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Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pelé, the legendary Brazil footballer, who immortalised dribbling and goal-scoring breathed his last on Thursday, December 29, after a long battle with cancer. He as 82.
Known as one of the best football players to have ever played the game, the legend scored 77 goals for his national team. He led the ‘Men in Green and Yellow’ to three World Cup victories in 1958, 1962, and 1970. In 1966, Pele’s Brazil couldn’t even get past the group stage, losing to Portugal and Hungry and finishing third on the points table in Group 3.
Named Athlete of the Century in 1999 by International Olympic Council, Pele debuted for his club Santos at the early age of 15 in 1956 and scored a record 643 goals in 659 games. He played 19 seasons with them.
The Brazillian star, also kown as the Black Pearl and O Rei (the King), made it to the list of 100 most important people of the 20th century, released by the Times magazine in 2000. In the same year, Pele was also named FIFA player of the century alongside Diego Maradona.
The craze of Pele, who made his international debut in Brazil’s 1-2 loss to Argentina in 1957, was so much that President of Brazil Jânio Quadros announced him as the national treasure in 1961. It was aimed at stopping Pele from signing for a European club.
The youngest goal scorer for his country at an age of 16 years and nine months, Pele went on to score 77 goals in his international career of 92 games. Neymar Junior equalled his tally in the latest World Cup. He has played 124 games to score these many goals.
Pele ended his international career in 1971. He received the Golden Ball in his last World Cup in 1970 where his team beat Italy in the final 4-1.
After playing 19 seasons for Santos, Pele retired from Brazillian football in 1974. He went out of his retirement and signed for New York Cosmos in 1975. On October 1, 1977, Pele ended his more than 20-year-long playing career by playing a friendly between Santos and Cosmos, the only two clubs that he represented officially in his life.
In this match, he played the first half with Cosmos and the second with Santos as the former won the game 2-1. Pele scored a free kick from 30 yards as the final goal of his career.
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