One of the best footballers of all time, Brazilian Pele, has died at the age of 82. Pelé, in full name Edson Arantes do Nascimentohad colon cancer.
The late Brazilian legend has been titled the world’s best soccer player of all time for decades, right from his playing career. The only three-time world champion in football history scored 1283 goals in 1363 matches in his career, carving his name forever among the greatest of all time.
Already given the nickname “O Rei” (Finnish for “King”) during his career, Pelé was the first real international superstar of his sport and one of the most famous athletes of the entire 20th century.
The ambidextrous, skillful with the ball, hardworking and versatile striker impressed his contemporaries ever since the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. Those games made the 17-year-old Pelé a star. The youngster was the tournament’s second best scorer and led his country to its first world championship.
The name Pelé was born as a tease by schoolmates
Thomas Edison Edson, who was named after him, was known among the family in childhood Dicona.
Edson’s nickname changed to Pele during his school years when he tried to pronounce his favorite player, Vasco da Gama’s goalkeeper Bilen, name. With the misrepresentation, a new name was born in the mouths of the classmates. Pelé himself said that he hated his nickname and hit the school friend who invented it.
– Over the years, I have learned to live so that in my heart I am two people. The other is Edson, who I am with my family and friends. The other is Pelé. I never wanted that nickname myself. Pelé sounds like the speech of a small child in Portuguese, the legend himself told the BBC about his name in 2006.
A story from 1950 has often come up about Pelé’s childhood.
The then 9-year-old Pelé had seen his father Dondinho after a crying Brazil unexpectedly lost to Uruguay in the famous World Cup final. The child had gone to comfort his father and said that he would still win the World Cup for Brazil. And so he did.
Six years after that moment, 15-year-old Pelé made his debut in the Brazilian top flight for Santos against Corinthians.
The owner of Inter was forced to tear up the player’s contract
The great story of the greatest hero of Brazilians was built from a young age. The success in the national team also got the big European clubs interested. Despite courtships from, for example, Real Madrid, Juventus and Manchester United, Pelé wanted to continue at Santos.
Inter Milan even got Pelé to sign a preliminary player contract, but the Santos management, due to the frenzied reaction of their fans, forced Inter’s owner Angelo Moratti to tear it up.
The biggest games of Pelé’s career were the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. When the world’s most famous soccer player’s previous games in 1966 in England had gone down due to the brutal treatment of the opponents and Brazil’s own failure, he only had something to win. Pelé led Brazil to the third World Cup gold and was chosen as the best player of the tournament.
The final was Pelé’s performance. The superstar finished one and assisted two goals as Brazil defeated Italy 4–1 in the final match.
– I told myself that he would be flesh and bones like the rest of us. I was wrong, the Italian who was ordered to guard Pelé in the final Tarcisio Burgnich said after the games.
You can listen to the highlights of the Brazil and Italy World Cup final recorded from ‘s TV report in the Live Archive clip below.
A football ambassador
Pelé’s effectiveness on the football field was also increased by his activities off it. The Brazilian star was known as a gentleman and a charismatic leader. This was also visible after his career: Pelé was, for example, a long-term UNESCO goodwill ambassador and served as Brazil’s sports minister from 1995 to 1998. Especially the work as an ambassador was very important to him, which is why he devoted a lot of his time to it.
Pelé was also among the first superstars to grow American soccer. The Brazilian star played the last two seasons of his career in the NASL league, in the ranks of the New York Cosmos.
Although Pelé’s image was very gentlemanly, his comments about himself were very complimentary. He also often spoke of himself in the third person.
– Forgive my lack of modesty, but I have never seen a player as good as Pelé in 1970, the legend said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper Marca in 2015.
For decades, the soccer world has debated who is the greatest soccer player of all time. Most of the time, the discussion has been limited to two players, Pelé and the great star of Argentina to Diego Maradona.
However, Pelé himself did not consider either of them the greatest, although he often praised himself.
– People often argue about which of us is the best. In my opinion, the best ever is Alfredo di StefanoPelé told reporters in 2009 in Madrid.
In the end, it says a lot about the late king of football that when di Stefano was asked in 2012 who was the best football player of all time, he had only one answer.
– The best ever? Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are great players with great qualities, but Pelé was clearly better than them.
In his last days, Pelé managed to see one more World Cup final and personally congratulated Argentina and especially Messi for the World Cup gold On their Instagram account (you will switch to another service). He also remembered Maradona, because the text ended with the words “now Diego is sure to smile”.
Now Pelé has joined Diego to smile on the playing fields of the other side.