Pele: The King may have died, but his legend will live forever

Footballs original GOAT the man who made football the beautiful game global sporting hero and Brazils former sports minister Edson Arantes do Nascimento who as Pele overawed the world and became the sports original legend passed away on Thursday night in Sao Paulo Brazil losing his battle against cancer at the age of 82Called by various names such as Gasolina The Black Pearl and O Rei The King but it was as Pele that he has left the world as the most cherished and loved sports star it has ever seenPele 82 passed away in a private hospital in Sao Paulo Brazil after spending nearly a month battling complications related to advanced cancerHe had a colon tumour removed in September 2021 and neither his family nor doctors specified whether it had spread to other organs He was recently under elevated care related to kidney and cardiac dysfunctionAlso readTributes pour in Inspiration and love marked the journey of King PeleLabelled the greatest by FIFA footballs world governing body named Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee in 1999 and included in TIME Magazines list of 100 most important people of the 20th century Pele was in 2000 voted World Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History amp Statistics IFFHS and was one of the two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the Century awardBut for millions of fans of the game around the globe Pele was the first person who made football Jogo Bonito the beautiful gameHe was the original No 10 of world football a number now sported by Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbapp He was the genius who played the game with passion and was so unstoppable that fouling him was the only option for the numerous defenders that he facedA player of sublime skills great presence in the field immaculate positional sense magical dribbling skills two brilliant feet and a devastatingly powerful shot rightfooted Pele was thus far the only footballer to have lifted the World Cup thrice 1958 1962 and 1970In his nearlytwodecadelong career Pele scored 1279 goals in 1363 games which included friendlies This is recognised as a Guinness World Record He is also the youngestever scorer for Brazil and holds the record still and at 17 was the youngest to play in a World Cup finalBorn as Edson Arantes do Nascimento on October 23 1940 in a small provincial town in Minas Gerais Brazil Peles aura grew even stronger after his retirement as he travelled all over the world as The King and was hosted by royalty heads of government and billionairesHe was declared the Natural Treasure by Brazils federal government in the 1960s to prevent him from being taken to Europe to ply his trade there On one occasion he got a civil war stopped as the two warring factions in Nigeria announced a ceasefire to coincide with Peles visit to their regionBorn in poverty to Fluminense footballer Dondinho born Joao Ramos do Nascimento and Celeste Arantes Pele made his debut for Santos the only club he represented in an official league at the age of 16 in 1956 He played for Santos from 1956 till 1974 scoring 648 goals in 659 appearancesPele enhanced Santoss recognition around the world touring various countries with the team and drawing huge crowds From 1975 to 1977 Pele played for the New York Cosmos making the American club a household name Pele played 56 matches for Cosmos in three years scoring 31 goalsThe King made his first impact on the international stage at the 1958 World Cup as a 17yearold scoring some impressive goals including two in the 52 win against Sweden in the final as he helped Brazil win their first World Cup At the international level he scored 77 goals in 92 matchesHe has won dozens of awards and set a string of records in world football he was for instance the youngest player to play in the World Cup and lift it he was aged 17 years 244 days and also the youngest player to score a hattrick in the FIFA World Cup besides winning honours beyond the football field he was given an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997He was the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador since 1994 In 1995 Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso appointed Pele to the position of Extraordinary Minister for Sport a position he utilised to propose legislation for reducing corruption in Brazilian football which is now known as the Pele LawA multifaceted personality Pele published many books including his autobiographies and even starred in movies the most famous of them being the Hollywood flick Escape to Victory which had Sylvester Stallone and Michael Caine in the lead roles He also acted in Brazilian movies television serials and documentariesBut more than all these achievements and aspects of his life Pele always had a place in and ruled the hearts of his million of fans around the globe like The King he was He was noncontroversial and a genius who lacked the flawed personality of someone like a Maradona or a George BestThere were some controversies related to his businesses notably allegations of misappropriation of funds related to Unicef but nothing was ever proved Pele participated in many humanitarian projects after retiring as a footballer which only enhanced his reputationIt is this universal appeal as a humble loveable and wellrespected human being that resulted in many football players including Frances World Cup hero Kylian Mbappe sending him their wishes as Pele fought for his life in a hospital in Sao PauloThe King may have died but his memories will be alive foreverThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever