Pele

Pele the Brazilian footballer (born 1940), known in full as Edson Arantes do Nascimento and universally remembered as Pele (Pele), who is celebrated as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport and is the only man to have won three World Cup titles.

Childhood and Early Career

Edson Arantes do Nascimento was born on 23 October 1940 in Tres Coracoes, in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, into a poor family. His father was a footballer whose own career had been curtailed by injury, and the family later moved to the town of Bauru in Sao Paulo state, where the boy grew up playing with rag balls on the streets.

He was nicknamed Pele in childhood, a name whose exact origin he never satisfactorily explained, and it clung to him for life. He learned the game in informal matches and in youth teams, and at fifteen he joined the professional club Santos, where his talent quickly drew attention.

His rise was extraordinarily swift. Within a year of joining the first team he was a national figure, and his combination of speed, balance, vision and finishing power seemed to belong to a player far older. Brazilian football had found a new star at the moment when the country was beginning to define its modern sporting identity.

World Cup Triumphs

Pele was selected for Brazil's squad for the 1958 World Cup in Sweden at the age of seventeen. He scored the only goal in the quarter-final against Wales, then a hat-trick in the semi-final against France and two goals in the final against Sweden, including a celebrated lob over the defender that is still shown as an emblem of his genius. Brazil won their first world title.

At the 1962 World Cup in Chile he was injured early in the tournament and watched from the sidelines as Brazil, led by Garrincha, retained the trophy. In 1966 in England he suffered brutal treatment from opposing defenders and Brazil were eliminated in the group stage, a disappointment that deepened his determination.

The 1970 World Cup in Mexico became his crowning achievement. Playing in a team widely regarded as one of the finest ever assembled, with players such as Jairzinho, Tostao and Rivelino, he scored in the final against Italy and Brazil won 4-1. A spectacular attempted goal from the halfway line against Czechoslovakia and a feigned pass around the goalkeeper remain among the most famous moments in the game.

Santos and the Club Game

For most of his career Pele played for Santos, the club of his home region, and he led them to a remarkable series of domestic and international victories, including two Intercontinental Cups and the Copa Libertadores. With Pele in the side Santos became a global brand and undertook extensive tours to Europe, Africa and Asia.

These tours made him a household name far beyond Brazil. He scored more than a thousand goals in official and friendly matches over his career, a total that became part of sporting folklore, and his presence guaranteed capacity crowds wherever he played, even in countries where football was little followed.

In 1975 he came out of semi-retirement to join the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League, on a contract that made him one of the best-paid athletes in the world. He spent two seasons in the United States and helped to raise the profile of soccer in a country where it had long been a minority sport.

Style of Play and Impact

Pele combined explosive acceleration with superb close control, a powerful shot off either foot and an unusual calm in front of goal. He was equally adept in the air, and his ability to hang in the air before heading the ball became legendary. He read the game with the instinct of a playmaker and was as generous in creating goals as in scoring them.

His sportsmanship was as noted as his skill. He rarely retaliated against the heavy marking he endured, and he spoke of football as a celebration rather than a battle, an attitude that won him admirers across the world and made him a symbol of the beautiful game. His famous remark that football was the beautiful game attached itself to the sport through him.

Off the pitch he served as a minister of sport in Brazil and campaigned against corruption and for the welfare of former players. He became a global ambassador for the sport, representing football at ceremonies and events and lending his prestige to charitable causes and to the promotion of the game among children.

Legacy and Recognition

Pele retired from professional football in 1977 and was honoured with an exhibition match between the Cosmos and Santos in which he played for both sides. He remained the most recognisable figure in world football for decades, travelling constantly and meeting presidents, popes and artists as an unofficial representative of his country and his sport.

In 1999 he was named athlete of the century by the International Olympic Committee, and in 2000 he shared the FIFA Player of the Century award with Diego Maradona. These honours reflected a career whose significance transcended statistics, and his name became a byword for excellence and for the joy of the game.

He died on 29 December 2022 in Sao Paulo, and his passing prompted an outpouring of tribute from around the world. He is remembered as the greatest footballer of his era and as one of the defining sportsmen of the twentieth century, an athlete whose grace and achievement made Brazil synonymous with the art of football.

See also

• Santos FC
• Brazil national football team
• FIFA World Cup
• Edson Arantes do Nascimento