The best soccer player in history passed away on December 29. Pelé is the highest scorer in the world and was the youngest player to win a World Cup.
Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pelé, was a football player, considered the greatest player in the history of the sport - not only in Brazil but worldwide. So, he was popularly called the King of Soccer. He died on Thursday, December 29th, 2022.
After 62 years, he still holds the title of youngest player to win a World Cup, the most important tournament in the sport. Pelé was world champion in 1958, when he was only 17 years and 8 months old. Until the 2022 Qatar World Cup, no champion team surpassed that mark.
REMEMBER the records broken by the King of Soccer
Pelé was 39 at the time, but played a good game, according to reports. Zico, who wore the 9 shirt and gave it 10 to the King, scored three times.
Involved in some controversies and family issues, Pelé has always been in the media, and not only because of his undisputed talent with the ball. Here are some landmark episodes of the life of the King, who died at the age of 82.
Where Pelé was born and who his family was
Edson Arantes do Nascimento was born on October 23, 1940 in Três Corações, Minas Gerais, and was the first of two children of the player João Ramos do Nascimento, the Dondinho, and the housewife, Celeste Arantes.
Pelé's brother, Zoca, died in 2020, aged 77, of complications caused by prostate cancer. He also played football at Santos, but did not achieve the same level of excellence as his famous brother.
Pelé was named after the American inventor Thomas Edison, whose father was an admirer. The first nickname of childhood was "Dico", but "Pelé" emerged still in school time because of the way in which he, as a child, pronounced the name of his favorite player, goalkeeper Bilé, vasco da Gama de São Lourenço.
As Pelé could not pronounce the name correctly, he shouted "Pelé" during the plays in which the goalkeeper participated. At first, he did not like the nickname and even quarreled with his classmate, according to the player.
As his family was humble, Pelé started playing ball in dirt pitches and even had a ball. When he entered adolescence, he got a job and, at the age of 16, was called to play for a professional club, Santos Futebol Clube.
Pelé's career at Santos
A coach from Pelé took him to the city of Santos for him to try playing for a professional team. He knocked on the door of Santos Futebol Clube telling management that the 15-year-old would still be "the greatest football player in the world."
Pelé did indeed impress the Santos coach and signed a contract with the club in 1956. In 1957, he began to be recognized nationally - and looks that he was still 16 years old. He was a starter at Santos and was top scorer in the Campeonato Paulista (the youngest to date), scoring 36 goals.
With only ten months of career in professional football, Pelé was called up for the first time to the Brazilian national team. It was at this time that he took over the 10 shirt of Peixe, as well as the leading scorer of the Campeonato Paulista 1957, with 17 goals. This was the first leading score of a total eleven in the competition, a record that has not been beaten to date. Pelé served most of his career at Santos, until 1974.
In his sporting career, the King of Football played nine games against teams from Ceará. Six matches took place at the Presidente Vargas stadium, one in Castelão and one in Romeirão. The King closed the Cariri trade and never won Ceará.
Why was Pelé called the King?
In Brazil, only two celebrities called "King" are immediately identified by the nickname: the singer Roberto Carlos and Pelé. The player's nickname was given in 1958, when Santos played in the Rio-São Paulo Tournament.
Pelé was the team's top scorer, and had a standout performance, and came to be called "King" by the fans. The player's performance also impressed the writer Nelson Rodrigues, who liked to watch football and watched some of Pelé's matches.
The playwright wrote a chronicle in honor of the player, called "The royalty of Pelé". In it, he said that "Pelé takes a considerable advantage over the other players—that of feeling king, from head to toe."
World Cups
During his career in the national team, he won three of the Fifa World Cups he played in: 1958, 1962 and 1970, being the only one to do so as a player:
1958 World Cup
In 1958, the world knew who Pelé was. The reason? That was the first Ace's Cup. He wore the shirt 10, even though he was only 17 years old, even though it was for a mistake of the Brazilian Football Confederation, the CBF.
It was in this edition of the World Cup that he became the youngest player to compete in the World Cup final, at 17 years and 249 days. He scored two goals in that final, when Brazil beat Sweden 5-2 at home.
This cup was in history because it marked the conquest of the first star in the shirt of the Brazilian national team.
1962 World Cup
He arrived for the 1962 World Cup and was considered the best player in the world. However, he was injured in the second game and it was Garrincha who took on the starring role in Brazil's second World Cup title.
1970 World Cup
In his last World Cup, King of Football affirmed his position as the greatest player of all time, as the great name of the Brazilian conquest.
The 10 T-shirt led Brazil to a historic achievement that isolated the country as the greatest champion in the history of the World Cups.
Awards Pelé has won:
The main individual prizes won by Pelé were:
* Silver Ball: 1970
* Best young player of the FIFA World Cup: 1958
* FIFA World Cup Silver Ball: 1958
* FIFA World Cup Golden Ball (Best Player): 1970
* FIFA Ballon d'Or: 2013
* Ballon d'Or de France Football: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1970
* FIFA Player of the Century: 2000
* FIFA Order of Merit: 1984
* FIFA Centennial Award: 2004
* FIFA 100 Best Live Footballers: 2004
* Top-100 France Football World Cup Players 1930–1990
* Elected Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee: 1999
* Voted Footballer of the Century by The Ballon d'Or winners of France Football: 1999
Dribbles and goals to stay in history
Pelé's first goal was simply a lob (when passing the ball over the opponent). This goal was chosen as one of the best goals in the history of the World Cups.
On November 19, 1969, Pelé wrote another chapter in the history of football by scoring the thousandth career goal, in Santos' 2–1 win against Vasco at Maracanã stadium.
Pelé controversies
Despite being considered a symbol in sport, Pelé was not immune to many criticisms and became involved in several controversies, especially in relation to positions (or lack thereof) in situations such as the Brazilian military dictatorship and racism, in addition to a point that has stood out over the years: rejection of her own daughter.
Another subject that was widely commented on Pelé was the little engagement in the anti-racist fight demonstrated throughout his career, even though he himself suffered from racism - in an interview, he admitted to having been called "monkey" and "creole" in matches.
Who are Pelé's children?
Kely, Flavia, Edinho, Sandra, Joshua and Celeste are Pelé's children.
Edinho is 52 years old and took charge of Londrina, which competes in Serie B of the Brazilian Championship.
Joshua and Celeste are twins and the result of Pelé's marriage to gospel singer Assíria Seixas. Joshua, like Edinho, works with the sport in the area of physiology. However, he has also tried a career in football, playing in the under-20s of Santos.
Sandra Nascimento died in 2006, aged 42, and was controversial in the 1990s for being an unrecognized daughter of Pelé, even with the positive result in DNA testing for the firstborn.
The girl was the result of a relationship of the former player with Anisia Machado, who ended up facing her father in court, wanting the recognition of her father.
Pelé is also the father of Flavia Kurtz, 54. Even though she was the same age as Sandra, Pelé's daughter was recognized in the 2000s. The physiotherapist is the result of a brief relationship that the former player had with during a trip.
Pelé: conclusion
Pelé was an icon of football and joined the Olympus of the athletes of the most beloved sport in the world. Great players like Zico, for example, have talked countless times about the level of admiration for the player who exuded genius when he was in possession of the ball.
To know about his life is also to know a little of the history of football, not only Brazilian but world, since the idol was revered in life worldwide.
