The health condition of the Brazilian worsened in recent days, and on Thursday evening Pelé’s agent announced the death. Pelé is one of the greatest – many football historians would say the very greatest – player in the history of football. In 1999, both the International Federation of Football History and Statistics and the French magazine France Football chose Pelé as the best footballer of the 20th century. Video: Watch Pele’s visit to the Norway Cup: And in 2000 he was named FIFA’s footballer of the century, an award he shared with Diego Maradona. Pelé is also known for his work to improve the social conditions of the poor in Brazil. Edison “Edson” Arantes do Nascimento was born in Minas Gereis province in Brazil. Why he got the nickname Pelé, nobody knows for sure, but he must have got it early in his school years. Pelé with the trophy after the World Cup final in 1970, where Brazil beat Italy 4–1 and Pelé became world champion for the third time Photo: Ap Pioner with indoor soccer His father was a professional soccer player in Fluminense, but Pelé nevertheless grew up in poverty in the big city of São Paulo. Without access to a proper football, Pelé played with a ball made of hard-packed newspaper, or a grapefruit. In his early teens he played indoor football – futebol de salao – which was rather new at the time. His team won the first tournament he played. – There you have to think and react faster than outside, because the opponents are closer to you all the time. It taught me a lot, and it was through this that I got the chance to play football together with the adults. – In one of the tournaments I found out that at 14 I was too young to participate. But I pushed myself to play, and became top scorer with 14 or 15 goals. It gave me self-confidence, and I learned that I should never be afraid of anyone anymore, Pelé once said. Said about Pelé Pelé is the greatest player in history. He was the best for 20 years. Everyone else – Diego Maradona, Johann Cuyff, Michel Platini – is ranked behind him. There is no one who can be compared to Pelé. Franz Beckenbauer, captain of West Germany’s gold team in 1974. Pele was one of the few who disproved my theory of 15 minutes in the limelight. He will be 15 hundred years old. Andy Warhol, American artist. My name is Ronald Reagan, I am the President of the United States. But you don’t need to introduce yourself, everyone knows who Pelé is. Reagan (US President 1981-1989) met Pelé in the White House. The greatest football player in history was Alfredo di Stefano. I refuse to call Pelé a player – he was more than that. Ferenc Puskas, legendary Real Madrid and Hungary player. Pele was the only player who went beyond the limits of logic. Johann Cruyff, Dutch football legend. How do you spell Pelé? It’s simple: GOD. British football commentator during the World Cup in 1970. When I saw Pelé play, I wanted to put my own football boots on the shelf. Just Fontaine who scored a record 13 goals for France in the World Cup 1958. I often feel that the game of football was invented for this magical player. Bobby Charlton, top scorer in the English national team and World Cup winner in 1966. In 22 years of football, Pelé did more to promote world peace than any other ambassador anywhere. JB Pinheiro, former Brazilian UN Ambassador. Scored in his debut international match But he had inherited his father’s talent and it looked good. Football star Waldemar de Brito discovered that, and he got him into the club Santos. There he made his debut in the first team as a 15-year-old, in September 1956. The following year he was top scorer in the league. Then he also joined the national team that was to build up to the World Cup in Sweden in 1958. He made his debut against Brazil’s arch-rival Argentina on 7 July 1957. He scored in the debut match at Maracaná, Brazil won 2-1, and Pelé was with his 16-year-old and 9 months the youngest to score for Brazil. Together with Garrincha (died 1983), he was to form a striker pair football history may never have seen the likes of. Breakthrough in Sweden 17-year-old Pele shouldered Gylmar after 5-2 over Sweden in the World Cup final at Råsunda in 1958 Photo: AP The 17-year-old was the sensation on Brazil’s superb World Cup-winning team in Sweden. He scored his first World Cup goal against Wales in the quarter-finals, followed up with three against France in the semi-finals and two against Sweden in the final. It was in the 1958 World Cup that he was given jersey number 10 for the first time, the one that was to help make Pelé legendary. Video: See summary from the World Cup final Brazil – Sweden in 1958: He also won World Cup gold in Chile in 1962, despite the fact that he was injured early in the tournament and did not play the last matches. According to the rules of the time, he was probably not considered a world champion, but in 2007 he was still awarded the medal. In 1966, he was considered the best player in the world, and was subsequently watched in the World Cup in England. He was kicked down and injured both against Bulgaria and Portugal, and Brazil was knocked out early. Therefore, he declared that he would never play in the World Cup again. But he changed his mind in 1969, and took part again at the WC in Mexico in 1970. Third WC gold in 12 years Here Pele celebrates after the 1-0 goal against Italy in the WC final in 1970 Photo: NTB scanpix There he still sparkled more than he did in his glory days in 1958 and was the megastar when he and Brazil won their third World Cup gold in 12 years. He only scored four goals, but was the engine of the team which is perhaps the best ever of its time. In the final, Brazil beat Italy 4-1, Pelé scored one and assisted two others. – I told myself before the match that he is made of flesh and blood like everyone else – but I was wrong, the Italian defender Tarcisio Burgnich told the ESPN TV channel many years later. It was his job to look after Pelé in the final. In total, Pelé scored 12 goals during four World Cups. But he never managed to win the South American championship Copa America. He only got to participate once – in 1959. Then Brazil won silver. But Pelé scored eight goals, which is still a record for the tournament. He played his 92nd and last international match against Yugoslavia on 18 July 1971. Brazil won 67 of the 92 matches, drew 14 and lost only 11. Video: Mime match between Brazil’s and Sweden’s World Cup stars from 1958 at Råsunda in 1976: Mime match at Råsunda in the mid-70s – My most beautiful goal With Pelé in the team, Santos also took the step to the top in club football. From 1957 to 1965 he was top scorer every year in the São Paulo league, the Campeonato Paulista. In 1958 he scored 58 goals, a record that still stands. – But the goal I scored in a Campeonata Paulista match against the São Paulo team Juventus in August 1959 is my most beautiful, Pelé said after the end of his career. Santos also won the Copa Libertadores in 1962 and 1963. In 1962 they beat Benfica 5–2 in the Intercontinental Cup, the annual match between the winners of the European Cup and the Copa Libertadores. Pelé scored three goals in the match many consider to be his very best. Didn’t get to travel to Europe Big clubs like Real Madrid and Juventus tried to bring Pelé to Europe in the early 60s. But he regarded Brazil as a “national treasure” and refused to travel abroad. Such were the rules at the time, therefore he stayed at Santos for almost his entire career. Pelé retired as a soccer player in 1977, after two years for the New York Cosmos in the newly started North American league. He ended his career with a friendly match between Cosmos and Santos on 1 October 1977, where he played a half for a quarter of the team. After his career, Pelé continued within football, mostly as a global ambassador. In 1992 he became the UN’s ambassador for ecology and the environment, and in 1995 he was appointed extraordinary ambassador for sport by the president of Brazil. 25 facts about Pelé 1. Pelé scored 1284 goals, including 77 for Brazil and 1024 for the club Santos. 2. He won three World Cups, two World Cups for club teams and three state championships in Sao Paulo. 3. Pelé is named after the American inventor Thomas Edison: His full name is Edson Arantes do Nascimiento. 4. He joined the small club Bauru, where he played from 1952 to 1956. The club ceased operations a few years after Pelé went to Santos. 5. Pelé signed for Santos when he was 15. He scored four goals in his debut game (private game) against Corinthians on September 7, 1956. 6. Waldemar de Brito, another famous Brazilian striker, is credited with discovering Pelé. Brito took him to Santos and told him that “he is going to be the world’s best footballer”. 7. At 17, Pelé became the youngest ever World Cup winner. He scored two goals in the World Cup final against Sweden in 1958. 8. Pelé was appointed Minister of Sports in Brazil in 1995 and held the position until 1998. 9. He was chosen as Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1999. 10. In 1997, Pelé was knighted in Great Britain. 11. On 19 November 1969, Pelé scored his 1000th goal. Hundreds stormed the pitch to pay tribute to him and it took over half an hour before the match could start again. 12. In Santos, November 19 is known as Pelé Day, to celebrate his 1000th goal. 13. Pelé is fifth on the list of all-time World Cup top scorers with 12 goals. 14. In addition, he has 10 assists in WC matches. 7 of them came in the World Cup in 1970. 15. When Pelé visited Nigeria in 1967, a 48-hour ceasefire was declared in the civil war so that everyone could see him play. 16. In 2006, Pelé said: “For 20 years they have been asking who is the greatest, Pelé or Maradona? I reply that all you have to do is look at the facts, how many goals did he score with his right foot or with his head?” 17. When Pelé played for the New York Cosmos, so many of the opponents wanted to exchange shirts with him after the game that the club had to give each opponent a shirt each. 18. He still holds the record for most goals for the Brazilian national team. 19. Pelé’s father once scored five goals with headers in one game, something Pelé himself never managed. The most Pelé managed was four goals on his head in one game. 20. In 1961, the Brazilian government declared Pelé a “national treasure” to prevent him from being sold abroad. 21. On 21 November 1964, Pelé scored eight goals as Santos won 11-0 over Botafogo. 22. Pelé scored 92 hat-tricks during his career. 31 times he scored four goals in a match, and six times he scored five goals in the same match. 23. Pelé’s goal number 1000 was on a penalty kick. When Romario scored his 1,000th goal in 2007, it was also on a penalty kick. 24. Pelé starred in the film Escape to Victory, about prisoners of war who play a football match against their German captors. Norwegian Hallvar Thoresen was also in the film. 25. Pelé’s last match was on October 1, 1977 in a match between the New York Cosmos and Santos. Pelé played for the American team in the 1st half and the Brazilian team in the 2nd half. Film career He was also central to the World Cup this summer, the first football World Cup in Brazil since 1950. Pelé has been involved in several films, including the war film “Escape to Victory” in 1981 together with stars such as Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone. In total, Pelé appeared in 13 films, including a documentary from 2004 about his own career. Pelé was married twice, in 1966 and 1994, and has a total of five children – three from his first marriage and a pair of twins from the second.
ttn-69
Pelé is dead – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcast schedule
