Career

An unparalleled scorer, The ‘King of Football’ had a magnificent career filled with mind-blowing goals and spectacular plays. His prowess dazzled fans and left opponents scratching their heads. Here we explore the celebrated career of the Brazilian footballer:

Early Playing Days

Edison Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé, was born in Três Coraçōes, Brazil on October 23^rd 1940. His father, Dondinho, played football for the Brazilian club team Fluminense, and as a result, Pelé was brought up into the football world. Having been born into a very poor family, Pelé recounts “We couldn’t afford a ball, so we did what most other kids did: we would stuff the largest man’s sock we could find with rags or crumpled-up newspaper, roll it into as close a ball shape as we could manage, and tie it around with string.”[1] When he wasn’t on the playing field he shined shoes for pennies to help his impoverished family. At the age of 15, Waldemar de Brito, one of Brazil’s best players found Pelé and brought him to show to directors of a professional team in Santos declaring, “This boy will be the greatest soccer player in the world” [2] He made the team, and was quickly a legend. By the next season, he was the top scorer in his league.”[3] It was not long until the rest of the world became aware of Pelé’s existence; in fact, the Italians tried to buy the teenager for $1 million, but the “Brazilian Congress went into emergency session, the Italians were politely told to ‘forget it’ and Pelé was declared a ‘non-exportable national treasure’.”[4] This seemed to be the beginning of Pelé’s identity as being more than just a great footballer.

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World Cup Participation

1958 World Cup

Source: http://www.4dfoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/pele-first-wc1.jpg

Pelé wound his way onto the world stage playing for the Brazilian national team at the age of 17. At the 1958 Sweden World Cup, which was his debut in the world tournament, Pelé “..[E]merged from nowhere to light up the tournament with his dazzling skills”[5], scoring six goals throughout the tournament. In the quarterfinal matchup against Wales he became the youngest World Cup goal scorer of all time at the age of 17 years, 239 days. He went on to score a hat trick in the semifinals versus France within 23 minutes. In the final matchup versus host Sweden, Pelé scored two goals to help the Brazilians win 5-2. Sweden player Sigge Parling later commented that “…[A]fter the fifth goal, I felt like applauding”[6] in response to Pelé’s second goal in the final minute of play. In similar amazement, Pelé, teary-eyed and emotional after the game confessed, “I felt like I was living in a dream.”[7] From this day on Pelé was known as the ‘King of Soccer’[8], making consecutive appearances in the quad-annual World Cups.

1962 World Cup

The 1962 World Cup in Chile ended differently for Pelé than the past tournament, although for Brazil the result was the same.  After scoring a single goal in the first round game against Mexico, the 21 year-old superstar Pelé  left the second round matchup vs. Czechoslovakia with an injured groin. His Brazilian team once again was victorious, but Pelé was unable to contribute from the sidelines.

1966 World Cup

In the 1966 World Cup in England, Pelé, who by this point was on the radar of all opponents, was targeted and tackled aggressively by opposing teams. In the first round, Brazil was victorious with a 2-0 win against Bulgaria in which Pelé scored a single goal. Unfortunately, the successive rounds against Bulgarian and Portuguese defender’s constant battering injured Pelé in an all too familiar fashion. Brazil lost to Hungary in the next round 3-1 without Pelé. Once again the Brazilian footballer was forced to watch from the sideline, as this time his team failed in trying to win their third World Cup in a row.

1970 World Cup

The King of Soccer had to wait another four years until the 1970 World Cup in Mexico to bring the world championship back to Brazil. Of this World Cup Pelé confessed, “I wanted to put to rest once and for all, the idea that I couldn’t enter a World Cup series without getting hurt.” [9] Following through, the healthy Pelé-led Brazilian team beat Italy 4-1 in the finals, with Pelé’s single goal being Brazil’s 100^th World Cup goal, a huge milestone. Tarcisio Burgnich, the Italian defenseman marking Pelé was later recorded as saying, “I told myself before the game, ‘he’s made of skin and bones just like everyone else’. But I was wrong”[10]. Pelé later reminisced about his lone finals goal, “I have a special feeling for that goal because I scored it with my head. My father was a soccer player and once scored five goals in one game, all with his head. That was the one record I was never able to break.”[11] The victory over Italy marked Pelé’s third victory in the World Cup. To the disappointment of admirers, the 1970 World Cup was Pelé’s last participation in the global tournament.

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1000th Career Goal

 

Of all the beautiful goals that Pelé scored, he claims that his 1000^th goal was the most important to him. It was a penalty kick against Vasco da Gama at a packed  Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro.  The capacity crowd anticipated the goal as Pelé sat on 999 career goals. When the Brazilian footballer was fouled near the goal in the 77th minute he was awarded a penalty strike. Skillfully, Pelé beat the Vasco da Gama keeper and netted his 1000th career score. Some fans found his goal to an extent disappointing because they were expecting something more dramatic like a bicycle kick from the magical Pelé. Of the milestone goal Pelé commented, “What they didn’t understand or appreciate is that it was harder to have taken that penalty than to have tried to do something unusual in open play.” [12] Evidence that his modesty was a true part of him once again came to light when he cried after his 1000^th goal and dedicated it to all the kids on the streets of Brazil.

Watch Pelé’s 1000th Goal:

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Other Accomplishments

Physically, Pelé ’s talents were conducive to becoming an international icon. An average sized footballer, he was lightning-quick with great field vision, capable balance, and never before seen creativity and handle of the ball that made him all but impossible to defend. Know for his creativity, Pelé was adored for his craftiness and goal scoring ability. Over a stellar career he amassed 1,281 goals in just 1,363 games, second only to fellow Brazilian Arthur Freidenreich. He scored five goals in a game six times, in addition to 30 four-goal matches and 92 three-goal ‘hat-trick’ games, which is an international record. A prolific scorer, he even recorded eight goals in a game against Botafogo in 1964[13]. At the club level, while playing for Santos F.C., he accrued huge numbers with 127 goals in 1959, 110 in 1961, and 101 in 1965 on the way to two World Club championships[14] before retiring in1974. He later decided to come out of retirement and play two years in the North American Soccer League for the New York Cosmos at the prompting of Clive Toye, the Cosmos general manager. ” It really was ludicrous to think that Pelé, the greatest player of all, was going to end up playing for this ridiculous little team in New York drawing 1,500 people,” said Clive Toye. “But I told him don’t go to Italy, don’t go to Spain, all you can do is win a championship. Come to the U.S. and you can win a country.” [15] In 1975 Pelé signed a $2.8-million, three-year contract with the Cosmos. His presence in the NASL helped boost average attendance by almost 80 percent from 1975 (7,597) to 1977 (13,584). After leading the Cosmos to the league championship in 1977, Pelé played his final game at Giants Stadium. This exhibition game between the New York Cosmos and his past team Santos F.C. was jam-packed, covered by 650 journalists and broadcast in 38 nations. Symbolically, Pelé played one half for each team as a gesture of his transition from Santos to New York. A Brazilian newspaper noted about the atmosphere of the rainy day, “Even the Sky Was Crying.” [16] Pelé ’s presence in the United States brought with it huge American attention to the game of soccer.

Pelé’s last game:

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Scoring Prowess:

Top 20 Goals

Highlights

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[1] Srinivasan, Archana. Bio-Sporting Legends. Publishers. 2005. http://books.google.com/.Page 43

[2] Arantes do Nascimento, Edison. Pele: The Autobiography. New York: Simon & Schuster Ltd, 2006. Print.

[3] Kissinger, Henry. “The Time 100, Heroes and icons -Pelé.” Time. 14 June 1999. <http://www.time.com/time/time100/heroes/profile/pele01.html>.

[4] Harris, Harry. Pele His Life and Times. New York: Welcome Rain, 2002. Print. 55

[5] “Pele: The King of Football” Fifa.com. http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/players/player=63869/index.html. Accessed: 11-30-09

[6] Fifa.com

[7] Fifa.com

[8] Brocker, Susan. Sports Legends. Benchmark Education Company. Pelham, NY 2004. . http://books.google.com/

[9] Gentry Kirby. “Pele, King of Futbol” July 5, 2006 ESPN.com. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/classic/bio/news/story?page=Pele. Accessed: 12-10-09.

[10] Fifa.com

[11] Srinivasan 44

[12] Harris. Pele. 90.

[13] Fifa.com

[14] Srinivasan 44

[15] Kirby espn.com

[16] Kirby espn.com