Pelé

Edson Arantes do Nascimento was born on 23 October 1940 in Três Corações, in the interior of Minas Gerais state, Brazil. He grew up shining shoes to buy his modest soccer gear. His father Dondinho, a gifted footballer whose career was ended by a knee injury, moved the family to Bauru, a railway town in São Paulo state, where they slipped into poverty. As a child he also sold tea to help support his family.

He was named Edson after the inventor Thomas Edison. The family called him 'Dico', and he became 'Pelé' at school through his mispronunciation of the goalkeeper Bile's name. The nickname reportedly originated in childhood and had no known meaning in Portuguese.

He was scouted by Waldemar de Brito, who proclaimed he would become the best player in the world. Pelé joined the Santos Football Club at 15 and quickly emerged as one of Brazil's brightest young stars. He made his debut for Santos at the age of 15 and scored in a 7-1 win over Corinthians de Santo André.

Pelé first wore the Brazil shirt on 9 July 1957, facing Argentina at the Maracanã at the age of sixteen years and nine months, and scored the first of the 77 goals he would register in 92 appearances for his country. That same year, his first full professional season, he finished as the top scorer of the São Paulo state championship. His senior club career had begun when he joined the Santos Football Club at fifteen, where he quickly emerged as one of Brazil's brightest young stars. Brazil's official record credits him with 77 goals in 92 official appearances between 1957 and 1971.

The following year he scored 58 times as Santos won the state title, the club finding the net 143 times across 38 games. On 29 June 1958, aged seventeen, he celebrated his first World Cup title with Brazil in Sweden, a feat that leaves him the youngest world champion of all time. Santos, nicknamed the Santásticos, would go on to win eight more state championships, six Brazilian championships, two Copas Libertadores and two Intercontinental Cups.

After the 1958 World Cup he was declared a national treasure by the Brazilian government, a measure intended to discourage large offers from European clubs and keep him in Brazil. Inter Milan, Juventus, Manchester United and Real Madrid all tried to sign him, prompting the Brazilian government under president Jânio Quadros to declare him an official national treasure. When wealthy European clubs tried to sign him, the Brazilian government intervened with the same declaration. Called 'Pérola Negra' (Black Pearl) and 'O Rei' (The King), he became a Brazilian national hero.

Pelé arrived at the 1958 tournament in Sweden as a reserve, and in his only first-round appearance he provided an assist before scoring the only goal in the quarter-final against Wales. That goal made him the youngest player ever to score at a men's World Cup, netting against Wales at 17 years and 239 days old. He was also the youngest to score a World Cup hat-trick.

He scored a hat-trick against France in the semi-final and two in the 5-2 final win over the hosts. With that brace against Sweden he became the youngest player ever to score in a World Cup final. He also recorded an unprecedented three assists in World Cup deciders, one of them against Sweden in 1958.

Aged 17 he celebrated his first World Cup title with Brazil in Sweden on 29 June 1958 and remains the youngest world champion of all time. FIFA lists him as the youngest scorer, youngest hat-trick scorer and youngest finalist in World Cup history. He holds the record as the youngest player to score in a World Cup Final.

At the 1962 World Cup in Chile, Pelé scored a brilliant individual goal as a 21-year-old in a 2-0 win over Mexico, but was injured in the next match and watched from the sidelines as Brazil defended their title. By the time he appeared at his second World Cup he had played 426 games and scored 488 goals for club and country. The tournament added a second winner's medal to a record that would eventually stand at three World Cups, in 1958, 1962 and 1970, the only player with three winner's medals.

In 1962 and 1963 Santos won both the Libertadores Cup and the Intercontinental Club Cup, establishing itself as one of the most dominant clubs of the era. The side, nicknamed the Santásticos, also won eight more state championships and six Brazilian championships. Scouted by Waldemar de Brito, who proclaimed he would become the best player in the world, Pelé propelled Santos to 25 major titles over 18 years, among them two Copa Libertadores and two Intercontinental Cup crowns.

The club's dominance was built on an unrelenting schedule of matches at home and abroad. FIFA credits him with an extraordinary 127 goals for Santos in the single calendar year 1959 alone. At the 1966 World Cup in England, Bulgarian and Portuguese defenders repeatedly hacked him down at the knees; he limped out of the tournament and, angered at the lack of protection from referees, vowed that he had played his last World Cup. He played five more games for Brazil and stayed with Santos another four years but declined to come out of international retirement for the 1974 World Cup.

At the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, Pelé scored the opening goal in Brazil's 4-1 victory over Italy in the final at the Aztec Stadium. In that same match he set up Carlos Alberto with a nonchalant pass for the last goal of the 4-1 win. He also scored the opening goal and provided two assists in the final, helping Brazil claim a third title. Earlier, in the semi-final against Uruguay, he let the ball roll past goalkeeper Ladislao Mazurkiewicz, circled around him without touching it and sent the shot narrowly wide.

He won the Golden Ball in Mexico, scoring four goals, the pick of them the opener in the 4-1 final win over Italy. His six assists at Mexico 1970 were a record for a single World Cup. He also recorded an unprecedented three assists in World Cup deciders: one against Sweden in 1958 and two against Italy in 1970. He is the only player to have won the World Cup three times.

The third title brought Brazil permanent ownership of the Jules Rimet Trophy. In his own words, Brazil had the best team of all time without a doubt, and the 1970 World Cup marked the Brazilian people.

The thousandth goal arrived on 19 November 1969, struck from the penalty spot for Santos at the Maracanã in what was his 909th first-class match ^{9Pele's goal record: Numbers that justify why Brazilian legend is 'King' · Olympics.com (International Olympic Committee) ↗}. The Brazilian sports ministry likewise records that his thousandth goal came on that date ^{11Edson Arantes do Nascimento, o Pelé · Ministério da Cidadania, Governo do Brasil (gov.br) ↗}. The milestone became known as the Milesimo, and it fixed in the public imagination a figure that the record books themselves could never quite settle ^{9Pele's goal record: Numbers that justify why Brazilian legend is 'King' · Olympics.com (International Olympic Committee) ↗}.

The uncertainty is structural rather than merely clerical: the exact career goal tally is highly debated because of unstructured and decentralised record-keeping in the 1950s and 1970s, which is why more than one figure circulates ^{9Pele's goal record: Numbers that justify why Brazilian legend is 'King' · Olympics.com (International Olympic Committee) ↗}. Guinness World Records counts 1,279 goals for Pelé between 7 September 1956 and 1 October 1977, across 1,363 games ^{9Pele's goal record: Numbers that justify why Brazilian legend is 'King' · Olympics.com (International Olympic Committee) ↗}. The Brazilian Football Confederation and Santos count 1,283 goals in 1,367 matches, while FIFA claims 1,281 in 1,366 games ^{5Pele: Brazil football legend dies aged 82 · BBC Sport ↗}. Against those totals stands a narrower and more strictly defined measure: 643 goals for Santos in official competitions ^{5Pele: Brazil football legend dies aged 82 · BBC Sport ↗}.

Whatever total is preferred, the Santos figure carries its own weight in the game's history: his 643 goals for the club stood as the record for a player at a single club for almost half a century before Lionel Messi broke it ^{9Pele's goal record: Numbers that justify why Brazilian legend is 'King' · Olympics.com (International Olympic Committee) ↗}. The scale of his scoring for Brazil is less contested, with 77 goals in 92 official appearances between 1957 and 1971 ^{4Pelé – a life in his own words · FIFA Museum ↗}. On the game's largest stage he scored 12 goals in 14 World Cup matches ^{16Pelé | FIFA World Cup, Brazil, Biography, Father, GOAT · Encyclopaedia Britannica ↗}.

Pelé joined the New York Cosmos in 1975, at a point when he was 34 and past his prime. His decision to move to the United States was shaped by two personal aims: the chance to study sports marketing, and the wish for his children to speak English. The club he joined was the last of his career, following Santos, where he had played from 1956 to 1974.

His scoring record with the Cosmos is counted at 64 goals across three seasons. A separate tally records 65 goals in 111 games over the same three seasons. In 1977 he led the club to the American championship. His presence with the Cosmos also helped draw stars such as Franz Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto and Giorgio Chinaglia to the club.

He ended his career on 1 October 1977 in an exhibition between the Cosmos and Santos before some 77,000 spectators in New Jersey, playing half the game for each club. That date also closes the span in which Guinness World Records counts his 1,279 goals, in 1,363 games. A former Cosmos executive said soccer in the United States was a small immigrant sport before Pelé arrived, and only then grabbed the hearts and minds of Americans.

Between 1995 and 1998 Pelé served as Brazil's minister of sport, the first person to hold the post in the country. His tenure coincided with the enactment of the Lei Pelé, legislation regulating sport and the relationship between clubs and players. After football his life took many forms: he was Brazil's extraordinary minister for sport, a businessman, and an ambassador for UNESCO and the United Nations.

In 1999 the International Olympic Committee named him athlete of the century, even though he had never appeared at an Olympic Games. He was named FIFA's Player of the Century in the year 2000. In 1967 factions in Nigeria's civil war agreed a brief cease-fire so he could play an exhibition match, and in 1997 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

The Pelé Museum opened in Santos in 2014 and preserves memorabilia from his life and career. He was widely regarded as the greatest player ever, and is the only player to have won the World Cup three times. He died on 29 December 2022 in São Paulo, Brazil, at the age of 82.

Pelé died on 29 December 2022 in São Paulo, Brazil, at the age of 82. The cause was multiple organ failure following colon cancer. The state of São Paulo declared seven days of official mourning over his death.

He was buried privately in Santos after an eight-mile funeral procession. Santos unveiled a 'Sala do Trono' (Throne Room) at its Memorial das Conquistas, inaugurated in the presence of Edinho, Pelé's son, and former teammates including Pepe, Lima and Mengálvio. The club marked 23 October 2023 as the first birthday without Pelé, a date it says will always be remembered by its fans.

The tally of his goals remains a matter of record-keeping rather than dispute over his stature. Guinness World Records counts 1,279 goals for Pelé between 7 September 1956 and 1 October 1977 in 1,363 games. The Brazilian Football Confederation and Santos count 1,283 goals in 1,367 matches, while FIFA claims 1,281 in 1,366 games. For Santos alone, in official competitions, he scored 643 goals over 19 years.

Pelé's own account of his career returns repeatedly to the Brazil side that won the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, a team he described as the best of all time without a doubt, and one whose triumph, in his words, marked the Brazilian people ^{4Pelé – a life in his own words · FIFA Museum ↗}. He scored in that final and set up Carlos Alberto with a nonchalant pass for the last goal in the 4-1 victory over Italy ^{10As 'The King,' Pelé enchanted fans and dazzled opponents · Associated Press ↗}, and he also scored the opening goal of the same match at Mexico's Aztec Stadium ^{6Pele: Goalscorer, World Cup winner, hero, icon and legend · BBC Sport ↗}. On the pass that everyone asks about, he explained that it was not that he passed without looking — the Brazilian team simply knew each other so well ^{4Pelé – a life in his own words · FIFA Museum ↗}.

The 1970 final was not his only decisive contribution on such a stage: he recorded an unprecedented three assists in World Cup deciders, one against Sweden in 1958 and two against Italy in 1970 ^{7Football and the world mourns Pelé · FIFA (Inside FIFA) ↗}. In the Italy match he both scored the opening goal and provided two assists, helping Brazil claim a third title and permanent ownership of the Jules Rimet Trophy ^{16Pelé | FIFA World Cup, Brazil, Biography, Father, GOAT · Encyclopaedia Britannica ↗}. His World Cup record stands at 12 goals in 14 matches ^{16Pelé | FIFA World Cup, Brazil, Biography, Father, GOAT · Encyclopaedia Britannica ↗}.