MADRID, 29 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Pelé, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, born on October 23, 1940 in Três Corações, became a legend at the age of 17 when he led Brazil to its first World Cup in 1958, a pioneer of fantasy with the ball and the great goal he he put football in the privileged place it occupies within sport as ‘O Rei’.
The Brazilian star, who died this Thursday at the age of 82, shone and delighted in black, white and color. An innovator ahead of his time and inventor of the ‘jogo bonito’, of the spectacle on the field and impossible goals, with the innate talent that Alfredo di Stéfano had already taught and would be followed by Johan Cruyff, Diego Armando Maradona and a recently reaffirmed Leo Messi, in later generations.
Pelé always wanted to be a footballer, like his father Dondinho, and he made his debut at the age of 15 at Santos. A time when football had nothing to do with today, in an exercise of faith, leaving the favelas, to become the highest paid athlete in the world. The Brazilian was an idol in times of difficulties, who squeezed his gift to form a personality for eternity.
The debate will also always be about whether Pele, or who else, is the best of all time. Numbers left by the Brazilian: three World Cups (the most), 1,283 goals, two Copa Libertadores, six times champion of Brazil, but the possible consensus on his figure goes further. Pelé revolutionized football and as a player he had no flaws: a marvelous physique, quality with both legs and with his head, vision of the game beyond logic.
Pelé was an artist on and off the pitch, a much-admired hero who could make Muhammad Ali blush and outshine The Beatles. However, as a person, the South American soccer player was a normal, familiar, friendly and Catholic type, who did not leave Brazil because he loved his mother’s rice and beans. He liked being at home, with an average temperature of 25 degrees and by the sea.
In a FIFA video for his 80th birthday, Pelé recognized the importance of having his parents close. In addition, Dondinho was the one who forced him to go to the Santos test to leave Bauru Athletic Club. “Everything I am I owe to my parents. They raised me to respect people. My father told me ‘you are learning, never think that you are better than anyone,'” he recounted.
PELE AND THE WORLD CUP
Santos was clear about it even though he was a child and also the national team, which made him debut at the age of 16 and a few months as a professional, where he forged his legend in the World Cups. “Pelé is obviously childish. He’s too young to respond,” read the report from Brazil’s psychologist ahead of the 1958 World Cup. “Perhaps you’re right, but you don’t know anything about soccer. If his knee is okay, he’ll play,” it was the response of the coach Vicente Feola.
Pelé recovered in time from that injury and attended his World Cup debut at the age of 17. When the man from Três Corações scored against Wales in the quarterfinals, he became the youngest goalscorer in the tournament and still is. “That goal raised my confidence completely. The world now knew Pele. He was unstoppable,” he confessed years later. That’s how it was: three goals against France in the semifinals and a memorable brace against Sweden (5-2) in the final that gave Brazil their first star.
That’s where ‘O Rei’ was born, from the recent ashes of ‘Maracanazo’, striker for ‘Canarinha’ between 1957 and 1971. Later, the still young footballer arrived at the 1962 World Cup in Chile as the best player in the world but an injury left him baton to Garrincha in the defense of the title. Pelé was also kicked in England ’66 and the Santos player suffered the first crisis of his career, he even resigned from the national team. The battering ram returned for one last dance now in color on television all over the globe.
Pelé claimed in Mexico 1970 as the only footballer with three World Cups. The ’10’, almost 30 years old, left four goals and six assists in one of the best teams in history, which had figures like Jairzinho, Tostao, Rivelino, Gerson, Carlos Alberto or Clodoaldo and who consecrated the ‘jogo bonito’ . In the final, ‘O Rei’ said goodbye, scoring one last goal that opened the 4-1 draw against Italy, in front of 100,000 spectators at the Azteca Stadium.
NEITHER EUROPE NOR BALLON D’OR, BUT WITH THE BEST
“I have not died. I have not died”, says Rivellino, remembering what Pelé shouted when entering the locker room with the third star of Brazil. The IFFHS (International Federation of Football History and Statistics) and FIFA named Pelé the best footballer of the 20th century, but the South American star did not play in Europe, nor did he win the Ballon d’Or, until the honorific he was given in 2014.
However, ‘France Football’, the magazine that created and now awards, together with FIFA, the award for the best player in the world, acknowledged shortly after that Pelé would have won seven Ballon d’Ors had it not been for the European restriction that kept the award until not long ago (2007). The Brazilian did not want to leave home but, of course, he had offers from the best clubs in Europe.
At the end of the 1950s, attempts to sign Pelé led the then president of Brazil, Janio Quadros, to formulate a law that declared the player a ‘National Treasure’. The Brazilian was wanted by Real Madrid and Milan mainly, but he did not make the leap to the European leagues, a must for many in Olympus comparisons even if it was little less than a matter of State.
‘O Rei’ ended his career playing three seasons for the New York Cosmos until his retirement in 1977, helping soccer in the making and opening the path of retirement to the United States that other stars would follow to this day. Pelé left a mark of 1,283 goals (Guinness Record), almost one per game and the top scorer in Brazil until Neymar (77) equaled him in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The ‘verdeamarela’ team won the 1994 and 2002 World Cups after Pelé, when ‘O Rei’ delivered the trophy to Cafu. This is how the five-time champion stayed, while ‘Pelé’, a name that came out when he was a child from mispronouncing the name ‘Bilé’ -a Vasco da Gama goalkeeper during his childhood- lived a retirement full of social life.
PELÉ WANTED HIMSELF UNTIL THE LAST DAY
“I just need to go to the moon. If there was a ball on the moon, I would go give a few touches,” he said in an interview in 2020. After his retirement on October 1, 1977, in an exhibition match between Cosmos and Santos who played with both teams, Pelé continued to act as a national hero of Brazil, an ambassador for soccer, but also for the racial struggle and against social inequality.
His image crossed borders due to the color and universal broadcast that arrived precisely in Mexico 1970, like the yellow cards, which were born in that World Cup to ‘protect the good guys’, as they would say now, Pelé. The former soccer player also appeared on the big screen, with his most famous role in ‘Escape or Victory’, a film with Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone.
The former player was UNSESCO Ambassador, created his Foundation and was Minister of Sports of Brazil between 1995 and 1998. In sentimental terms, Pelé was married three times: Rosemeri Cholbi, Assiria Seixas Lemos and his wife since 2016 Marcia Aoki, and he has seven recognized children.
The footballer ‘who stopped a war’, this was the case in Africa in 1969, leaving behind his values, his influence and his creativity. Pelé broke into the rhythm that the planet grew and went as far as few, those who sit at the table of the best. The Brazilian admired Di Stéfano and the ‘Saeta Rubia’ had a weakness for Pelé.
Cruyff kept the one from Santos, but he did not like to classify the heroes of each era. Maradona and a Messi crowned with the World Cup in Qatar are two more in the Olympus debate or those who would vote for Cristiano Ronaldo would also ask for his place. Edson, ‘Pelé’, was named after Thomas Edison and may not have invented soccer, but he was the first magician with the ball.