Pelé, Edison Arantes do Nascimento

Edson Arantes do Nascimento, more popularly known as Pelé, is considered the greatest footballer of all time and in 2000 he received a FIFA award declaring him, alongside Diego Maradona, the greatest player of football history . The Brazilian national player retired in 1977 with an impressive amount of records as the most number of goals scored by any other player and the winning of three World Cup (1958, 1962,1970), the world record for hat-tricks (92) and the number of goals scored on the international level (97). His combination of speed, ball control and ability to shoot powerfully and accurately with either foot and with his head made him a perfect player who could scores in any way.

1956 - 1974 Santos

Edson Arantes do Nascimento was born in the city of Três Corações on October 23rd, 1940. Growing up in poverty usually played with a sock stuffed with paper or a grapefruit as he could not afford a real ball, and was forced to work as a shoe-shiner at the Bauru Athletic Club on match days to earn extra money. His nickname was given to him by a school-friend because of his pronunciation of the name of his favourite player, local Vasco da Gama goalkeeper Bilé, which he misspoke "Pilé". Anyway he has never loved this nickname. His father “Dondinho” was also a professional footballer, though not a great one, and Pelè was determined to follow the father’s footsteps. His first football team was formed with a number of friends from his neighbourhood that played in local tournaments. He and other members of the team were recruited to join a youth team managed by Waldemar de Brito. Pelé joined to Santos FC youth team at the age of fifteen. At the age of sixteen, he moved to Santos first team making his debut in a friendly against Corinthians and scoring a goal in the final 7–1. When the season started he had a place in the starters and only sixteen became the top scorer of the championship. The Pelè’s class was famous worldwide and soon all the great European clubs offered massive fees to sign the player, but the government of Brazil declared Pelé an "official national treasure" to prevent him from being transferred out of the country. For this reason Pelè never played for a big club in Europe but only in Santos and later in Cosmos, in USA. After the two World Cup won, Pelè was the best player of all time and his influence was undeniable: in a match in Colombia, Pelè was sent off but he was readmitted to the match as the crowd didn’t let the game restart without him. An other curious episode happened in 1967 in Nigeria where the two factions involved in the Nigerian Civil War agreed to a 48-hour ceasefire so they could watch Pelé play an exhibition game.
On 19 November 1969, Pelé scored on penalty his 1000th goal in his career at the Maracanà stadium. Pelé continued to play for Santos until 1974, though he retired from international football, and when he finally left Santos the club retired the number 10 shirt from their line-up.
Pelè with Santos’s jersey won 10 Brazilian championships, 2 Libertadores Cup and 2 Intercontinental Cup.

1975 - 1977 Cosmos

In 1975 he was tempted by American dollars to come out of retirement and play for New York Cosmos, where he stayed for another two years. A reported $7,000,000 contract for three years made him the most paid player of the World. In that period USA clubs tried to attract people to soccer buying great players at the end of their career as Cruijff, Carlos Alberto, Beckenbauer.

On Oct. 1, 1977, Pelé played his last match, an exhibition game between the Cosmos and Santos, that was sold out six weeks beforehand, broadcasted in 38 different nations. Pelè played the first half for the Cosmos, scoring a great goal from 30 yards out, and the second half for Santos.

1957 - 1974 With Brazil

His amazing performances with Santos caught the attention of the national team and, only seventeen, he played in his first World Cup in 1958, scoring a stunning hat-trick in the semi-final against France and two goals in the final against Sweden. His first goal, a nice lob to dribble a defender followed by a precise volley , has been selected as one of the best goals in the history of the World Cup.

In the 1962 World Cup, he scored twice against Mexico before tearing a thigh muscle which forced him to leave the tournament. Anyway Brazil won the World Cup also without its more representative player.

In 1966, Brazil were out of the tournament in the first part of tournament against Eusebio’s Portugal where he also has a accident.

After the tournament, Pelé was very disappointed and declared that he did not wish to play in the World Cup again but he went back on that promise in 1970 World Cup in Mexico with spectacular performances. In his final World Cup match, the final against Italy, he scored the opener in a superb team play which resulted in a 4-1 victory. Pelè said about this goal: "I have a special feeling for that goal because I scored it with my head.My father was a soccer player and once scored five goals in a game, all with his head. That was one record I was never able to break."

Retirement

Since retiring from football, Pelé has worked as a UNESCO Goodwill ambassador and as a United Nations ambassador. Pelé has been alsoBrazil’s Extraordinary minister for sport from1995 to 2001.
Pelé has written several autobiographies, starred in documentary and films and composed the entire soundtrack for the film Pelé in 1977. His most famous film appariction was in the 1981 film “Escape to Victory” with illustrious actors as Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone. In 1997 he received an honorary British knighthood.