sport blog

Pele Biography

2007-03-14T06:44:00.000-07:00

Pelé
soccer player; television sportscaster
Personal Information
Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, October 23, 1940, in Tres Coracoes, Minas Gerais, Brazil; professionally known as "Pelé" or Perola Negra ("Black Pearl"); son of Joao Ramos do Nascimento (also known as "Dondinho"; a minor league soccer player and civil servant); married first wife, Rosemarie Cholby, February 1966 (divorced, 1978); married second wife, Assiria Seixas Lemos (a psychologist), April 30, 1994; children: three (first marriage).
Career
Professional soccer player, 1956-77. Began playing soccer as a child in Bauru, Brazil; played in Bauru Club, 1950-54; played with Santos Football Club, 1956-72; retired for the first time, 1972; played with New York Cosmos, 1975-77; retired permanently, 1977. Made first World Cup appearance at age 17; scored 1,280 goals (including a record 92 hat tricks) over the course of career. Later employed in numerous promotional sponsorship programs. Author, with Robert L. Fish, of My Life and the Beautiful Game: The Autobiography of Pelé, 1977.
Life's Work
Retired Brazilian soccer player Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé, is among the greatest and most celebrated sports superstars of his era. Even in the United States, where enthusiasm for soccer is eclipsed by the popularity of American football, Pelé's name is synonymous with his sport. Having made his first appearance in the prestigious World Cup championship competition at the age of 18, the record-breaking inside left forward thrilled the sports world with his on-field agility throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
He repeatedly led his national team to victory in international championships, wowing audiences with his near- impossible plays and his uncanny ability to anticipate the moves of his opponents. At one time the highest paid athlete in the world, he ended his soccer career in 1977 with 1,280 goals, a record surpassed only by fellow Brazilian Artur Friedenreich.
Brazil is an enormous country in eastern South America, taking up nearly half of the continent's land mass. Claimed by the Portuguese in 1500 AD, it became an independent state in the nineteenth century. Although the Portuguese influence remains in Brazil--it is the largest Portuguese-speaking nation in the world--its population is multiracial, with an ethnic mix of Portuguese, Italian, German, Japanese, Amerindian, and Black peoples.
Soccer is Brazil's best-loved sport. The winner of the World Cup in 1958, 1962, and 1970 (and runner-up in 1950), Brazil has earned a lasting image as a leader in the world soccer community. The game is believed to have been introduced to the nation in 1894 by a wealthy Brazilian-born Englishman named Charles Miller. Within two decades, soccer would become a true game of the people, not just a sport for the rich. Immigrants from Italy, Spain, and Portugal flooded Brazil in the early twentieth century looking for work; many of these workers were captivated by the game and learned to play it. But, although the face of Brazil's national team began to change with the addition of European immigrant players, it was not until 1909 that Friedenreich, the first player of racially mixed heritage, broke the country's color barrier.
Pelé is revered as a sports icon in his home country and throughout the world. An incident witnessed in Rio de Janeiro by Sport magazine contributor Joel Millman illustrates this point. An appliance shop was showing video-clips of Pelé's greatest moments in successive World Cup championships. "A father standing in front of an appliance store on Avenida Presidente Vargas [shows] his son how Pelé re-created soccer," wrote Millman. "The grey and white footage floats by: Pelé, his forward movement a tumble of windmill arms and swivel legs, leaps past two defenders, bounces the ball off the turf before him then off his puffing chest then to his right foot before sending it past the diving goalie. 'Stockholm,' the father murmers, squeezing the son's elbow." The father was referring to Pelé's brilliant World Cup debut in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1958; young Pelé helped usher in a new era of Brazilian supremacy in soccer.
Called the Perola Negra, or "Black Pearl," by some of his compatriots, Edson Arantes do Nascimento showed raw talent for soccer as a child. He picked up the nickname Pelé--the meaning of which is unknown even to him--on the soccer field. Pel, was born October 23, 1940, in the small village of Tres Coraoes, Minas Gerais, Brazil. His father, Joao Ramos do Nascimento, was, for a time, a center forward with a minor league Brazilian soccer club in Bauru, Sao Paulo.
Pelé's earliest dreams were of becoming a professional soccer player. He dropped out of school when he was nine years old and received early coaching in soccer from his father. By the time he was 13, Pelé had captured the attention of World Cup great Waldemar de Brito, manager of Bauru. After a couple of years on the Bauru junior team, Pelé became one of the club's best players.
In 1956, de Brito took the soccer prodigy to the seacoast city of Santos, where Coach Luis Alonso Perez let him try out for the Santos Football Club. Before long, Pelé had moved up from the Santos junior team to the first team reserves. By the end of the year, he was promoted to the first team's starting lineup, where he enjoyed continued success.
With Pelé on the team, the Santos Football Club became a powerful force in Brazilian soccer, winning nine Sao Paulo championships between 1958 and 1969. Pelé first seized the imagination of the international soccer world as a 17-year-old member of the Brazilian National Team at the finals of the 1958 World Cup championship, held in Stockholm. His masterful performance on the field, including two legendary goals against the host country, helped lead Brazil to its first world championship.
Injuries kept Pelé out of Brazil's second World Cup win in 1962, but he led Santos to victories against Europe's top teams in the Copa Libertadores and the Intercontinental Cup in 1962 and 1963. But as Pelé's reputation grew, so too did infighting on the international soccer circuit. The Santos Club's opponents focused all their efforts on "getting"--and in some cases incapacitating--Pel,, the mainstay of the team. Referees seemed indifferent to the illegal knee and elbow shots inflicted on him by his competitors.
"Nobody in the game had more fun than I did when I first became professional," Pelé commented in the 1966 edition of International Football Book. "This honeymoon came to an abrupt end around 1960.... I've been kicked from pillar to post, particularly in those up-country league games where the home team decide this is the only way to stop Pelé and Santos. At first I was shocked, and then I became angry. Sometimes I hit back and because my name was Pelé, news of such incidents made every newspaper in Brazil. Nobody ever bothered to write about what started the whole business.... In this mood I sometimes feel like giving up football altogether, but I carry on because those few precious moments of pleasure from football mean more to me than anything else."
In spite of Brazil's elimination from World Cup contention by England in 1966, the team came back in 1970 to take its third world championship--at that time, an unprecedented feat. Pel, drew international attention for his larger-than-life demeanor and his extraordinary athletic prowess: his ingenious plays, unparalleled agility, devotion to team effort, and sincere love of the game made him a cultural icon.
Two years later, at the age of 32, Pelé retired from professional soccer. He was content to cap off his career with his triumphant performance in the 1970 World Cup--Brazil's first victory to be televised--and he resisted pressure from both sports and government officials to play in the World Cup in '74. But his retirement was not permanent. Following a streak of bad investments that left him near financial ruin, he was forced to return to the field in the mid-1970s. Signing a $3.5 million contract with the New York Cosmos, Pel, officially joined the American club in '75 and remained there for two and a half seasons, giving "U.S. soccer a significant boost" in the process, according to an Associated Press report. He retired permanently in 1977.
Brazil was steeped in political turmoil in the mid-1960s, when the republic was overturned by a coup and replaced by a military-backed dictatorial regime. In 1979, as Brazil's economy was bottoming out and the military junta contemplated a return to civilian rule, Pelé drew sharp criticism from supporters of democracy in his country. Distancing himself from the political tumult, he failed to use his tremendous influence and near-mythic status to rally around the call for liberalization in Brazil; he stated quite simply that he was an athlete, not a politician, telling Millman: "I play to make people happy. If we win there are still problems but at least the people get to be happy for several months."
Political controversy aside, Pelé is still widely regarded as the greatest soccer star who ever lived--even more than 15 years after his retirement. But he revealed the burden of his superstar status to Millman, explaining: "Very few people know Edson. Edson is the normal person, he has defects. One day he is going to be dead. But Pel,, he cannot make a mistake.... I have to deal with both, but I think the bigger responsibility is for Edson, because he was born first. I don't know why I became Pel,. God only knows."
After his retirement in 1977, Pelé became a sports commentator and the leading promoter of soccer in the United States. "It is a mission," Pelé told E.M. Swift in Sports Illustrated. "To bring soccer to the countries where [the sport] is undeveloped, this is my passion. I want to see soccer all over the world." As a spokesperson for FIFA, soccer's governing body, he captured the American limelight in 1994, when the World Cup came to Detroit, Michigan. And in a lavish ceremony held on the Brazilian coast that spring, Pelé married his second wife, Assiria Seixas Lemos.

Awards :
Latin American Footballer of the Year, 1973; Brazil's stadium Maceio Estadio Rei Pelé is named for him.

Further Reading :
Books
Condon, Robert J., The Fifty Finest Athletes of the 20th Century: A Worldwide Reference, McFarland, 1990.
Pelé and Robert L. Fish, My Life and the Beautiful Game: The Autobiography of Pelé, Doubleday, 1977.
The World Encyclopedia of Soccer, edited by Michael L. La Blanc and Richard Henshaw, Gale, 1994.

Periodicals :
Christian Science Monitor, November 5, 1964.
New York Times, December 2, 1962, p. 7; September 6, 1966.
Reader's Digest, November 1964.
Sport, December 1986, pp. 120-23.
Sports Illustrated, October 24, 1966, p. 77; June 20, 1994, pp. 87-90.
Additional information for this profile was taken from the 1966 edition of the International Football Book and from Associated Press wire reports dated April 11, 1994 and May 1, 1994.

Lista de craques de Pelé para Fifa tem maioria brasileira

2007-03-13T19:01:00.000-07:00

A Fifa revelou oficialmente nesta quinta-feira a lista dos cem maiores jogadores de futebol vivos (que, na verdade, inclui 125 nomes) como parte das comemorações pelo centenário da entidade.
A lista, elaborada com a supervisão de Pelé, incluiu cinco nomes que não apareciam na relação divulgada pelo jornal Folha de S.Paulo na quarta-feira: o alemão Uwe Seeler, o holandês Marco van Basten e os brasileiros Rivellino e Nilton Santos, além do próprio Pelé.
A lista da Folha causou polêmica no Brasil por não incluir Rivellino e Nilton Santos. Com a presença deles na lista, o Brasil passou a liderá-la, com 15 jogadores, incluindo o próprio Pelé, à frente de França e Itália (que tiveram 14 jogadores na relação).
Nesta quinta-feira, em uma cerimônia no Museu de História Natural de Londres, alguns dos nomes incluídos serão homenageados pela Fifa, que aproveitará a oportunidade para lançar o livro de fotos The Fifa 100, com imagens dos "cem maiores".
Jantar de gala
Todos os craques presentes na relação foram convidados para o jantar de gala em Londres, mas alguns, incluindo o argentino Diego Maradona, adiantaram que não compareceriam ao evento.
Durante a festa, o lendário craque francês Michel Platini entregará aos eleitos, em nome da Fifa e de Pelé, um prêmio de reconhecimento especial.

A cerimônia também incluirá um leilão de fotos e itens autografados organizado pela Christie's para arrecadar fundos que serão destinados a um programa de caridade da Fifa.
Ao final da festa, a banda Duran Duran vai apresentar uma nova música especial associada com as celebrações do centenário da Fifa.
O livro de fotos dos "cem maiores" apresenta obras de 18 fotógrafos internacionais, que registraram imagens de alguns dos jogadores incluídos na lista durante os últimos seis meses.
Alguns jogadores, como Van Basten e Uwe Seeler, se recusaram a participar da iniciativa. Para garantir a presença deles no livro, a Fifa também incluiu seis fotos de arquivo.
Brasileiros
A lista de 125 jogadores inclui 50 atletas em atividades e 75 craques que já abandonaram os campos.
Em comuncado oficial, a Fifa afirma que os jogadores incluídos na lista foram escolhidos por Pelé e aprovados pela entidade.
Entre os brasileiros, a maioria atuou na seleção pentacampeã em 2002: Cafu, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho Gaúcho, Rivaldo e Roberto Carlos.
Entre os campeões presentes nas Copas de 1958 e 1962, apenas três aparecem na lista: Pelé, Nilton Santos e Djalma Santos.
A seleção tricampeã em 1970 também é representada por três jogadores: Pelé, Carlos Alberto Torres e Rivellino.
Romário, representante do tetracampeonato de 1994, e quatro craques que atuaram na Copa de 1982 (Júnior, Falcão, Sócrates e Zico) completam a lista de brasileiros.
Confira abaixo a lista, dividida por países:
Brasil (15): Carlos Alberto Torres, Cafu, Djalma Santos, Nilton Santos, Roberto Carlos, Júnior, Falcão, Sócrates, Zico, Rivaldo, Rivellino, Ronaldinho Gaúcho, Romário, Ronaldo e Pelé
Itália (14): Roberto Baggio, Baresi, Bergomi, Boniperti, Buffon, Facchetti, Paolo Maldini, Del Piero, Nesta, Rivera, Paolo Rossi, Totti, Christian Vieri e Dino Zoff
França (14): Cantona, Desailly, Deschamps, Fontaine, Henry, Kopa, Papin, Pires, Platini, Thuram, Tresor, Trezeguet, Viera e Zidane
Holanda (13): Van Basten, Bergkamp, Cruyff, Davids, Gullit, Willy van de Kerkhof, Rene van de Kerkhof, Kluivert, Neeskens, Van Nistelrooy, Rensenbrink, Rijkaard e Seedorf
Argentina (10): Batistuta, Crespo, Kempes, Maradona, Passarella, Saviola, Sivori, Di Stefano, Verón e Javier Zanetti
Alemanha (10): Ballack, Beckenbauer, Breitner, Kahn, Klinsmann, Sepp Maier, Matthäus, Müller, Rummenigge e Uwe Seeler
Inglaterra (7): Shearer, Bobby Charlton, Beckham, Lineker, Gordon Banks, Kevin Keegan, Michael Owen
Espanha (3): Butragueño, Luis Enrique e Raúl
Bélgica (3): Van der Elst, Pfaff e Cuelemans
Dinamarca (3): Brian Laudrup, Michael Laudrup e Schmeichel
Portugal (3): Eusébio, Figo e Rui Costa
Chile (2): Figueroa e Zamorano
República Checa (2): Masopust e Nedved
Turquia (2): Emre Belozoglu e Rustu Recber
Estados Unidos (2): Michelle Akers e Mia Hamm
Bulgária: Stoichkov
Camarões: Roger Milla
Colômbia: Valderrama
Croácia: Davor Suker
Gana: Abedi Pele
Hungria: Puskas
Irlanda: Roy Keane
Japão: Hidetoshi Nakata
Libéria: George Weah
México: Hugo Sanchez
Nigéria: Okocha
Irlanda do Norte: George Best
Paraguai: Romerito
Peru: Teofilo Cubillas
Polônia: Boniek
Romênia: Gheorge Hagi
Rússia: Dassaiev
Escócia: Kenny Dalglish
Senegal: El Hadji Diouf
Coréia do Sul: Hong Myung-Bo
Ucrânia: Shevchenko
Uruguai: Enzo Francescoli

Biographie de pele

2007-03-13T18:49:00.000-07:00

Pelé est un ancien footballeur professionnel brésilien né le 23 octobre 1940 à Três Corações et qui évoluait au poste d'attaquant.Droitier, il est généralement considéré comme le plus grand footballeur de tous les temps, du moins, celui qui fut le plus en avance sur son temps. Rapide, technique, opportuniste, intelligent et puissant, il possédait ce trait de génie qui font la marque des grands joueurs.Edson Arantes do Nascimento, dit Pelé, est le fils d'un joueur de football professionnel. Repéré dès l'âge de 11 ans par Waldemar de Brito, son talent pour le ballon rond le conduit à ne fréquenter que les stades. Il intègre à treize ans l'équipe du Bauru-SP où il reste jusqu'en 1956. Devenu professionnel, il rejoint le célèbre club du Santos FC à 15 ans, où il brillera jusqu'en 1974 Il joue son premier match officiel en septembre 1956 contre le SC Corinthians, au cours duquel il marque. Il n'a pas encore 16 ans. La légende est en marche.En 1958, un an plus tard en Suède, il participe à sa première Coupe du Monde de la FIFA à 17 ans. La planète découvre cet adolescent un peu chétif, qui, bien que sortant de blessure, va illuminer la compétition. Il ne joue qu'à partir du troisième match, contre l'URSS. Il est titularisé à la demande du reste de l'équipe, qui veut une association Garrincha-Vavá-Pelé devant. Malgré son jeune âge, Pelé illumine et pour confirmer son génie, il devint le plus jeune joueur à soulever la Coupe du monde de football après avoir marqué son premier but contre le Pays de Galles en quart de finale, éliminé la France de Just Fontaine à lui seul en inscrivant trois buts en demi-finale (5-2) et s'est fendu de deux buts somptueux contre la Suède en finale.Et quand il rentre au club, Pelé brille de mille feux, écœurant toutes les défenses du pays et devenant très vite une idole. 127 buts en 1959, 110 en 1961, deux Copa Libertadores (1961, 1962), deux coupes intercontinentales (1962, 1963), neuf championnats de Sao Paulo…Pelé gagne tout.En 1962, la Coupe du Monde de la FIFA au Chili semble être la sienne. En pleine courbe ascendante, il va pourtant devoir laisser ses coéquipiers conserver leur titre sans lui, blessé dès le premier match. En 1966, même punition. Agressé lors du troisième match contre le Portugal, il doit sortir sur une civière et voir depuis les tribunes son équipe se faire éliminer. Pelé est dans le collimateur de toutes les défenses.Qu'à cela ne tienne : la « Perle noire » montre toute l'étendue de son talent lors de l'édition suivante. Au Mexique, en 1970, entouré de Jairzinho, Tostão, Rivelino, Carlos Alberto, il rayonne… Au cours de cette Coupe du Monde de la FIFA, retransmise en couleur par les télévisions du monde entier, le Roi soleil éblouit. Sa tentative de lob du rond central face à la Tchécoslovaquie, sa tête sur laquelle l'Anglais Gordon Banks effectue un arrêt miracle ou encore son grand pont sans toucher la balle devant le gardien de l'Uruguay, sont autant de gestes inédits qui laissent bouche bée la planète football.Tarcisio Burgnich, le défenseur italien chargé du cas Pelé, dira à la fin du match : « Avant le match, je me disais : il est en chair et en os, comme moi. J'ai ensuite compris que je m'étais trompé ». Une finale d'anthologie, au terme de laquelle Pelé et les siens repartent avec le trophée Jules Rimet, ayant remporté trois titres. Lui est un mythe. Le Sunday Times titre : « Comment épelez-vous Pelé ? D-I-E-U ».En 1974, Pelé s'éclipse de la scène footballistique. Il revient un an plus tard, aux États-Unis. Un contrat avec le club de Cosmos New York pour « rendre le football vraiment populaire aux États-Unis » avec lequel il disputa son dernier match en 1977 au Giants Stadium.En 1977, il arrête définitivement. J.B. Pinheiro, ambassadeur du Brésil à l'ONU, déclare alors que « Pelé a joué 22 ans au football et durant cette période, il a fait plus pour l'amitié et la fraternité que n'importe quel autre ambassadeur ».Un mythe qui cumule les records à peine imaginables. En 1969, Pelé avait inscrit son 1000e but dans un délire indescriptible au Maracanã. Six fois il a marqué cinq buts dans le même match, 30 fois quatre buts et 92 fois trois buts. Contre Botafogo en 1964, il inscrit même huit buts. Au total, 1281 buts en 1363 matches et 92 sélections internationales.Edson Arantes Do Nacimiento Pelé est une personnalité très respectée et idolâtrée par la jeunesse. Sa mission humanitaire a été centrée sur l'aide des enfants en difficulté. Pelé fait campagne contre l'utilisation de drogues par les adolescents et promeut le sport comme un moyen d'expression sociale.Il a appuyé le Téléthon télévisé pour les enfants en difficulté, et le gala que Ute-Henriette Ohoven, ambassadrice de bonne volonté de l'UNESCO organise tous les ans, afin de collecter des fonds pour l'éducation des enfants qui sont dans le besoin. Il utilise sa renommée pour promouvoir les activités de l'Organisation. Il a participé au «parti du cœur 2000» qui s'est tenu à Rome, en Italie, pour appuyer le processus de paix Israélo-palestinien, en montrant une fois de plus son engagement, et pour tenter d'unir les parties ennemies grâce au langage du football.Buts mémorables :Comme un symbole, il marque en finale, à Mexico, le 100e but du Brésil en Coupe du Monde. Une tête piquée prise à une hauteur incroyable. « J'ai ressenti quelque chose de spécial après ce but, parce que j'ai marqué de la tête. Mon père, qui était joueur lui aussi, a marqué une fois cinq buts de la tête dans le même match. C'est un record que je n'ai jamais pu battre », expliqua-t-il plus tard. Il marque deux buts somptueux en finale contre la Suède. L'un sur lequel il se permet un coup du sombrero sur le dernier défenseur avant de reprendre de volée, l'autre sur une tête amortie qui file dans la lucarne du gardien suédois, médusé. Sigge Parling, défenseur scandinave, confiera plus tard : « Après le cinquième but, j'avais envie de l'applaudir ». Pelé n'a pas démérité son attribution de « Roi ». Il met un grand nombre d'observateurs d'accord,si ce n'est tous les observateurs.Le Brésilien est une icône. Un joueur qui n'a cessé d'inventer le football. Car au-delà des trois Coupes du Monde de la FIFA remportées - une performance jamais rééditée - ce qui caractérise Pelé est sa capacité à créer, à surprendre, à inventer à chaque seconde où il touchait le ballon.Buteur incroyable, passeur de génie, dribbleur né, Pelé a fait rêver des générations entières. Si la Seleçaõ symbolise aux yeux de tous les amoureux du football le beau jeu par excellence, c'est à son numéro 10 de légende qu'elle le doit.

Brazil’s beautiful star above all others

2007-03-13T17:28:00.001-07:00

Name : Edson Arantes Do NascimentoDate of Birth: 23 October 1940Birthplace: Tres Corações, Brazil
Brazil’s beautiful star above all others
Pele. The God of football. "O Rei". Whatever the name, the memory is the same - of a world-beating superstar - a record-breaking footballing icon. Above and beyond his unequalled achievement in winning three FIFA World Cups™, Pele, was a genius who was constantly reinventing the game of football.
With every touch of the ball, every pass, every dribble, Pele was capable of coming up with something new - something the fans had never seen before. With a killer instinct in front of goal, an eye for the perfect pass and legendary dribbling skills, Pele was just about the perfect footballer. And if the "Seleçaõ" came to incarnate the "beautiful game" in the eyes of so many fans around the world, this can largely be credited to the breathtaking skills of their celebrated no10.A star from the start
First spotted at the age of 11 by former Brazilian international Waldemar de Brito, he joined Santos at the age of 15, and had not yet turned 16 when he scored in his first official match against FC Corinthians, in September 1956. A legend was born.
In 1958, he played in his first FIFA World Cup™ at the tender age of 17. The world was amazed as this slight teenager emerged from nowhere to light up the tournament with his dazzling skills. In fact it was player power that earned him a place in the starting line-up for Brazil's third match against the USSR. Pele had been injured, but upon his return from the treatment room, the team closed ranks and insisted upon his selection in a forward trio alongside Garrincha and Vava.

He repaid his team-mates with a goal against Wales in the quarter-finals, and a hat trick against France in the semi. He was unstoppable, allying perfect technique with lightning speed, opportunism and intelligence. He oozed class, and rounded off his FIFA World Cup™ with two splendid goals against Sweden in the final. His first saw him have the audacity to pull off a "sombrero", lifting the ball over the last defender, before smashing the ball home on the volley; his second was a delightful glancing header past a spellbound Swedish keeper. Defender Sigge Parling later confessed: "After the fifth goal, I felt like applauding".
At the final whistle, Seleçaõ keeper Gilmar fondly remembers having to console the child genius as was carried off the field in tears on his team-mates' shoulders. Pele was to go from strength to strength in the years to come, tormenting defences and confirming his status as a footballing idol. He scored 127 goals in 1959, 110 in 1961, and carried off the Copa Libertadores twice (1961, 1962), two World Club Championships (1962, 1963), and nine Sao Paulo Championships. Frustration and bliss
© Popperfoto He arrived at the 1962 FIFA World Cup™ in Chile, ready to set the world alight again. This was the perfect stage to showcase his talents, but, tragically, Pele was injured in Brazil's very first game and did not reappear. He watched from the sidelines as his team-mates regained their world title. By now, Pele was a marked man - and the same unhappy fate awaited him in 1966 as he again left the field on a stretcher, hacked down in Brazil's third game against Portugal. This time, though, he was forced to watch from the sidelines as his team was knocked out of the competition.
The "black pearl" would have to wait until Mexico 1970 before reminding the world of his exceptional talents. Ably assisted by lieutenants Jairzinho, Tostao, Rivelino, and Carlos Alberto, the Sun King shone in all his glory that year. In the first FIFA World Cup™ to be broadcast around the world in colour, it was as if Pele was determined to give new meaning to the world's game. Highlights included his attempted lob from the halfway line against Czechoslovakia, a stunning header that brought an even more stunning save from English keeper Gordon Banks, and the unforgettably cheeky moment when he stepped over the ball, letting it run past the Uruguay ’keeper, before shooting narrowly wide.
Symbolically, it was Pele who scored Brazil's 100th FIFA World Cup™ goal in the Final in Mexico - a magnificent header after a typically athletic leap. "It was a special feeling to score with my head. My father once scored five headers in one match - that's one record I've never been able to beat" said Pele afterwards.
Tarcisio Burgnich, the Italian defender who had been handed the unenviable task of marking Pele in the Final was later quoted as saying: "I told myself before the game, 'he's made of skin and bones just like everyone else' - but I was wrong". Brazil won the right to keep the Jules Rimet trophy after winning it for a third time with arguably the greatest team of all time. Pele had become a living legend. The day after the final the Sunday Times headline summed it up: "How do you spell Pele? G-O-D".Leaving a big footprint
© Popperfoto Pele was indeed a legend, and he set some truly startling records in his long and distinguished career. His 1,000th goal came in 1969 in front of a delirious crowd at the Maracana stadium . He scored 5 goals in a game on no less than 6 occasions, 4 goals on 30 occasions and a hat-trick 92 times! In one game, against the hapless Botafogo in 1964, he hit the back of the net 8 times! In all, the great man notched up 1281 goals in 1363 games and picked up 92 international caps.
He quit what he called "the beautiful game" in 1974, before returning a year later to play for the New York Cosmos "to bring the world's game to the American public". He would hang up his boots for the last time in 1977. J.B.Pinheiro, the Brazilian ambassador to the UN was quoted as saying, "Pele played football for 22 years, and in that time he did more to promote world friendship and fraternity than any other ambassador anywhere". And who could contradict him? In warring Nigeria a ceasefire was declared when Pele came to play in Lagos in 1970. The President of Brazil declared him a "national treasure" to thwart any potential transfer to a European club. And in Santos, 19 November is forever "Pele Day" - to celebrate the anniversary of his 1,000th goal scored at the Maracana stadium.
Since his career ended, Pele has used his ambassador status to promote his country, the UN and UNICEF. "Every kid in the world who plays football wants to be Pele - which means I have the responsibility of showing them how to be a footballer but also how to be a man". But that's what gods are for isn't it?
Playing Career
International honours
92 International appearances, 77 goals
1958 FIFA World Cup Sweden™ Champion
1962 FIFA World Cup Chile™ Champion
1966 FIFA World Cup England™ first round
1970 FIFA World Cup Mexico™ Champion
Clubs
1956 - 1974 Santos
1975 - 1977 New York Cosmos
Club honours
1956, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1973 Sao Paulo Champion
1961, 1962 Copa Libertadores Champion (Santos)
1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968 Brazilian Cup Champion (Santos)
1977 NASL Champion (Cosmos New York)
11-time Sao Paulo top scorer -- 1957 (17 goals), 1958 (58), 1959 (45), 1960 (33), 1961 (47), 1962 (37), 1963 (22), 1964 (34), 1965 (49), 1969 (26), 1973 (11)
Other
1281 goals scored in 1363 total matches (record)
International Olympic Committee Athlete of the 20th Century

Pele

2007-03-13T16:57:00.000-07:00

PeléHe dominated soccer for two decades with a passion matched only by that of his fans throughout the world By HENRY KISSINGER Dubious Influences: Century's Villains and Antiheroes Five Captivating Romances: When Love Was the Adventure
Monday, June 14, 1999Heroes walk alone, but they become myths when they ennoble the lives and touch the hearts of all of us. For those who love soccer, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, generally known as Pelژ, is a hero.

Performance at a high level in any sport is to exceed the ordinary human scale. But Pelé's performance transcended that of the ordinary star by as much as the star exceeds ordinary performance. He scored an average of a goal in every international game he played — the equivalent of a baseball player's hitting a home run in every World Series game over 15 years. Between 1956 and 1974, Pelé scored a total of 1,220 goals — not unlike hitting an average of 70 home runs every year for a decade and a half.
While he played, Brazil won the World Cup, staged quadrennially, three times in 12 years. He scored five goals in a game six times, four goals 30 times and three goals 90 times. And he did so not aloofly or disdainfully — as do many modern stars — but with an infectious joy that caused even the teams over which he triumphed to share in his pleasure, for it is no disgrace to be defeated by a phenomenon defying emulation.
He was born across the mountains from the great coastal cities of Brazil, in the impoverished town of Tres Coracoes. Nicknamed Dico by his family, he was called Pelژ by soccer friends, a word whose origins escape him. Dico shined shoes until he was discovered at the age of 11 by one of the country's premier players, Waldemar de Brito. Four years later, De Brito brought Pelé to Sao Paulo and declared to the disbelieving directors of the professional team in Santos, "This boy will be the greatest soccer player in the world." He was quickly legend. By the next season, he was the top scorer in his league. As the Times of London would later say, "How do you spell Pelé? G-O-D." He has been known to stop war: both sides in Nigeria's civil war called a 48-hour cease-fire in 1967 so Pelژ could play an exhibition match in the capital of Lagos.

To understand Pelé's role in soccer, some discussion of the nature of the game is necessary. No team sport evokes the same sort of primal, universal passion as soccer. During the World Cup, the matches of the national football teams impose television schedules on the rhythm of life. Last year I attended a dinner for leading members of the British establishment and distinguished guests from all over the world at the staid Spencer House in London. The hosts had the bad luck to have chosen the night of the match between England and Argentina — always a blood feud, compounded on this occasion by the memory of the Falklands crisis. The impeccable audience (or at least enough of it to influence the hosts) insisted that television sets be set up at strategic locations, during both the reception and the dinner. The match went into overtime and required a penalty shoot-out afterward, so the main speaker did not get to deliver his message until 11 p.m. And since England lost, the audience was not precisely in a mood for anything but mourning.
When France finally won the World Cup, Paris was paralyzed with joy for nearly 48 hours, Brazil by dejection for a similar period of time. I was in Brazil in 1962 when the national team won the World Cup in Chile. Everything stopped for two days while Rio celebrated a premature carnival.
There is no comparable phenomenon in the U.S. Our fans do not identify with their teams in such a way partly because American team sports are more cerebral and require a degree of skill that is beyond the reach of the layman. Baseball, for instance, requires a bundle of disparate skills: hitting a ball thrown at 90 m.p.h., catching a ball flying at the speed of a bullet, and throwing long distances with great accuracy. Football requires a different set of skills for each of its 11 positions. The U.S. spectator thus finds himself viewing two discrete events: what is actually taking place on the playing field and the translation of it into detailed and minute statistics. He wants his team to win, but he is also committed to the statistical triumph of the star he admires. The American sports hero is like Joe DiMaggio — a kind of Lone Ranger who walks in solitude beyond the reach of common experience, lifting us beyond ourselves.

Soccer is an altogether different sort of game. All 11 players must possess the same type of skills — especially in modern soccer, where the distinction between offensive and defensive players has dissolved. Being continuous, the game does not lend itself to being broken down into a series of component plays that, as in football or baseball, can be practiced. Baseball and football thrill by the perfection of their repetitions, soccer by the improvisation of solutions to ever changing strategic necessities. Soccer requires little equipment, other than a pair of shoes. Everybody believes he can play soccer. And it can be played by any number of players as a pickup game. Thus soccer outside North America is truly a game for the masses, which can identify with its passions, its sudden triumphs and its inevitable disillusionments. Baseball and football are an exaltation of the human experience; soccer is its incarnation.
Pelژ is therefore a different phenomenon from the baseball or football star. Soccer stars are dependent on their teams even while transcending them. To achieve mythic status as a soccer player is especially difficult because the peak performance is generally quite short — only the fewest players perform at the top of their game for more than five years. Incredibly, Pel&233; performed at the highest level for 18 years, scoring 52 goals in 1973, his 17th year. Contemporary soccer superstars never reach even 50 goals a season. For Pelژ, who had thrice scored more than 100 goals a year, it signaled retirement.
The mythic status of Pel&233; derives as well from the way he incarnated the character of Brazil's national team. Its style affirms that virtue without joy is a contradiction in terms. Its players are the most acrobatic, if not always the most proficient. Brazilian teams play with a contagious exuberance. When those yellow shirts go on the attack — which is most of the time — and their fans cheer to the intoxicating beat of samba bands, soccer becomes a ritual of fluidity and grace. In Pelژ's day, the Brazilians epitomized soccer as fantasy.
I saw Pel&233; at his peak only once, at the final of the World Cup in 1970. Brazil's opponent was Italy, which played its tough defense coupled with sudden thrusts to tie the game 1-1, demoralizing the Brazilians. Italy could very easily have massed its defense even more, until its frantic opponent began making the mistakes that would encompass its ruin. But, led by Pel&233;, Brazil paid no attention. Attacking as if the Italians were a practice team, the Brazilians ran them into the ground, 4-1.
I saw Pel&233; a few times afterward, when he was playing for the New York Cosmos. He was no longer as fast, but he was as exuberant as ever. By then, Pelژ had become an institution. Most modern fans never saw him play, yet they somehow feel he is part of their lives. He made the transition from superstar to mythic figure.