined the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League. Although he was past his prime at 34 years old, Pelé briefly gave soccer a higher profile in North America before ending his career on Oct. 1, 1977, in an exhibition between the Cosmos and Santos. Among the dignitaries on hand was perhaps the only other athlete whose renown spanned the globe — Muhammad Ali.

Pelé had two daughters out of wedlock and five children from his first two marriages, to Rosemeri dos Reis Cholbi and Assiria Seixas Lemos. He later married businesswoman Marcia Cibele Aoki.

Azzoni is based in Madrid.

World History Edu

Pelé: Major Facts & Accomplishments

by World History Edu · March 28, 2021

Achievements of Pelé

Pelé’s tag as the greatest soccer player of all time has often gone without contention. It’ll certainly be an exercise in futility trying to look for another soccer player – dead or alive – that has three World Cup titles to his name.

The Brazilian superstar’s influence even went beyond the game of soccer, considering the fact that he devoted his post-playing career to serving as the ambassador for a plethora of charitable causes around the world. His accomplishments on and off the soccer pitch place him up there with the likes of boxing legend Mohammad Ali, Jamaican great athlete Usain Bolt, and golf greatest player Tiger Woods.

Fast Facts about Pelé

Birth name: Edson Arantes do Nascimento

Date of birth: October 23, 1940

Place of birth: Três Corações, Brazil

Date of death:  December 29, 2022

Place of death: Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital, São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil

Cause of death : Cancer

Father:   João Ramos do Nascimento (also known as Dondinho)

Mother: Dona Celeste Arantes

Spouses:  Rosemeri dos Reis Cholbi ( m.  1966⁠–⁠1982) ​; Assíria Lemos Seixas ( m.  1994⁠–⁠2008) ​; Marcia Aoki ( m.  2016)

Children: 7

Nickname: “O Rei”, “Black Pearl”, “Pérola Negra”, “Dico”

Clubs played for: New York Cosmos (1975-1977); Santos FC (1956-1974)

Position: Forward

Honors and awards: Three-time FIFA World Cup champion with the Brazilian national team, Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE)

Here are 10 major accomplishments of Pelé, the Brazilian soccer legend who scored his first professional goal before turning 16.

Won his first World Cup championship at just age 17

Following Brazil’s disheartening loss to Uruguay at the 1950 FIFA World Cup final, Pelé, 9/10 years old by then, made a solemn promise to his father that he would win the coveted trophy for his dad and his nation. Eight years later, Pelé did exactly that by winning the World Cup title, much to joy of not just his father but the entire nation of Brazil.

Pele, who was a few months shy of his 18th birthday, inspired his Brazilian teammates to victory over World Cup host Sweden in the final in Stockholm in June 1958. The mesmerizing and powerful forward scored three times in Brazil’s 5-2 win over France in the semi-final. He then netted twice in the final. Pelé was instantly catapulted to a national hero back in his home country.

To this day, his record of being the youngest FIFA World Cup winner remains unbroken.

Pelé, 17, is overwhelmed with emotions after winning the 1958 World Cup Final. He thus became the youngest FIFA World Cup champion of all time.

The government of Brazil declared Pelé a national treasure

Following his superhuman display in Sweden, Pelé’s phone began ringing hot, as many of the top soccer clubs in Europe tried to snap his signature. World-record signing fees were offered to the soccer superstar; however, Pelé was very reluctant to play outside Brazil. His dilemma was settled when then-Brazilian President Jânio Quadros elevated him to the status of a national treasure, effectively preventing any non-Brazilian club from signing him.

Not wanting to deny the world from having a glimpse of the sheer talent of Pelé, Santos Football Club organized exhibition matches across the globe.

Pelé clinched three FIFA World Cup titles in his career

His record of three World Cup titles looks unlikely to be beaten by any soccer player. Such was the impact Pelé had on the world of football. His first World Cup title came in 1958, when he was still a teenager. He would then go on to win the prestigious title two more times – in 1962 and 1970.

At the 1970 World Cup held in Mexico, Pelé was unstoppable, netting four goals and making six assists as Brazil clinched the title for the third time in two decades. One of Pelé’s goals of the tournament came in their 4-1 thrashing of arch rivals Italy in the final. Pelé was the undisputed star of the tournament, perhaps along with the likes of Jairzinho, Carlos Alberto, Gérson, and Rivelino.

Brazil starting 11 in the match against Peru in the quarter-final of the 1970 FIFA World Cup held in Mexico. The tricky forward registered a whopping six assists in that tournament, as the Seleção went on to clinch the most coveted trophy in world football. Image: Pelé is second right, bottom row

Pelé’s record of three World Cup titles will perhaps remain intact forever

Four years after lifting his third World Cup title, Pelé hanged up his boots in 1974. He had attained a feat even he himself could not have dreamed of as a kid. His record – three titles at the World Cup – has stood ever since. And considering how extremely competitive the FIFA World Cup tournament has been in the 21st century, it is unlikely that any soccer player will break Pelé’s record.

He came out of retirement to play for the New York Cosmos

Achievements of Pelé | Image: Pelé donning the Cosmos’ No. 10, which would later be retired in his honor

Realizing how his image on and off the field could boast the game of soccer in North America, Pelé shocked the world by coming out of retirement to play for the New York Cosmos. His presence alone in the North American Soccer League (NASL) saw record-fan attendance at the games.

Plying his trade in the U.S., a country not so much in love with soccer, Pelé helped make the sport popular among the youngsters.  After spending about 2 years in the NASL, he permanently hanged up his boots for good after an exhibition match his club and his boyhood club Santos in October 1977.

Pelé scored more than 1,000 professional goals

Another very glistering record of Pelé is his mind-blowing 1,279 goals in just about 1400 games. Some historians have called those statistics into question, stating that a reasonable portion of those goals in uncompetitive exhibition games. Regardless, those figures are still no mere feat, an accomplishment that earned him a Guinness World Record.

Rival factions in an African nation halted hostilities in order to watch Pelé play

During his hay days, Pelé’s ability on the soccer pitch was such a mesmerizing phenomenon that it could even cause the cessation of hostilities between two armed groups in Nigeria. It was the late 1960s, and the Nigerian Civil War was probably at its bloodiest. Regardless of the turmoil that was going on in the West African nation, rival factions agreed to a cease fire for two days in order to allow Pelé’s exhibition game to go on smoothly.

He promoted numerous humanitarian causes around the world

Pelé was considered one of the most renowned personalities in humanitarian causes. He visited almost every country in the world, promoting charitable causes that tend to the health, educational and economic needs of some the most impoverished communities in the world.

His experiences with abject poverty while growing up enabled him to work in partnership with many international organizations that provide vital aid to people across the globe, especially those in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. For example, he was the United Nations ambassador for ecology and the environment for quite a while. In his role as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, he helped raise funds and awareness for children’s education and health around the world.

FIFA Co-Player of the Century

Pelé is considered by many as the greatest soccer player of all time | Image: Pelé takes on Italy’s Giovanni Trapattoni at the San Siro, Milan in 1963

In 1999, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) named Pelé, along with the late Argentine superstar Diego Armando Maradona, as the greatest soccer players of the 20th century. Often times, soccer pundits and historians have struggled picking between Pelé and the Argentine talisman Maradona.

However, in 1999, the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) named Pelé the World Player of the Century. Similarly, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), voted him the Athlete of the Century, beating other greats like Mohammad Ali and even soccer legend Maradona.

Pelé is one of the most recognized names in Brazil

For someone who scored his first professional goal before he attained the age of 16, it comes as no surprise that his image and legacy will remain sky high long after his playing days came to an end. To this day, Pelé remains one of the most influential personalities in world football. He has used his image very productively as well, embarking on several ambassadorial programs to promote the sport across the globe. He has also been praised for his humanitarian causes in not just Brazil but in several countries in Africa.

However, it is in Brazil that the legendary Santos former player holds the biggest appeal. Considering the fact that soccer, or football as the South Americans and Europeans call it, does not intend relinquishing its title as the most beloved sport in Brazil, Pelé’s legacy remains firmly etched in the historical annals of the South American nation of Brazil.

Did you know : For his tireless humanitarian works, particularly those with UNICEF, post his playing days, Pelé was honored with the International Peace Award?

Other notable accomplishments of Pelé

Pelé just before playing a match against Boca Juniors in the second leg of 1963 Copa Libertadores Finals at La Bombonera in Buenos Aires

• As a pro soccer player, Pelé was at some point in time the best-paid athlete in the world.
• As of 2021, Pelé ranks as Brazil’s all-time leading goal scorer. The forward scored an astonishing 77 goals in 92 appearances for the Seleção Brasileira de Futebol (the Brazilian national football team). Neymar, who by the way played for Santos as well, comes in at second at the moment.
• In his first season at the Brazilian club Santos, he claimed the golden boot award, resulting in him immediately receiving a call up to the national team.
• Spending the bulk part of his playing career with his boyhood club Santos, Pelé netted an incredible 504 goals in 496 appearances. He is the all-time leading goalscorer for Santos FC. He also led Santos to two successive Copa Libertadores, in 1962 and 1963. Additionally, he won the Intercontinental Cup with Santos in 1962 and 1963.
• In 1997, Pelé was bestowed upon the honorary title of Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II . He earned this honor for his passionate commitment to humanitarianism and social activism across the globe.
• Owing to his three-year stay with the New York Cosmos, as well as his impact on the game in the U.S., he was named the club’s Honorary President in 2010.

Tags: Brazil Football New York Cosmos Pelé Santos FC Soccer World Cup

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Pelé, the Global Face of Soccer, Dies at 82

Pelé, who was declared a national treasure in his native Brazil, achieved worldwide celebrity and helped popularize the sport in the United States.

By Lawrie Mifflin

Pelé, one of soccer’s greatest players and a transformative figure in 20th-century sports who achieved a level of global celebrity few athletes have known, died on Thursday in São Paulo. He was 82.

His death was confirmed by his manager, Joe Fraga. The Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in São Paulo said the cause was multiple organ failure, the result of the progression of colon cancer.

Pelé had been receiving treatment for cancer in recent years, and he entered the hospital several weeks ago for treatment of a variety of health issues, including a respiratory infection.

A national hero in his native Brazil, Pelé was beloved around the world — by the very poor, among whom he was raised; the very rich, in whose circles he traveled; and just about everyone who ever saw him play.

“Pelé is one of the few who contradicted my theory,” Andy Warhol once said. “Instead of 15 minutes of fame, he will have 15 centuries.”

Celebrated for his peerless talent and originality on the field, Pelé (pronounced peh-LAY) also endeared himself to fans with his sunny personality and his belief in the power of soccer — football to most of the world — to connect people across dividing lines of race, class and nationality.

He won three World Cup tournaments with Brazil and 10 league titles with Santos, his club team, as well as the 1977 North American Soccer League championship with the New York Cosmos. Having come out of retirement at 34, he spent three seasons with the Cosmos on a crusade to popularize soccer in the United States.

Before his final game, in October 1977 at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., Pelé took the microphone on a podium at the center of the field, his father and Muhammad Ali beside him, and exhorted a crowd of more than 75,000.

“Say with me three times now,” he declared, “for the kids: Love! Love! Love!”

In his 21-year career, Pelé — born Edson Arantes do Nascimento — scored 1,283 goals in 1,367 professional matches, including 77 goals for the Brazilian national team.

Many of those goals became legendary, but Pelé’s influence on the sport went well beyond scoring. He helped create and promote what he later called “o jogo bonito” — the beautiful game — a style that valued clever ball control, inventive pinpoint passing and a voracious appetite for attacking. Pelé not only played it better than anyone; he also championed it around the world.

Among his athletic assets was a remarkable center of gravity; as he ran, swerved, sprinted or backpedaled, his midriff seemed never to move, while his hips and his upper body swiveled around it.

He could accelerate, decelerate or pivot in a flash. Off-balance or not, he could lash the ball accurately with either foot. Relatively small, at 5 feet 8 inches, he could nevertheless leap exceptionally high, often seeming to hang in the air to put power behind a header.

Like other sports, soccer has evolved. Today, many of its stars can execute acrobatic shots or rapid-fire passing sequences. But in his day, Pelé’s playmaking and scoring skills were stunning.

Early Success

Pelé sprang into the international limelight at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, a slight 17-year-old who as a boy had played soccer barefoot on the streets of his impoverished village using rolled-up rags for a ball. A star for Brazil, he scored six goals in the tournament, including three in a semifinal against France and two in the final, a 5-2 victory over Sweden. It was Brazil’s first of a record five World Cup trophies.

Pelé also played on the Brazilian teams that won in 1962 and 1970. In the 1966 tournament, in England, he was brutally kicked in the early games and was finally sidelined by a Portuguese player’s tackle that would have earned an expulsion nowadays but drew nothing then.

With Pelé essentially absent, Brazil was eliminated in the opening round. He was so disheartened that he announced he would retire from national team play.

But he reconsidered and played on Brazil’s World Cup team in Mexico in 1970. That team is widely hailed as the best ever; its captain, Carlos Alberto , later joined Pelé on the Cosmos.

“I wish he had gone on playing forever,” Clive Toye, a former president and general manager of the Cosmos, wrote in a 2006 memoir. “But then, so does everyone else who saw him play, and those football people who never saw him play are the unluckiest people in the world.”

Edson Arantes do Nascimento was born on Oct. 23, 1940, in Três Corações, a tiny rural town in the state of Minas Gerais. His parents named him Edson in tribute to Thomas Edison. (Electricity had come to the town shortly before Pelé was born.) When he was about 7, he began shining shoes at the local railway station to supplement the family’s income.

His father, a professional player whose career was cut short by injury, was nicknamed Dondinho.

Brazilian soccer players often use a single name professionally, but even Pelé himself was unsure how he got his. He offered several possible derivations in “Pelé: The Autobiography” (2006, with Orlando Duarte and Alex Bellos).

Most probably, he wrote, the nickname was a reference to a player on his father’s team whom he had admired and wanted to emulate as a boy. The player was known as Bilé (bee-LAY). Other boys teased Edson, calling him Bilé until it stuck.

One of Pelé’s earliest memories was of seeing his father, while listening to the radio, cry when Brazil lost to Uruguay, 2-1, in the deciding match of the 1950 World Cup in Rio de Janeiro. The game is still remembered as a national calamity. Pelé recalled telling his father that he would one day grow up to win the World Cup for Brazil.

He signed his first contract, with a junior team, when he was 14 and transferred to Santos at 15. He scored four goals in his first professional game, which Santos won, 7-1. He was only 16 when he made his debut for the national team in July 1957.

A New Way to Play

When Brazil’s team went to the World Cup in Sweden the next summer, Pelé later said, he was so skinny that “quite a few people thought I was the mascot.”

Once they saw him play, it was a different story. Reports of this precocious Brazilian teenager’s prowess raced around the world. One account told of how, against Wales in the quarterfinals, with his back to the goal, he received the ball on his chest, let it drop to an ankle and instantly scooped it around behind him. As it bounced, he turned — so quickly that the ball was barely a foot off the ground — and struck it into the net. It was his first World Cup goal and the game’s only one, and it put Brazil into the semifinals.

“It boosted my confidence completely,” he wrote in his autobiography. “The world now knew about Pelé.”

The world now knew about Brazilian soccer, too. Pelé undoubtedly benefited from playing alongside other remarkably gifted ball-control artists — Garrincha, Didi and Vavá among them — as well as from Europe’s lack of familiarity with the Brazilian style.

Most European teams used static alignments; players seldom strayed from their designated areas.

Brazil, though, encouraged two of the four midfielders to behave like wingers when attacking. This forced opponents to cope quickly with four forwards, rather than two. Making things more difficult, the forwards often switched sides, right and left, and the outside fullbacks sometimes joined the attack. The effect dazzled onlookers, not to mention opponents.

After the semifinal against France, in which Pelé scored a hat trick in a 5-2 Brazil win, the French goalkeeper reportedly said, “I would rather play against 10 Germans than one Brazilian.”

The team went home to national acclaim, and Pelé resumed playing for Santos as well as for two Army teams as part of his mandatory military service. In 1959 alone, he endured a relentless schedule of 103 competitive matches; nine times, he played two games within 24 hours.

Santos began to capitalize on his fame with lucrative postseason tours. In 1960, en route to Egypt, the team’s plane stopped in Beirut, where a crowd gathered threatening to kidnap Pelé unless Santos agreed to play a Lebanese team.

“Fortunately, the police dealt with it firmly, and we flew on to Egypt,” Pelé wrote in his autobiography.

He had become such a hero that, in 1961, to ward off European teams eager to buy his contract rights, the Brazilian government passed a resolution declaring him a nonexportable national treasure.

Soccer Diplomacy

When Pelé was about to retire from Santos in the early 1970s, Henry A. Kissinger, the United States secretary of state at the time, wrote to the Brazilian government asking it to release Pelé to play in the United States as a way to help promote soccer, and Brazil, in America.

By then, two more World Cups, numerous international club competitions and tireless touring by Santos had made Pelé a global celebrity. So it was beyond quixotic when Toye, the Cosmos’ general manager, decided to try to persuade the player universally acclaimed as the world’s best, and highest paid, to join his team.

The Cosmos had been born only a month earlier, in one afternoon, when all the players had gathered in a hotel at Kennedy International Airport to sign an agreement to play for $75 a game in a country where soccer was a minor sport at best.

Toye first met with Pelé and Julio Mazzei, Pelé’s longtime friend and mentor, in February 1971 during a Santos tour in Jamaica. It took dozens more conversations over the next four years, as well as millions of dollars from Warner Communications, the team’s owner, for Pelé to join the Cosmos.

During that period, he became the top scorer in Brazil for the 11th time, Santos won the 10th league championship of his tenure, and Pelé took heavy criticism for retiring from the national team and refusing to play in the 1974 World Cup, in West Germany.

Toye made his last pitch in March 1975 in Brussels. Pelé had retired from Santos the previous October, and two major clubs, Real Madrid of Spain and Juventus of Italy, were each offering a deal worth $15 million, Pelé later recalled.

“Sign for them, and all you can win is a championship,” Toye said he told Pelé. “Sign for me, and you can win a country.”

To further entice him, Warner added a music deal, a marketing deal guaranteeing him 50 percent of any licensing revenue involving his name, and a guarantee to hire his friend Mazzei as an assistant coach. Pelé signed a three-year contract worth, according to various estimates, $2.8 million to $7 million (the latter equivalent to about $40 million today).

He was presented to the news media on June 11, 1975, at the “21” Club in New York. Pandemonium ensued: Fistfights broke out among photographers, and tables collapsed when people stood on them.

The hubbub continued when Pelé played his first North American Soccer League game, on June 15 at Downing Stadium on Randalls Island in the East River. It was a decrepit home; workers hastily painted its dirt patches green because CBS had come to televise the big debut. More than 18,000 fans, triple the previous largest crowd, shouldered their way in to watch.

At every road game during Pelé’s three North American seasons, the Cosmos attracted enormous crowds and a press contingent larger than that of any other New York team, with many journalists representing foreign networks, newspapers and news agencies. Movie and music stars — including Mick Jagger, Robert Redford and Rod Stewart — showed up for home games, lured by Warner executives’ enthusiasm for their hot new talent.

The Cosmos moved to Giants Stadium in Pelé’s final season, 1977, and there, in the Meadowlands, reached the pinnacle of their — and the league’s — popularity. For a home playoff game on Aug. 14, a crowd of 77,691 exceeded not only expectations but also capacity, squeezing into a stadium of 76,000 seats.

That season, the Cosmos had added two more global superstars, Franz Beckenbauer of West Germany and Carlos Alberto of Brazil. (Later, in 1979, the Los Angeles Aztecs lured a third, Johan Cruyff of the Netherlands, to the league.) Soccer seemed poised to enter the American mainstream.

But as it turned out, professional soccer was not yet ready to blossom in America, not even after the Cosmos won the 1977 league championship, in Portland, Ore., or after Pelé’s festive farewell game in October, when he led the “Love!” chant and played one half for the Cosmos and the other half for the visiting team, his beloved Santos.

The league had expanded to 24 teams, from 18, and lacked the financial underpinnings to sustain that many games and that much travel. Nor could other teams match the Cosmos’ spending on top-quality players. The league went out of business after the 1984 season.

But at the grass-roots level, and in schools and colleges, soccer did take off. In 1991, the United States women’s national team won the first women’s World Cup. (The United States has won it three times since.) In 2002, the men’s national team made it to the quarterfinals of the World Cup. And Major League Soccer has established itself as a sturdy successor to the N.A.S.L. (In 2011, the inaugural season of a new minor league with the N.A.S.L. name included a New York Cosmos team, of which Pelé was named honorary president.)

In June 2014, the city of Santos opened a Pelé Museum just before the start of the World Cup, the first held in Brazil since 1950. In a video recorded for the occasion, Pelé said, “It’s a great joy to pass through this world and be able to leave, for future generations, some memories, and to leave a legacy for my country.”

Advocate for Education

Pelé met Rosemeri Cholbi when she was 14 and wooed her for almost eight years before they married early in 1966. They had three children — Kely Cristina, Edson Cholbi and Jennifer — before divorcing in 1982.

After his divorce, Pelé often appeared in the gossip pages, partying with film stars, musicians and models. He acted in several movies, including John Huston’s “Victory” (1981), with Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone.

It also emerged that he had fathered two daughters out of wedlock. One, Sandra, whom he had refused to acknowledge, later sued for the right to use his surname. She wrote a book, “The Daughter the King Didn’t Want,” which he said greatly embarrassed him. She died of cancer in 2006.

His son, nicknamed Edinho, was a professional goalkeeper for five years before an injury ended his career. He later went to prison on a drug-trafficking conviction.

In 1994, Pelé married Assiria Seixas Lemos, a psychologist and Brazilian gospel singer; their twins, Joshua and Celeste, were born in 1996. They divorced in 2008. In his later years he dated a Brazilian businesswoman, Marcia Aoki, and he married her in 2016.

Complete information on survivors was not immediately available.

His brother Jair Arantes do Nascimento, who was known as Zoca and also played for Santos, died in 2020.

Children always responded warmly to Pelé, and he to them. Neither big nor intimidating, he had a wide, easy smile and a deep, reassuring voice.

“I have never seen another human being who was so willing to take the extra second to embrace or encourage a child,” said Jim Trecker, a longtime soccer executive who was the Cosmos’ public relations director in the Pelé years.

Pelé was sensitive about having dropped out of school (he later earned a high school diploma and a college degree while playing for Santos) and often lamented that so many young Brazilians remained poor and illiterate even as the country had begun to prosper.

Indeed, the day he scored his 1,000th goal, in November 1969 at Maracanã stadium in Rio before more than 200,000 fans, Pelé was mobbed by reporters on the field and used their microphones to dedicate the goal to “the children.” Crying, he made an impromptu speech about the difficulties of Brazil’s children and the need to give them better educational opportunities.

Many journalists interpreted the gesture as grandstanding, but for decades, as if to correct the record, he cited that speech and repeated the sentiment. In July 2007, at a promotional event in New York for a family literacy campaign, he said, “Today, the violence we see in Brazil, the corruption in Brazil, is causing big, big problems. Because, you see, for two generations, the children did not get enough education.”

(On the subject of correcting the record, research for his 2006 biography turned up additional games played, and the authors concluded that the famous 1,000th goal was actually his 1,002nd.)

In London during the 2012 Olympics, Pelé joined a so-called hunger summit meeting convened by the British prime minister at the time, David Cameron, whose stated goal was to reduce by 25 million the number of children stunted by malnutrition before the Rio Olympics in 2016.

Business and Music

Pelé’s own venture into government began in 1995, when he was appointed Brazil’s minister for sport by then-President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Pelé began a crusade to bring accountability to the business operations of Brazil’s professional teams, which were still run largely as gentlemen’s clubs, and to reform rules governing players’ contracts.

In 1998, Pelé’s Law, as it was known, passed. It required clubs to incorporate as taxable for-profit corporations and to publish balance sheets. It required that players be 20 before signing a professional contract and gave them the right of free agency after two years (instead of after age 32).

Many of the provisions were later weakened, and corruption continued, but Pelé said he took pride that the free agency clause had survived.

Business deals gone awry plagued him throughout his life.

He himself said he was often gullible, trusting friends who were less competent than they appeared. In 2001, a company he had helped found a decade earlier, Pelé Sports and Marketing, was accused of taking enormous loans to stage a charity game for Unicef and then not repaying the money when the game failed to happen. Pelé shut down the company; Unicef said there had been no wrongdoing on his part.

While continuing to promote educational programs throughout his life, Pelé also pursued his musical avocation. He was never far from a guitar, and he carried a miniature tape recorder to capture tunes or lyrics as the mood struck him.

He composed dozens of songs that were recorded by Brazilian pop stars, usually without his taking credit.

“I didn’t want the public to make the comparison between Pelé the composer and Pelé the football player,” he told the British newspaper The Guardian in 2006. “That would have been a huge injustice. In football, my talent was a gift from God. Music was just for fun.”

As he grew older, he often spoke of the difficulty of distinguishing between two personas: his real self, and the soccer superstar Pelé. He often referred to Pelé in the third person.

“One of the ways I try to keep perspective on things,” he wrote in his autobiography, “is to remind myself that what people are responding to isn’t me, necessarily; it’s this mythical figure that Pelé has become.”

His face remained familiar around the world long after his retirement from soccer. In 1994, when the World Cup was about to be played in the United States, Pelé sat in Central Park in New York waiting to be interviewed for ABC News. A teenager passed, did a double-take and then ran off; within minutes, people were streaming across the park to see him.

“There were hundreds of them,” Toye wrote in his own memoir. “Seventeen years after he last kicked a ball, this dark-skinned man is sitting in deep, dark shade under the trees — but he is still recognized, and once recognized, never alone in any country on earth.”

An earlier version of this obituary misstated the location of the 1977 North American Soccer League championship game, which Pelé’s team, the New York Cosmos, won. It was in Portland, Ore., not Seattle. The earlier version also misspelled the given name of one of Pelé’s daughters. She is Kely Cristina Nascimento, not Kelly.

How we handle corrections

• Born October 23 , 1940 · Três Corações, Minas Gerais, Brazil
• Died December 29 , 2022 · Morumbi, São Paulo, Brazil (colon cancer)
• Birth name Edson Arantes do Nascimento
• The Black Pearl
• The King Pelé
• The King of Football
• Height 5′ 8″ (1.73 m)
• Simply he was, and for many people still is, the greatest football player of the world. Not a single thing was impossible for him: he won three World Cups with his National Team of Brazil (Sweden 1958, Chile 1962, Mexico 1970). He scored more than 1.200 goals during his long career (more than 1.300 official matches). He also won many national Leagues and Continental Cups ("Copa Libertadores"), with his team, the Santos Futebol Clube (of Brazilian 'São Paulo' State). In the '60s, he was nick-named "O Rei" (The King), and in the '70s, ninety-five people out of 100 knew his name. ("Wow, man, you're popular!" said Robert Redford , some years ago, after seeing Pelé give dozens of autographs in New York while he was not asked for one). In the late 1960s, when he and his team, Santos, went to Nigeria to play a few friendly matches, the ongoing civil war stopped for the duration of his visit. He finished his career in the New York Cosmos, in 1977. He later became a United Nations Ambassador and has been also Minister for Sports in his country, but, for the people who saw him make magics with his right foot, he is, now and forever, the biggest footballer in the world, and the one and only "King". - IMDb Mini Biography By: Sergio D'Afflitto <[email protected]>
• Pelé is a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a forward. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. Pelé is the most successful domestic league goal-scorer in football history scoring 650 goals in 694 League matches, and in total 1281 goals in 1363 games, which included unofficial friendlies and is a Guinness World Records (2004) . During his playing days, Pelé was for a period the best-paid athlete in the world. Pelé began playing for Santos F.C. at age 15 and the Brazil National Football Team at 16. During his international career, he won three FIFA World Cups: 1958, 1962 and 1970, being the only player ever to do so. Pelé is the all-time leading goalscorer for Brazil with 77 goals in 92 games. At club level he is the record goalscorer for Santos F.C. , and led them to the 1962 and 1963 Copa Libertadores (2004) . Since retiring in 1977, Pelé has been a worldwide ambassador for football and has made many acting and commercial ventures. In 2010, he was named the Honorary President of the New York Cosmos . - IMDb Mini Biography By: Tango Papa
• Spouses Marcia Cibele Aoki (July 9, 2016 - December 29, 2022) (his death) Assiria (April 30, 1994 - 2008) (divorced, 2 children) Rosemary Cholbi (February 21, 1966 - 1982) (divorced, 3 children)
• Children Jennifer Edinho Kelly Flavia Christina Sandra (deceased)
• Juggling a soccer ball on his toes, thighs and head, without using his hands.
• The bicycle kick: throwing himself on his back while kicking a soccer ball back over his head.
• Over his entire career, he officially scored 1,284 goals in 1,363 matches. He played one game as a goalkeeper.
• He is the only player to have won three FIFA World Cup titles (1958, 1962, 1970).
• His last professional playing appearance, which took place on October 1, 1977, was played in front of a capacity crowd at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In that match, most unusually, he wore the jerseys of, and played for, both teams. He wore the jersey of his then present team, the New York Cosmos (1975-1977), for the first half of the game, and his original team, Santos (Brazil, 1956-1974) for the second half of the game. At halftime, the Cosmos retired Pelé's number 10. Pelé presented the Cosmos retirement jersey to his father, who was escorted from the stands to the field by Cosmos Captain Werner Roth .
• Played in 92 matches for Brazil and scored a remarkable 77 goals.
• In 1995, Pelé was awarded Brazil's Gold Medal for outstanding services to sport; Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso appointed him to the position of "Extraordinary Minister for Sport." During his time as Minister for Sport, he proposed legislation to reduce corruption in Brazilian football, which when passed, became known as the "Pelé law." Pelé left government in 2001 after being accused of involvement in a corruption scandal, although nothing was proven, and the charges were further denied by UNICEF. In 1997, Pelé was honored by Queen Elizabeth II as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 2005, the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) bestowed their award for lifetime achievement on Pelé. In 2012, Pelé was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Edinburgh for "significant contribution to humanitarian and environmental causes, as well as his sporting achievements," his first such honorary degree from a European university.
• I am constantly being asked about individuals. The only way to win is as a team. Football is not about one or two or three star players.
• [on players who bring football into disrepute] They don't love the game, they don't love the team.
• For many people, their memory of Gordon Banks is defined by the save he made against me in 1970. I understand why. The save was one of the best I have ever seen - in real life and in all the thousands of games I have watched since. When you are a footballer, you know straight away how well you have hit the ball. I hit that header exactly as I had hoped. Exactly where I wanted it to go. And I was ready to celebrate. But then this man, Banks, appeared in my sight, like a kind of blue phantom, is how I described him. He came from nowhere and he did something I didn't feel was possible. He pushed my header, somehow, up and over. And I couldn't believe what I saw. Even now when I watch it, I can't believe it. I can't believe how he moved so far, so fast. I scored so many goals in my life, but many people, when they meet me, always ask me about that save. While it was indeed phenomenal, my memory of Gordon is not defined by that - it is defined by his friendship. He was a kind and warm man who gave so much to people. So I am glad he saved my header - because that act was the start of a friendship between us that I will always treasure.
• People talk about the best being Pele or Diego Maradona [ Diego Maradona ], but for me the best was Alfredo Di Stéfano . Maradona was a great player, but he could not kick with his right foot and did not score goals with his head. The only time he scored an important goal with his head, it turned out he had used his hand.

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Pelé, Brazilian soccer legend, dies at 82

Brazilian soccer icon Pelé, regarded as the sport’s greatest player, whose wizardry on the pitch helped popularize it as “the beautiful game,” died Thursday after a yearlong bout with cancer.

His daughter confirmed the death on Instagram. “Everything we are is because of you. We love you infinitely. Rest in peace,” Kely Nascimento wrote.

The Brazilian legend , whose real name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, helped his country win the World Cup in 1958, 1962 and 1970, and he remains the national team’s co-scoring leader, with 77 goals in 92 matches.

Brazil's current superstar, Neymar, tied him at the 2022 Qatar World Cup , scoring his 77th goal in 124 games.

A post on Pelé’s Facebook page said he “enchanted the world with his genius in sport, stopped a war, carried out social works all over the world and spread what he most believed to be the cure for all our problems: love.”

“His message today becomes a legacy for future generations,” the post said.

Pelé became the World Cup's youngest scorer in 1958 when he bagged a goal against Wales in Stockholm at the age of 17 years and 239 days. His record still stands, and he is still the only player under 18 to have scored in a World Cup.

He would also help Brazil triumph in the 1962 tournament in Chile, and, after injury ruled him out of the competition four years later in England, he lit up the Mexico World Cup in 1970.

Speaking to soccer's governing body, FIFA, for Pelé's 80th birthday tribute, Tarcisio Burgnich, an Italian defender in the final that year, admitted that he had struggled against him.

“I told myself before the game, ‘He’s made of skin and bones just like everyone else,’” he said. “But I was wrong.”

Pelé's name and dominance on the pitch came to represent the sport itself.

While North Americans know the game as “soccer” and most of the globe knows it as “football,” virtually everyone agrees it’s “the beautiful game”  — or “o jogo bonito” to Brazilians and Portuguese.

While the exact origins of that phrase can be debated, its popularization can be traced to the 1977 biography “Pele, My Life and the Beautiful Game” by Pelé and Robert L. Fish.

Born into poverty in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state on Oct. 23, 1940, Pelé honed his skills playing with a grapefruit before he signed with the Brazilian team Santos at age 15.

He would go on to great success with the team, winning over 20 major titles, before he signed with the New York Cosmos in the fledgling North American Soccer League in 1975.

Pelé and the Cosmos played a key role in building the sport’s U.S. profile and popularity before he closed out his professional career in 1977.

The glamorous Cosmos, led by aging stars such as Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer and Giorgio Chinaglia, won Soccer Bowl '77 and along the way attracted some of the biggest crowds that had ever seen a soccer match on U.S. soil.

Pelé's Cosmos defeated the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in a playoff match before 77,691 fans at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It was the biggest crowd to ever see an NASL match.

The Guinness Book of World Records recognizes Pelé as having scored the most goals during a specified period, with 1,279 in 1,363 games from Sept. 7, 1956, to Oct. 1, 1977.

Such was his acclaim that Pelé transcended the world of sport, becoming a recognizable figure even to those who did not follow the game. He rubbed shoulders with the likes of boxing's Muhammad Ali , Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger and pop artist Andy Warhol , who created a portrait of him.

“Pelé was one of the few who contradicted my theory: Instead of 15 minutes of fame, he will have 15 centuries,” Warhol said.

Pelé also was a regular White House visitor, gaining invitations from Presidents Richard Nixon , Gerald Ford , Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan .

In 1986, when Reagan invited Pelé for a state dinner in honor of Brazilian President José Sarney, he said: “My name is Ronald Reagan. I’m the president of the United States of America. But you don’t need to introduce yourself because everyone knows who Pelé is.”

After his soccer career ended, Pelé starred in several movies, including “Escape to Victory,” starring Sylvester Stallone and Michael Caine, and several documentaries about his life.

But he was perhaps best known for his ambassadorial work with the United Nations, in which he campaigned against the aggressive marketing of baby milk formulas and on environmental issues, among other causes.

In 1999, he was recognized as one of Time magazine’s “100 Persons of the Century.”

A supporter of various charities throughout his life, he set up the Pelé Foundation in 2018 to help impoverished children.

Married three times, Pelé confessed in a 2021 Netflix documentary named after him that he had so many affairs that he didn’t even know how many children he had.

His seven known offspring include Sandra Machado, whom he refused to acknowledge even after a court-ordered DNA test proved she was his daughter. She would go on to write the book “The Daughter the King Didn’t Want,” before she died in 2006 at 42.

Five other children — Kelly, 55; Edinho, 51; Jennifer, 43; and twins Joshua and Celeste, 25 — came from his first two marriages, to Rosemeri dos Reis Cholbi and Assiria Lemos Seixas. His daughter Flávia Kurtz, 53, was born to Lenita Kurtz in 1968.

In 2016, Pelé married his third wife, Márcia Cibele Aoki, whom he described as his “definitive love” on social media.

Pelé had surgery to remove a colon tumor in September 2021 and had been checking in with the Albert Einstein hospital in the Brazilian city of São Paulo every month since.

The hospital said he was admitted late last month to regulate medication for an infection.

News of his death sent shock waves throughout the sports world and beyond. Former England soccer player Gary Lineker said Pelé was the “ most divine of footballers and joyous of men ,” while Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo said a “mere ‘goodbye’ ... will never be enough to express the pain that the entire football world is currently embracing.”

French soccer player Kylian Mbappé said on Twitter : “The king of football has left us but his legacy will never be forgotten. RIP KING.”

Former England star Geoff Hurst said on Twitter that Pelé was "without doubt the best footballer I ever played against."

“For me Pele remains the greatest of all time and I was proud to be on the pitch with him. RIP Pele and thank you,” he tweeted.

André Ceciliano, the state deputy of Rio de Janeiro, called Pelé the “greatest Brazilian sporting idol of all time.”

“Brazil is in mourning,” he said in a tweet . “Thank you for everything.”

Former U.S. President Barack Obama tweeted: "Pelé was one of the greatest to ever play the beautiful game . And as one of the most recognizable athletes in the world, he understood the power of sports to bring people together."

"Our thoughts are with his family and everyone who loved and admired him," he said.

Mithil Aggarwal is a Hong Kong-based reporter/producer for NBC News.

David K. Li is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.

Remarkable photos from the incredible life and career of world soccer icon Pelé

• Pelé, one of the world's most beloved sporting figures, died Thursday.
• He remains the only athlete to win three World Cups, but his fame transcended soccer.
• Pelé's incredible life saw him marry three times, earn millions of dollars, and meet at least five US presidents.

Pelé was born on October 23, 1940 and grew up in poverty around the favelas of Tres Coracoes in the State of Minas Gerais.

Pelé's father Joao Ramos do Nascimento, nicknamed Dondinho, was a footballer. His mother, Celeste Arantes, is still alive at 100 years old and lives in Santos.

A post shared by Pelé (@pele)

Named after Thomas Edison, Pele's full name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento. He had many nicknames over the years, and it took him a while to warm to Pelé.

One of his first nicknames was Dico but it was never going to be the name that lasted a lifetime. When he started school, he was given the name Pelé when he mispronounced the name of Vasco de Gama's goalkeeper Bile as Pelé. The name seemed to stick even though Pelé did not like it at first because he thought it sounded like "baby talk." 

"I was really proud that I was named after Thomas Edison and wanted to be called Edson," Pelé told The Guardian in 2006. Electricity had soared through his hometown around the year he was born, and being named after the incandescent light bulb inventor seemed appropriate to him.

"I thought Pelé sounded horrible. Edson," said Pele, "sounded so much more serious and important. So when someone said, 'Hey, Pelé,' I would shout back and get angry. On one occasion I punched a classmate because of it and earned a two-day suspension. Now I love the name — but back then it wound me up no end."

Sources : Daily Mail , Goal , and The Guardian .

Dondinho's love of soccer passed down to his son, but a young Pelé couldn't afford a football. Instead, he stuffed a sock with newspapers, bound it with string, and kicked that around the streets in which he grew up.

Pelé shined shoes and sold peanuts outside cinemas so that he could raise enough money to buy an actual football. However, he'd often kick barefooted as he couldn't afford boots. His friends, who were in a similar position, formed a team called 'The Shoeless Ones.' Barefoot games in Brazil became known as 'Pelada' — a nod to Pelé.

Sources : Daily Mail , Biography , Goal .

Pelé was scoring goals for Santos against grown adults when he was only 15 years old. He scored an overall total that exceeded 1,200 by the time his career was done, according to FIFA.

Waldemar de Brito, Pelé's youth team coach, is credited with discovering his talent and encouraged Santos to sign him at 15 years old. de Brito's told those who would listen that Pelé would become "the greatest footballer in the world." It proved to be prescient praise as Pelé scored four goals on his league debut for Santos against FC Corinthians on September 7, 1956 — one month before his 16th birthday.

Source : Goal and Reuters .

Pelé became the youngest person to play at the FIFA World Cup when he competed at the 1958 tournament in Sweden at age 17.

Brazil was not considered a major world player at the time, as Pelé told CNN in 2016 that people considered Uruguay and Argentina as the juggernauts from South America.

Pelé led Brazil to the title by scoring in the quarterfinal, netting a hat trick in the semis, before returning two goals in a 5-2 thriller against host nation Sweden in the final.

According to reports, older players had to revive Pelé as he passed out at the final whistle. 

The 1958 World Cup announced Brazil as a global soccer power — and its young star Pelé became an overnight celebrity.

"When we won the World Cup, everybody knew about Brazil," Pele said. "I think this was the most important thing I gave to my country, because we were well-known after that World Cup."

Sources : CNN and Daily Mail .

Despite his World Cup heroics, Pelé was selected to join the army and could not get out of it as he was the most famous teenager in his country.

Pele reportedly pleaded with the president of his soccer club Santos to get him out of his mandatory service by feigning injury. "Are you mad?" he was told. "The whole country knows you are a shining example of health.… If there's any 18-year-old Brazilian who has to do military service, then it's you."

Sources: Players Tribune and CNN .

Despite injury, Pelé played two games at the 1962 World Cup and won his second championship — a successful defense for the 'Selecao'.

Later, Pelé married Rosemeri dos Reis Cholby, in 1966, his first of what would be three marriages.

Pelé and Rosemeri spent their honeymoon in Germany and were treated like a celebrity couple by local media in Europe.

Pele and Rosemeri had three children together, including daughter Kelly Cristina, pictured below.

Pelé and Rosemeri's marriage ended in 1982.

Another of Pelé's children with Rosemeri, a son called Edson Cholbi Nascimento, aka Edinho, was sentenced in 2014 to 33 years in prison for laundering money for drug traffickers.

At the time of Edinho's arrest, Pelé reportedly said there was "not a shred of evidence" to convict him. Pelé visited his son in jail numerous times.

Sources : Getty Images and Daily Mail .

Pelé scored his 1,000th goal in November 19, 1969. Hundreds of fans raced onto the pitch and it took half an hour for the match to resume. November 19 later became known as "Pelé Day" in Santos.

Pelé's goal-scoring exploits are a key part of his legacy as he netted approximately 1,283 goals in total, including 77 for the Brazilian national team. He once scored eight times in one game.

Sources : History and Goal .

One of Pele's best performances came at the 1970 World Cup.

Pelé scored four goals en route to the 1970 World Cup title, and provided a "blind pass" that helped Carlos Alberto score a decisive goal against Italy in the final — one of the best goals in tournament history.

Watch it right here:

"We won the World Cup, and I think in my life in sport," that was the pinnacle, "no doubt," said Pelé.

Sources : CNN .

Pelé played most of his club-level career for Santos, but he joined New York Cosmos in 1975 and helped elevate the game in the States.

Mass hysteria followed Pelé's arrival to join the New York Cosmos in 1975, as fans mobbed the player in Boston, leaving him injured and in need of a stretcher.

Cosmos general manager Clive Toye was a key figure in bringing Pelé to the US. Toye reportedly told the soccer star that if he joined a club in Italy or Spain, all he could do was "win a championship." However, if he came to the States, he could "win a country."

Sure enough, Toye was right. Pelé's two-year spell in the US boosted average attendance figures across the entire North American Soccer League from 7,597 in 1975 to 13,584 in 1977.

Pelé's deal with the Cosmos was for $7 million and made him the best-paid team athlete in the world — a far cry from the $10 per month contract he had with Santos when he was 15 years old. 

Sources : Daily Mail , Biography , and Goal .

Pelé's net worth grew to approximately $100 million, but he made most of his money off the soccer field, signing endorsement deals with Coca-Cola, Subway, and Viagra.

Pelé received a salary of $150,000 per year during his playing days, but his celebrity was so large that he banked far more money through commercial deals. He endorsed Visa, MasterCard, and had his own soccer video game on an early console — the Atari.

Ahead of a 1970 World Cup soccer match, Pelé told the referee that he had to tie his shoelaces. As the cameras zoomed in on Pele prior to the whistle, it was clear he was wearing Puma's boots and the company's sales subsequently soared.

Sources : The U.S. Sun , Daily Mail , Goal .

Further proof of Pelé's transcendence was his appearance in smash-hit movies like "Escape to Victory," in which he starred alongside Sylvester Stallone.

The fictional 1981 film tells the story of Allied prisoners in World War II that play an exhibition soccer match against a German team. Pelé and other soccer icons, like Bobby Moore, starred alongside Stallone and Michael Caine.

Pelé won admiration from all around the world before and after his retirement in 1977. "Pelé was the most complete player I've ever seen," Bobby Moore said of his rival. "He had everything."

Moore said Pelé had: "Two good feet, [was] Magic in the air, quick, powerful, could beat people with skill, and could outrun people. Only five feet and eight inches tall, yet he seemed a giant of an athlete on the pitch. Perfect balance and impossible vision. He was the greatest because he could do anything and everything on a football pitch. I remember Saldanha the coach being asked by a Brazilian journalist who was the best goalkeeper in his squad. He said Pelé. The man could play in any position."

Source : Four Four Two .

Muhammad Ali, who attended Pelé's final match in 1977, was also blown away by soccer's greatest.

—Al Dawson (@AlanDawsonSport) December 29, 2022

Long after Pelé's retirement, Cristiano Ronaldo — a modern-day sports superstar — said: "Pelé is the greatest player in football history, and there will only be one Pelé."

Pelé even inspired the artist Andy Warhol, who said: "Pelé was one of the few who contradicted my theory: Instead of 15 minutes of fame, he will have 15 centuries."

Source : Daily Mail .

In 1993, Pelé broke governmental barriers when he was named Minister of Sports for Brazil. It was a post that had never been occupied by a Black man before, according to Yahoo.

Source : Yahoo .

The next year, he married his second wife, Assiria Lemos Seixas, a psychologist and gospel singer. They had twins — Joshua and Celeste — two years later.

Pelé used his celebrity status for good and advocated for numerous causes. He campaigned for poverty reduction, environmental protection, and raised millions of dollars for charities that helped children, like Great Ormond Street and Harlem Street Soccer. He was UNESCO's champion for sport from 1994.

Sources : Football History , Goal , and UNESCO .

Away from soccer, Pelé had a love for designer clothes and flashy cars.

He loved to drive a volkswagen beetle — a classic in today's automotive market..

Pelé even waved the checkered flag at a 2002 F1 race that Michael Schumacher won. Pelé championed his nation's racers, like the late Ayrton Senna and Felipe Massa.

An avid guitar player, Pelé fancied himself as a musician. "If I wasn't a footballer I think I would compose music and sing," he once said.

Pelé was friends with Tom Jobim, one of the creators of Brazil's wildly popular bossa nova movement. Jobim wrote music with Pelé in mind, calling one track "Radames and Pelé."

Pelé released his own music. One track was called "Listen to the Old Man." He would even sing to his teammates during his playing days.

Source : CNN and Daily Mail .

Pelé was named Athlete of the Century by the IOC in 1999 for his exploits in soccer from the 1950s to the 1970s.

The International Olympic Committee bestowed the honor of him, despite the fact that Pelé never played at the Olympic Games. 

Source: ESPN

Pelé is credited with breaking the taboo surrounding erectile dysfunction because of his ambassador role for anti-impotency awareness, and Pfizer's drug Viagra.

Sources : Daily Mail and Goal .

Pelé has a ranking and potential of 98 (out of 100) on the popular FIFA video game series. In the latest edition of the game, FIFA 23, it is the highest rank Icon card in the entire game.

Pelé held court with at least five US presidents and kicked a football around with Gerald Ford in 1975 …

… talked soccer with Jimmy Carter later that decade …

… was back on the White House lawns in 1982, this time with Ronald Reagan …

… did the same with Bill Clinton in the 1990s …

… and frequently met, and praised, Barack Obama.

Obama "represents an individual's ability to change the world through big ideas," Pelé wrote in an Instagram post . "I admire you deeply, Barack. People like you make the world better."

Source : Instagram .

Pelé met numerous other world leaders and even developed a strong bond with Nelson Mandela.

"To watch him play was to watch the delight of a child, combined with the extraordinary grace of a man in full," Mandela once said of Pelé.

Following Mandela's death in 2013, Pelé tweeted: "He was my hero, my friend, and also a companion to me in our fight for the people and for world peace."

—Pelé (@Pele) December 5, 2013

Sources : Four Four Two and Twitter .

He also met Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 …

… and Russia President Vladimir Putin in 2017.

In 2016, Pelé, at 75, married his third wife, Marcia Aoki, a Japanese-Brazilian importer of medical equipment.

He had seven children in total: five between his first two wives and two outside of his marriages.

Pelé's health declined in his latter years. In 2021 he had a tumor removed from his colon.

Pelé died on December 29, 2022 "due to multiple organ failures resulting from the progression of colon cancer associated with his previous medical condition," according to a statement from the hospital that was treating him.

Though it is easy to find praise for Pelé, perhaps one of the best comments on his abilities came from Tarcisio Burgnich — the Italian defender tasked with marking Pelé in the 1970 World Cup final.

"I told myself before the game, he's made of skin and bones just like everyone else," Burgnich said at the time. "But I was wrong."

Sources : Reuters and Goal .

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Pelé

(Edson Arantes do Nascimento; Três Corações, 1940 - São Paulo, 2022) Futbolista brasileño. El mejor futbolista de todos los tiempos, en opinión de muchos, fue rechazado por los principales clubes de fútbol brasileños en los comienzos de su carrera deportiva, hasta que, tras jugar en varias formaciones secundarias, en 1956 fichó por el Santos de São Paulo. Su padre había sido un jugador de fútbol mediocre que se retiró tempranamente. Mientras aprendía el oficio de dominar el balón, Pelé se ganaba la vida como limpiabotas. Pero a los once años ya se habían fijado en él, y a los quince llegó al Santos, el equipo de su vida, después de la selección nacional de Brasil.

Entre 1956 y 1974, Pelé ofreció en el Santos verdaderos recitales futbolísticos. La Perla Negra , uno de los apelativos que recibió, era un jugador de corpulencia media que conjugaba una gran habilidad técnica, un poderoso disparo con ambas piernas y una inusitada capacidad de anticipación. A lo largo de su dilatada carrera deportiva, Pelé ganó con su club diez Campeonatos Paulistas (siendo el máximo realizador en once), cinco Torneos Río-São Paulo, dos veces la Copa Libertadores y otras dos la Copa Intercontinental en los mismos años (1962 y 1963), y, en 1962, el primer Campeonato Mundial de clubes.

Pelé debutó en la selección brasileña con sólo diecisiete años y, ya entonces, su contribución a la magia del juego carioca fue clave para la obtención del título mundial en Suecia en 1958. La incorporación de los jóvenes Pelé y Garrincha puso en marcha un juego artístico, fluido y dominador (el llamado jogo bonito ) que muy poco tenía que ver con el fútbol de fuerza y pelotazo de los conjuntos anglosajones o con la improvisación de los mediterráneos.

Se iniciaba así en los campeonatos mundiales una etapa brillante, marcada por la figura legendaria de Pelé, que asombró al mundo con su juego, su clase, su intuición, su control de la pelota y del disparo. En el Mundial de Suecia de 1958, un gol suyo frente a País de Gales hizo que los brasileños se plantasen en las semifinales contra Francia, a la que batieron por un aplastante 5-2, con tres goles de Pelé. En la final, la máquina brasileña arrolló a los anfitriones hasta dejar el marcador final en 5-2, nuevamente con tres tantos de Pelé.

Pelé había llegado al Mundial de Suecia como suplente, como un garoto (chaval) que prometía mucho, y regresó con la aureola que rodea a las leyendas. No tardaría en ser llamado O Rei (El Rey), apodo que Pelé recibió en 1961 de la prensa francesa. En los años venideros, Pelé confirmaría su propio mito, ganándose la consideración de mejor jugador de todos los tiempos al liderar los triunfos mundialistas de su país en los campeonatos de Chile (1962) y México (1970); los tres títulos mundiales valieron al combinado brasileño la adjudicación en propiedad del primer trofeo instituido, la llamada copa Jules Rimet.

Tras obtener todos los títulos posibles y haber contabilizado más de mil goles marcados en partidos oficiales (1.284 goles en 1.363 partidos, según las estadísticas), anunció su retirada del deporte activo en 1974. Sin embargo, Pelé (cuyo seudónimo carece aparentemente de significación alguna) fichó en 1975 por el Cosmos de Nueva York, equipo constituido por un conjunto de grandes figuras del fútbol a fin de promocionar este deporte en Estados Unidos.

Después de retirarse definitivamente en 1977, O Rei recibió numerosos galardones y reconocimientos, tales como el Premio Internacional de la Paz (1978) o el de Atleta del Siglo (1980). Aureolado por una fama sin fronteras, y habiéndose convertido en el deportista mejor pagado hasta el momento, Pelé inició una carrera relativamente exitosa en el cine como actor (llegó a participar en el largometraje de John Huston Evasión o victoria , de 1981), y en la música, como compositor de varias piezas, entre las que se incluye la banda sonora completa de la película de carácter biográfico Pelé (1977).

Pelé continuó también ejerciendo una importante influencia en el mundo del fútbol desde los despachos, y en 1995 fue nombrado ministro de Deportes en Brasil, cargo desde el cual impulsó la llamada Ley Pelé , con la cual pretendía modificar la legislación en materia de contratos deportivos entre clubes y jugadores.

Todavía unos pocos postulan para el título de mejor jugador de la historia a figuras como el holandés Johan Cruyff , el alemán Franz Beckenbauer o los argentinos Diego Armando Maradona , y, ya en el siglo XXI, Leo Messi , alegando que el altísimo nivel de exigencia del fútbol de las últimas décadas no es comparable al de los tiempos de O Rei . Pero es innegable que los registros de Pelé siguen imbatidos y parecen inalcanzables; si no el más grande de todos los tiempos, fue sin duda el primero de los grandes.

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