Pele, the football legend who inspired a nation on and off the field, died Thursday after battling colon cancer. He was 82 years old.
Pele had a tumor removed in September 2021 and has been undergoing chemotherapy ever since.
Brazilian soccer icon Pele applauds during the unveiling of the Hublot countdown clock designed by the late architect Oscar Niemeyer, at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, June 12, 2013. The event marks the start of the one year countdown. to the opening match of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
(AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
A member of three World Cup-winning Brazilian teams, Pelé was widely regarded as the greatest soccer player of all time and was often credited for the term “the beautiful game” used to describe the sport. .
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Edson Arantes do Nascimiento, whose father was a soccer fighter, was born in Tres Coracoes, Brazil, and grew up in poverty in Bauru in the state of Sao Paulo. He was named after him by American investor Thomas Edison, although his parents decided to drop the “I” and name him Edson. He was nicknamed “Dico” by his family.
However, it was Pelé’s nickname that the world came to know.
Its origin is unclear, with Pele himself saying he didn’t know how it started. However, urban legend has it that his school friends gave it to him after he mispronounced the name of his favorite soccer player, Vasco da Gama goalkeeper Bile.
FILE – In this June 21, 1970 file photo, Pele of Brazil holds his team’s Jules Rimet Trophy, or FIFA World Cup Trophy, after Brazil’s 4-1 victory over Italy in the World Cup at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. On October 23, 2020, Pelé, a three-time World Cup winner, turns 80 without a proper celebration amid the COVID-19 pandemic while in quarantine at his mansion in the coastal city of Guarujá, where has lived since the beginning of the pandemic. .
(AP Photo, File)
He told Fox News Latino in 2016, while promoting “Pele: The Birth of a Legend”, A biopic of his early life: He never liked the nickname as a child, but eventually grew to love it as fans around the world started chanting it more and more.
“I couldn’t change it”, Pelé said at the time.
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Pelé started playing soccer as a child and usually played with a sock stuffed with newspaper and tied with string or a grapefruit. He played on several amateur teams, and even led the local Bauru Athletic Club youth team to two Sao Paulo state youth championships.
At the age of 15, his youth coach Waldemar de Brito, a former member of the Brazilian soccer team, convinced Pele’s parents to allow the budding phenom to try out for the professional club Santos.
FILE – In this Dec. 1, 2017 file photo, Brazilian soccer legend Pele attends the draw for the 2018 Soccer World Cup at the Kremlin in Moscow. On his social media accounts, Pelé said on Monday, September 6, 2021, that an apparent tumor on the right side of his colon had been removed in an operation. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
(AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
The teenager was signed and immediately began to make an impact. He scored the first professional goal of his career before he turned 16 and led the Brazilian soccer league in goals scored in his first full season.
The world was officially introduced to the phenomenon at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. The 17-year-old Pelé displayed remarkable speed, athleticism and field vision, scoring three goals in a 5-2 semi-final win over France before scoring two more goals in a 5-2 championship win. about the host country.
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Then-Brazilian President Janio Quadros declared the young superstar a national treasure, making it difficult for him to legally play in another country. Regardless, Pele went on to play lucrative exhibition matches with teams from around the world.
Soccer great Pele gestures to throw a cardboard soccer ball at a promotional news conference for Hong Kong banks’ new World Cup Visa card, February 24 in Hong Kong. Brazil is likely to bid to host the 2006 World Cup, against countries including Germany, England and South Africa, according to the Brazilian sports legend, who is in Hong Kong on business and to attend a coaching school.
(ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)
Pelé helped Brazil win two more World Cup trophies: the 1962 World Cup in Chile and the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. Brazil crashed out in the first round of the 1966 World Cup in England, having played just three games.
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Over the years, the legend of Pelé continued to grow, so much so that in the late 1960s, the two factions of the Nigerian Civil War agreed to a 48-hour ceasefire so they could watch Pelé play in a match. exhibition in Lagos. .
Former US President Ronald Reagan summed up Pelé’s stardom when the soccer star visited him at the White House and told him: “My name is Ronald Reagan, I am the president of the United States of America. But you don’t need to introduce yourself.” . , because everyone knows who Pelé is”.
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Pelé went on to play for the New York Cosmos in the North American Soccer League after a brief retirement from the sport.
Legendary soccer player Pele attends the Fifth Avenue Flagship Unveiling at Hublot Boutique on April 19, 2016 in New York City.
(Roy Rochlin/FilmMagic)
He played his last game in an exhibition between New York and Santos in October 1977, competing for both sides. He retired with a total of 1,281 goals in 1,363 games.
Pelé held the record for the youngest player to play in a World Cup final, the youngest goalscorer and the youngest hat trick in World Cup history.
In 1978, Pelé received the International Peace Prize for his work with UNICEF, and in 1999, FIFA named him “Co-Player of the Century” along with Argentine star Diego Maradona.
He is survived by his third wife, Marcia Aokisix children from various relationships and several grandchildren.