When the word legend is used in football few look further then Pele, during his playing days he become a footballing legend his phenomenal ability to score goals led Brazil to win 3 World Cups as well as bring unprecedented success to Santos the club he played his career for, he has also won a host of personal accolades and he and Maradona shared the FIFA Player of the Century award so how did a kid in poverty become a footballing superstar?
Pele was born on October 23,1940 to his father Dodinho who himself was a talented footballer and his mother was Maria Celeste Arantes, Pele was originally given the name Edson named after the American Inventor Thomas Edison, but as he grew up the family nickname him Dico. Pele was born in Três Corações which but later moved to Baura,Sao Paulo was a poverty stricken area of Brazil and then moved to Bauru,, his family was a poor one and their much needed income come to an abrupt end when his father career ended early due to a fractured leg, but Pele was relentless in his quest to be a football player and his father played a integral role in his development. It was in school where he picked up the name Pele this was because at the time Pele's favourite player was the Vasco da Gama goalkeeper Bilé but he kept mispronouncing and saying Pele so they gave him the nickname which he hated but the name now holds legendary status.
Pele fascination for football grew after seeing his father play, and began practising himself however he was to poor to buy a football so sometimes used a sock tied with string or a grapefruit as substitutes for a football, when not practicing football Pele worked as a servant in Tea Shops or use to shine shoes, while growing up Pele picked up some bad habits such as smoking, he famously recalls in his auto biography the time his father caught him smoking and his dad gave him a few words of advice Listen, if you want to play sport, you have to be in good health.", from then on Pele didn’t smoke.
It didn’t take long for Pele's talent to be recognized and soon joined Ameriquinha the local boys club and it wasn’t look until bigger teams come after him and was soon invited to join Baquinho boys team who were managed by former Brazilian Waldemar de Brito who knew one or two things about spotting talent and knew when he saw Pele that this was no ordinary football talent. After a little while de Brito knew Pele time had arrived and took him to local club Santos FC, when telling the board of directors about Pele he claimed that "he will become the greatest footballer in the world." So at the age of 15, Pele was signed to Santos FC the club he would spend most of his career at.
He made his first appearance for Santos in a friendly with Corinathans and the game ended 7-1 in Santos favour and Pele scored his first goal for the club, and it was not long until the national team calling and just 10 months after beginning his career and at the tender age of 16 he was selected for a match against Argentina and on July 7,1957, player his first international match and he scored despite Brazil losing the game 2-1 he become the youngest player to score in a international match. In the 1957, Pele continued scoring for fun and was soon the league top scorer with an amazing 41 goals in 38 games, but it wasn’t until the 1958 World Cup that he made a big name for himself.
Most of the world was in shock upon hearing that a 17 year old was selected to play in a World Cup at such a young age but Pele lived up to the hype, his first match against the USSR broke records such as youngest player of the tournament and the youngest ever player to play in the World Cup. It took Pele until the quarter finals to get his first goal against Wales, it turned out to be a vital goal as it was the only goal of the game that took Brazil to the semi finals, and if his goal was not impressive enough in the semi finals he scored a hat trick against France becoming the youngest player to do so and making the world to take not of his unique talent. So Brazil advanced to the final where they met hosts Sweden, their was a buzz surrounding Brazil and they were tipped favourites to win but it was Sweden that took the lead after four minutes but Brazil scored two goals thanks to goals from Vava and then Pele scored one of the greatest goals of all time when he lobbed the ball over a defender and volleyed the ball home and then Pele sealed the deal when his header made it 5-2 and become an instant hero to his nation Pele passed out at full time but was revived as Brazil celebrated their victory.
The Brazilian team returned home as heroes Pele was praised all over Brazil and fans from all over Brazil flocked to see him play for his club Santos, and he continued his great goal scoring form, scoring well over 300 goal from the 1958-1962 period and helping Santos win the Campeonato Paulista three times within that period. Pele continued to perform well for his national team and was selected for the 1962 World Cup in Chile however he was not to be as influential as he was in 1958. He was influential against Mexico where he set up the first then ran past four defenders putting Brazil 2-0 up but against Czechoslovakia he suffered an injury while taking a shot the injury resulting in Pele missing the rest of the World Cup it was however another player that stole the show Garrincha that become the talisman who stirred Brazil to their 2nd World Cup and Garrincha and Pele were instrumental in Brazil's success to come.
So Brazil returned home as heroes with their second World Cup and it was around this time the big boys of Europe such as Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus all tried to lure Pele to their club with lucrative contracts but at the age of 21, Pele was such a hero that he was declared as a national treasure preventing the club of signing for clubs outside of Brazil. Pele's iconic status continued to grow and soon lucrative tours were arranged by Santos and people from all over the world came to watch the legend play, and the tours began taking their toll on Pele as he constantly suffered from exhaustion and injuries but his goal scoring record remained brilliant and soon it was time for the 1966 World Cup and in February of that year he got married to Rosemeri dos Reis Cholby .
At the age of just 25, Pele was about to star in the third World Cup but like the last World Cup he picked up an injury early on he did however score in Brazil's opening game and his partner in crime Garrincha picked up the 2nd setting the marker that Brazil were going for their third consecutive World Cup but it wasn’t to be as Pele picked up an injury and Garrincha was out of shape and was struggling with a knee injury and in the next time Garrincha had played his last game for Brazil losing 3-1 their first lose with Garrincha in the team and Brazil didn’t recover from that. Pele did recover for a crucial match against Portugal where Brazil had to win to stay in the tournament, Brazil however still lost 3-1 and it was particularly difficult for Brazil, Portugal didn’t know how to deal with Pele so the resorted to rough tackling almost every time he touched the ball, footage shows Pele missing two fouls and then being violently hit by a third and had to be carried off the pitch and Brazil were eliminated in the 1st Round their worst performance.
Brazil returned home with many questions to be answered about their disorganized team and it ultimately lead to Pele being dropped from the team, their was some good news for Pele as his first daughter was born on 13th January 1967 and was named Kelly Cristina. However his club Santos continued getting their money's worth taking him on tours across the world and he even temporarily stopped war when he visited Nigeria who were involved in a civil war both parties agreed to a ceasefire to watch Pele play and then in 1969, Pele become the first player to score 1000 goals. Pele scored his 999th goal in a away fixture in one of Brazil's poorer states and the whole country was set a buzz waiting to see his 1,000th goal but in the same match Santos goalkeeper is injured and Pele replaced him in goal. So the anticipation continued to the next game where the stadium was jam packed not to see their team play but to see Pele score his 1,000th goal and when a defender clears the ball of his line his own fans boo him, so Pele now moves onto the next game and anticipation is even higher when Santos played in Maracana, but Vasco de Gama did not one to be the victims and at one point the full back scored in his own goal then have Pele get his honour but Pele did get his 1,000th goal from a penalty kick and instantly the whole crowd comes to life as they are eye witnesses to Pele’s 1,000 goal which he dedicates the goal to all the kids growing up in poverty in Brazil.
Pele initially left the national team after 1969, but was invited back upon initially refusing he did make a comeback and helped Brazil qualify for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. The Brazil team was radically different to that of 1966 but Pele was still their main player, and proved his worth in their 1st match against Czechoslovakia giving them a 2-1 lead and almost scored again when he cheekily tried to lob the goalkeeper from the halfway line but Brazil did go on to win the match 4-1. Then next up was England, Pele had one good chance where he headed but was saved by Banks in the end the only goal was scored by Jairzinho, and in the game against Romania he scored twice including a superb free kick and Brazil went through to the next round on red hot form, and they destroyed Peru 4-2 in the Quarter Finals and Brazil advanced to the semi finals and were now favourites to win and they won 3-1 against Uruguay were Pele almost scored another legendary goal but the ball just went wide of the post but Brazil were into the final for the third time where they come up against Italy. Italy themselves had their own history with the World Cup they were themselves two time champions, but it was Pele who opened the scoring after 18minutes, Italy did however equalise but Brazil attacking might was to much for the Italians and Brazil scored three times making it 4-1 to Brazil and handing them their third World Cup in front of more than 100,000 fans after the game the man who marked Pele said "I told myself before the game, he's made of skin and bones just like everyone else — but I was wrong"
Pele and the other Brazil squad come back with their third success but Pele career was beginning to take its toll and began considering retirement and a few months later his soon was born a few months later and was named Edson, on 18th July 1971 Pele played his last game for Brazil against Yugoslavia, his played 92 times for Brazil and scored a phenomenal 77goals. The following year he called time on his Santos career after 17years for the club he did occasionally play on a part time basis, but in 1975 he came out of retirement to play for the NY Cosmos and help develop the profile of American soccer though out of shape fans still came to see the legendary Pele play and in his last season with the club he helped them win the NASL Championship in his final year.
On October 1 1977, Pele participated in his final game a match between his old club Santos and his new club Cosmos it was to be played at the world famous Giants Stadium and it was televised in the US and all across the world, Pele gave a pre match speech in which he interacted with the crowd in the first half he played for Cosmos but it was Santos who took the lead through Reynaldo but it was Pele who scored the equaliser his last ever goal and was scored from a free kick. At half time Pele presented the Cosmo jersey to his father as he put on the Santos one for the second half and it was his replacement Ramon Mifflin who scored the winner to give Cosmos the victory. After the match Pele was embraced by the Cosmos and after he ran around the pitch with the Brazilian flag in one hand and the American flag in the other before being lifted up by the Cosmo players and at that moment one of the most legendary careers in football come to an end with a recorded of 1280 goals in 1363 games.
A year later his 2nd daughter Jennifer was born but he also divorced his 1st wife Rosemeri dos Reis Cholby after 12 years of marriage. Pele also began a career in acting playing one of the most important characters in "Escape to Victory" alongside Bobby Moore and Sylvester Stallone, he also did a lot of ambassador work and in 1992 he was appointed as a UN ambassador for ecology and the environment and in 1995 was awarded a Gold Medal for his services to sport as well as being appointed a Extraordinary Minister of Sport by the Brazilian President and also become a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, and he also produced legislation called Pele law to help stamp out corruption in Brazilian football and in 1997 he even received an honorary knighthood from the Queen and even helped promote Viagra. Even now Pele name is popular and in 2009 he signed a deal with Ubisoft for a game called "Academy for Champions" in which he plays a coach and also got remarried in 1994 to his second wife Assíria Lemos Seixas who gave birth to twins in 1996 Joshua and Celeste were born on September 28 of that year. No matter who comes along in football no one can ever quite match up to the legendary Pele.
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