Pele was born as Edson Arantesdo Nascimento on October 23rd 1940. He got his first name after Thomas Alva Edison (without the ‘i’). He got the name Pele in school as he failed to pronounce his favorite player ‘Bile’ from a local club Vasco da Gama and thus began his destiny with fame and success.
Career:
At just 15 years of age, he debuted for Santos in June 1956. His skills and the impact he had during the games didn’t go unnoticed and the media began promoting his as the next big thing in World Football. His senior team debut came a few months later in Sepetember 1956 against Corinthians which his team won by a whopping 7-1 margin. The match also played witness to The King’sfirst ever goal.
In just his second season in 1957, at the age of 16, he was given a starting place which he capitalized on to eventually became the top goalscorer of the season and months later his national team came knocking to give him his first Brazil cap.
He was part of Brazil’s World Cup winning team in 1958 but didn’t have much of an impact. He also won the League title in the same year with Santos.
Trophies and Statistics:
Pele is the only footballer in the World to be part of a World Cup winning team on three occasions i.e. 1958, 1962 and 1970.
Pele scored a staggering 1281 goals in his career in 1363 games.
He is the most successful league player in the World with a whopping goal tally of 541.
Pele has won a total of 40 trophies throughout his career representing club and country.
He was declared the player of the century by FIFA in 2000.
He is the highest goal scorer for Brazil with 77 goals in 92 caps, a record untouched even after 37 years of his retirement.
He has featured on TIME list of 100 most influential people of the 20th century.
He was declared Athlete of the century by International Olympic Committee.
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