Pele, the Brazilian soccer icon who brought the World Cup three times to his home country, became an international star and the highest-paid team athlete in the world at the time, passed away. He was 82 years old.
His daughter, Kelly Nascimento, announced her death on Thursday Instagram.
pellet Health was deteriorating with his advancing age. Doctors at the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo said late December that he was receiving “high care” for “kidney and heart dysfunction” caused by cancer he had been battling for over a year. He was also suffering from a respiratory infection, and his family said he would remain in hospital over the Christmas holidays.
“Inspiration and love balance the journey of King Pele, who passed away peacefully today” A statment On his organization’s website read. “On his journey, Edson enchanted the world with his genius for sport, stopped war, carried out social work around the world and spread what he believed to be the cure to all our problems: love. His message today is a legacy for posterity.”
Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento on October 23, 1940, he was known roughly as Pelé – a nickname he supposedly got after mispronouncing another soccer player’s name.
Pele joined Santos Football Club in Brazil in 1956 at the age of 15 as an inside forward. The club won the São Paulo League championship, and in 1962 and 1963, the Copa Libertadores and the Intercontinental Cup.
The striker, who served as a second striker, made his international debut just a year after joining Santos, in 1957, and played in the following year’s World Cup at the age of 17 – the youngest player ever. He bagged a hat-trick in the semi-final against France and scored two goals in the championship match against the host of the 1958 tournament, Sweden.
After he rose to the world stage and impressed with his ability to strike hard shots into the net, Brazil declared Pele a “national treasure”, A move to prevent him from being attacked by richer European teams. Instead, Santos went on an international tour to give fans a chance to see the superstar.
Pele suffered a cramp in the next World Cup in 1962 and had to sit out after the second match, but the Brazilian national team triumphed and won consecutive titles. Brazil lost in the first round in the next World Cup in 1966 after Pele and others were injured.
He considered retiring from international football, but made a triumphant return in 1970 to win it again. Pelé finished his World Cup career by scoring 12 goals in 14 matches and remains the only footballer to win the trophy three times.
Pele retired from Santos in 1974 after scoring 643 goals in 659 games.
He was coaxed out of retirement a year later to join his second ever team, the New York Cosmos. At the age of 34, he signed a three-year, $7 million deal to play for the U.S. National Team, which the New York Times reported at the time made him Highest paid athlete for the team In the world. He ended up playing for the Cosmos for two years, helping them win the North American Soccer League Cup, and has been widely credited with increasing his popularity with the sport in the United States.
for him The last match ever It was an exhibition match between Santos and Al Kon. He played the first half with Cosmos and the second half with his beloved Santos. When the time was up, his teammates hoisted the emotional Pele on their shoulders and paraded him around the field.
“In simple terms, Pele made football great,” said Cosmos goalkeeper Chip Messing. ESPN 40 years after that last game. “Mick Jagger, Elton John, Robert Redford at the Games. Muhammad Ali, he was there in the stadium for that final, and at the time, the two most famous people on the planet were the two.”
Pele scored more than 1,000 goals during his career, setting a record in the Guinness Book of World Records.
He used his platform after football to support charity and try to improve the lives of Brazil’s poor. He became a UNESCO Global Ambassador in 1994 and served as Brazil’s Minister of Sports. He has also published several biographies that have become bestsellers and starred in documentaries about his life.
FIFA named him “The Greatest of All Time” in 2012, and the International Olympic Committee named him “Athlete of the Century” in 1999.
He and Argentine superstar Diego Maradona, who was younger than Pele and played after his retirement, have often been discussed as the greatest players of all time – they were even jointly named “Player of the Century” by FIFA in 2000. Despite the competition, the two have stayed together. A friendship before Maradona’s death in 2020 after years of exchanging punches.
“I want to thank Pele,” Maradona said in a friendly match in 2016. “We know who he is and who he always will be. We need icons like him.”
