Well the worlds greatest player is gone.
Lets look at some bullet points first of achievements
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- Pelé began playing for Santos at age 15 and the Brazil national team at 16.
- He won three FIFA World Cups: 1958, 1962 and 1970, the only player to do so.
- Pelé is the joint-top goalscorer for Brazil with 77 goals in 92 games.
- He was Santos’s all-time top goalscorer with 643 goals in 659 games.
- He led the club to the 1962 and 1963 Copa Libertadores, and to the 1962 and 1963 Intercontinental Cup.
Early Life
Pelé was born Edson Arantes do Nascimento on 23 October 1940 in Três Corações, Minas Gerais, the son of Fluminense footballer Dondinho and Celeste Arantes. Pelé has a street named after him in the city – Rua Edson Arantes do Nascimento. A statue of Pelé is also prominently placed in a plaza near the city’s downtown.
He was the elder of two siblings, and was named after the American inventor Thomas Edison. His parents decided to remove the “i” and call him “Edson”, but there was a typo on his birth certificate, leading many documents to show his name as “Edison”. He was originally nicknamed “Dico” by his family. He received the nickname “Pelé” during his school days, when, it is claimed, he was given it because of his pronunciation of the name of his favourite player, local Vasco da Gama goalkeeper Bilé, which he misspoke, but the more he complained the more it stuck.
In his autobiography, Pelé stated he had no idea what the name means, nor did his old friend
World Cup
He was an outstanding young talent in 1958 world cup, on 29 June 1958, Pelé became the youngest player to play in a World Cup final match at 17 years and 249 days. He scored two goals in that final as Brazil beat Sweden 5–2. He was unlucky to get injured in the 1962 world cup in only the second game of the tournament, in 1966 he was subjected to some disgraceful tackling and in particular against Portugal one of the worst decisions in World cup history left an injured Pele on the pitch because substitutions were not allowed.
He was going to quit international football but thankfully for history he played in one of the greatest, if not the greatest teams in World cup history. Brazil’s 1970 World Cup squad, which included players like Pelé, Rivelino, Jairzinho, Gérson, Carlos Alberto Torres, Tostão and Clodoaldo, is often considered to be the greatest football team in history. In terms of his goals and assists throughout the 1970 World Cup, Pelé was directly responsible for 53% of Brazil’s goals throughout the tournament
Club
Pelé’s goalscoring record is often reported by FIFA as being 1,281 goals in 1,363 games.
This figure includes goals scored by Pelé in friendly club matches, including international tours Pelé completed with Santos and the New York Cosmos, and a few games Pelé played in for the Brazilian armed forces teams during his national service in Brazil and the Selection Team of São Paulo State for the Brazilian Championship of States
Records
Now for some of his records
- Joint-most goals for Brazil national football team: 77 (95 including unofficial friendlies) (tied with Neymar)[312
- Highest goals-per-game ratio (0.84) of any South American top international scorer[314]
- Highest goals-per-game ratio (2.33) of any leading scorer in the Intercontinental Cup
- Most goals in the Intercontinental Cup: 7[315]
- Most goals for Santos: 643 (in 659 competitive games)
- Most goals scored in a single Campeonato Paulista season: 58 (in 38 competitive games,1958)
- Most goals in a calendar year (including friendlies, recognised by FIFA): 127 (1959)
- Most hat-tricks in world football: 92
- Most hat-tricks for Brazil: 7
- Most career goals in world football (including friendlies): 1,283 (in 1,363 games)
- Most FIFA World Cup winners’ medals: 3 (1958, 1962, 1970)
- Youngest winner of a FIFA World Cup: aged 17 years and 249 days (1958)
- Youngest goalscorer in a FIFA World Cup: aged 17 years and 239 days (for Brazil vs Wales, 1958)
- Youngest player to play in a FIFA World Cup Final: aged 17 years and 249 days (1958)
- Youngest goalscorer for Brazil national football team: aged 16 years and nine months (Brazil vs Argentina, 1957)
- First player to score in three successive FIFA World Cups
- Most assists provided in FIFA World Cup history: 10 (1958–1970)
- Most assists provided in a single FIFA World Cup tournament: 6 (1970)
- Only player to reach 25 international goals as a teenager
- Only player to score in a FIFA World Cup before turning 18
- Only player to score a hat-trick in a FIFA World cup before turning 18
- Only player to have scored a hat-trick in the Intercontinental Cup
The greatest of all time, if you can find the 1970 world cup matches with Brazil watch them – just brilliant. Just think about it – until he played the number 10 jersey was arguably not that important a number. Now its the number that most players want to wear – you could say its Pele that did this.
