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Legendary Brazilian forward Pele was long considered the greatest player in the world of all time. However, later his supremacy began to falter with Diego Maradona, and eventually - and the two football jewels of this century Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Nevertheless, there should be no doubt - Pele's career was very colorful, and the Brazilian national team had become a nightmare for opponents at that time.
The portal "EuroFootball.com" decided to look at the most interesting career facts of the celebrity who traveled to Anapolis at the end of 2022.
After Brazil lost the 1950 World Cup final to Uruguay, 9 or 10-year-old Edson Arantes do Nascimento, now better known as Pele, made a promise to his disappointed father.
"I remember jokingly telling him, 'Don't cry, dad - I will win the World Cup for you'," Pele recalled in 2014.
Just eight years later, in 1958, his so-called prophecy became a reality when the Brazilian won his first of three World Cup titles.
Thus began the legendary career of Pele, and in 1977, when he played his last professional match, he had scored more than 1,280 career goals for Brazil's "Santos" and New York "Cosmos" teams.
All Pele's 12 World Cup goals.
— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) December 29, 2022
Plus a selection of World Cup assists that makes you scream for the perfect crafting of execution, the genius of invention, the beauty of the harmony pic.twitter.com/u9raJ966NO
The talent was named after Thomas Edison
As Pele clarified on social media in 2014, his father Joao Ramos (also a footballer), also known as Dondinho, and mother Dona Celeste named him Edson in honor of Thomas Edison.
"When I was born, my hometown in Brazil introduced electricity," wrote the celebrity.
Originally having the nickname Dico stick, Pele later explained that the nickname by which he was known worldwide initially greatly irritated him.
"I was really proud to be named after T. Edison, and I wanted to be called Edson.
I thought Pele sounded awful. It was a silly nickname. Edson sounded much more serious and meaningful," he said.
The sports star added that although "you can never be 100 percent sure about your origins," the most likely explanation is that his nickname was given to him by classmates because he mispronounced the name of one of his father's team friends.
That friend was goalkeeper Vasco de Sao Lourenco, better known as "Bile."
"So when someone said 'Hey, Pele,' I yelled and got angry. Once because of that, I hit a classmate and earned a two-day suspension. Now I like this name, but back then it hurt me,"
Brazil unofficially has scored 1283 career goals
The total number of Pele's goals has been a controversial topic.
"Prolific Scoreers Data" claims that he scored only 778 goals, a number only surpassed by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. However, Pele holds the Guinness World Record with 1279 goals.
The debate stemmed from numerous friendly matches that Pele played while traveling with the Santos team. These games fell into the "gray area."
Pele himself got involved in the dispute in 2015, declaring that the actual total was 1,283 goals.
Pele gave Brazil its first World Cup trophy
In 1958, Pele scored six goals in four championship matches and secured Brazil's triumph in the World Cup. At 17, he also became the youngest recipient of the FIFA Young Player award.
Until now, Pele is the only player to have won the World Cup three times (1958, 1962, and 1970). Interestingly, the Brazilian had to pause his career after the World Cup and serve six months in the military.
Memorable achievements
Throughout his career, he scored 92 hat-tricks, 31 times he scored four goals, six times he scored five goals, and once he scored eight goals. This happened on November 21, 1964, in a 11-0 victory against "Botafogo," where the striker managed to beat the opponents' defense eight times.
Pele quotes
"If you're first, you're first. If you're second, you're nothing."
"Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and, most of all, love for what you do or are learning to do."
"An 11-yard kick is a cowardly way to score a goal."
Brazil grew up in poverty
At the age of 6, Pele shined shoes and sold roasted peanuts near movie theaters.
He improved his dribbling technique and ball control with a sock stuffed with rags because his family couldn't afford to buy a soccer ball.
Pele played barefoot and formed a team called "Barefooted Ones." It is believed that the "pelada" games played barefoot in Brazil are named in his honor.
The first professional contract in Brazil guaranteed the player only $10 per month
When Pele signed his first professional contract with "Santos" in 1956, at the age of 15, he received only $10 a month. The money was intended to buy a gas stove that his family did not have.
After nineteen years, the Brazilian signed a record three-year, $7 million contract with the American team "New York Cosmos," becoming the highest-paid team sports representative in the world at that time.
However, from this amount, Pele had to pay about $2 million in taxes to the Americans.
Glove factory
When Pele played for the New York "Cosmos," the club had to prepare gloves for every opponent's team player due to high demand.
Gordon Bradley, one of the then "Cosmos" coaches, said: "The main attraction was Pele. Sometimes we had to take 25 or 30 pairs of gloves to the game - otherwise, we wouldn't have got out of the stadium alive."
Brazil never won the "Golden Ball"
Despite huge achievements, Pele never received the "Golden Ball" because until 1995, the award was only given to European players.
In 2014, FIFA awarded him the prestigious "Golden Ball."
November 19 in Brazil is celebrated as Pele Day
After he scored his 1,000th career goal from a penalty kick against "Vasco da Gama" on November 19, 1969, the "Maracana" stadium simply exploded.
The match was halted for half an hour as fans poured onto the field to celebrate their hero.
November 19th is now celebrated as Pele Day in Brazil.
Pele's appearance led to a ceasefire in the civil war in 1967
The player received such international recognition that in 1967 he temporarily halted the civil war in Nigeria.
At the time in the African country, a 48-hour ceasefire was declared so that federal and rebel forces could watch the star's performance. The "Santos" team, which traveled to Nigeria, played a friendly match against the local team, and Pele, in the game that ended in a draw, scored two goals.
The footballer was greeted with great respect, the stadium resonated with cheers, and both conflicting sides' representatives watched the game in the stands without violence.
Once Pele served as Brazil's Minister of Sports
In 1995, Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso appointed Pele as Minister of Sports. During his three years in office, Pele implemented the "Pele Law," which modernized the country's sports.
The law required all professional sports clubs to pay taxes within two years, and young athletes were released from contracts signed with teams almost in childhood.
Pele gave back to the community
In 1994, he was appointed as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador and helped protect the environment and fight corruption in Brazil.
