Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pele, was a global superstar for six decades. He died in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on December 29, 2022, aged 82.
A inspiração e o amor marcaram a jornada de Rei Pelé, que faleceu no dia de hoje.Amor, amor e amor, para sempre.
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Inspiration and love marked the journey of King Pelé, who peacefully passed away today.Love, love and love, forever. pic.twitter.com/CP9syIdL3i
— Pelé (@Pele) December 29, 2022
Pele retired from international football in 1977 but continued to turn heads whenever he appeared at sports events. The three-time World Cup winner from Brazil appeared for the New York Cosmos against Mohun Bagan in Kolkata in September 1977. Lakhs of fans gathered at Dum Dum Airport for a glimpse of the footballing legend.
The game that found a mention in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's iconic Hindi film Golmaal, released two years later, in April 1979, in is a scene where the company boss (Utpal Dutt) asks a prospective employee (Amol Palekar), "What do you think about Black Pearl?"- the nickname Pele earned for creating magic with the ball on his feet.
Pele was the first black sporting celebrity in the late-1950s when racism was rampant. He grew up amid extreme poverty. The man with the golden foot used to work in tea shops to earn extra money, and he could not afford a football back in the day. Pele grew up playing the sport in humid conditions in Sau Paulo.
No booking era
Every individual may have their favourite players based on the style of play they admire. And there have been superstars in every generation. Since Pele, Franz Anton Beckenbauer, Johan Cruyff and Diego Maradona became legends too. Ronaldo Nazario and Zinedine Zidane emerged in the late 1990, followed by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
But Pele is different. He arrived at a time (debut in 1957) when there were no bookings for fouls. And that makes most of his 1,279 goals from 1,363 appearances crucial. The world remembers how he limped and hobbled during the game against Portugal in the 1966 World Cup after being at the receiving end of fouls. The cards came into play at the FIFA World Cup in 1970.
Pele's staggering numbers pushed him into the Guinness World Record.
Among the international greats, Ronaldo Nazario (62 goals) is the only other Brazilian to have won more than one World Cup. He was the youngest member of the victorious Selecao squad in 1994. Eight years later, he tormented Germany in the final by scoring a brace.
Maradona (34 goals), Beckenbauer (14 goals) as defender, and Zidane (21 goals) have one World Cup to their credit, while Cruyff (33 goals) had none.
Cristiano (118 goals) is a tad ahead of Messi (94 goals), and has also won the European Championship. Messi's Copa America victory was Argentina's first in 28 years, and his World Cup 2022 win was Argentina's first in 36 years.
Top goal-scorer and rise of TV
Pele is Brazil's top goal-scorer of all time, scoring 77 goals in 92 appearances. At 17, he scored twice in the World Cup final in 1958, another record that stood the test of time till Kylian Mbappe became the first teenager since Pele to score in the World Cup final in 2018.
Pele could score from any point, and he was sharp. He could read the opponents and move swiftly to reach the net or assist a fellow teammate. Besides 14 World Cup goals, Pele has 10 assists under his belt in the showpiece event - the most by any footballer in the tournament.
Pele and television rose hand-in-hand, and he contributed immensely towards the growth of football as the sport started expanding post World War II.
The 1958 World Cup, televised widely, lifted football. And Pele became a household name as he was the youngest to lay his hands on the World Cup.
Pele lifting the World Cup trophy for Brazil in 1958. (Source: Twitter/Pele)
Astounding club career
Pele excelled in club football, too. He scored 643 goals for Santos and 37 for US club New York Cosmos. He made football a fashionable sport in America by joining the club at 35.
His haul of 643 goals was a record for the most number of goals by a player for a single club until Lionel Messi scored 672 in 778 games for Barcelona before he quit the Spanish club in 2021.
Pele is ahead of most current superstars for his number of goals and World Cup trophies. And that's perhaps the reason why players will continue to map their performance against his.
His charity work with UNICEF and social welfare helped him stand out as a human being, too.
In 1967, during a trip to Nigeria with Santos, Pele had managed to stop a Civil War. A ceasefire was declared so that everyone could watch him play.
That was Pele for you.
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