Pele Biography

Following his involvement in the 1958 World Cup, Pele rose to fame as a soccer legend. Before joining the New York Cosmos late in his career, he played professional soccer in Brazil for 20 years, winning three World Cups along the way. Having been selected the FIFA Co-Player of the Century in 1999, he served as an international spokesperson for soccer and other philanthropic causes. Lets learn more about him in this Pele Biography article

Everything you need to know about Pele Biography

Pelé was a right-footed football player who chose to play as a forward or an attacking midfielder.

Pelé is generally regarded as the greatest footballer of all time. In 1999, he was named FIFA's co-Player of the Century after winning three FIFA World Cups.

His brilliance on the field was brought back to life for fans when he died in his hospital bed while fighting cancer.

Pele information

Sportmob's article on 

Pele biography

 will start with some general information about Pele physical stats and football information.

Pele bio

• Full Name:

  Edson Arantes do Nascimento

• Nickname:

   Pele, Dico

Pele personal information

• Date of Birth:

   23 October 1940

• Place of birth:

   Três Corações, Minas Gerais, Brazil

• Date of death: 

  29 December 2022

• Place of death:

   São Paulo, Brazil

• Aged:

  82

• Religion:

   Christianity

• Nationality:

   Brazilin

• Zodiac Sign:

   Libra

Physical Stats

• Foot:

  Right

• Hand:

  Right

• Height:

  173 cm

• Weight:

  73 kg

Family information

• Father’s Name: 

  João Ramos do Nascimento

• Mother’s Name: 

  Celeste Arantes

• Marital status: 

  Married

• His wife:

  Rosemeri dos Reis Cholbi, Assíria Lemos Seixas, Marcia Aoki

• His children:

  Edson Cholbi Nascimento, Joshua Nascimento, Sandra Regina Arantes do Nascimento, Kelly Cristina Nascimento, Flávia Christina Kurtz Nascimento, Celeste Nascimento, Jennifer Nascimento, Sandra Machado

Football Information

• Position:

  Forward

• Teams:

  Santos, New York Cosmos

Favorites

• Favorite food:

  Coq au vin, Cassoulet, Boeuf bourguignon

• Favorite drinks:

   Cold Brew, Hot Chocolate

• Favorite Superhero:

   Albert Camus

• Favorite sports:

   Soccer, football, American Football, volleyball

• Favorite Musician/Music: 

  Gérard Souza

• Favorite Footballers:

   Maradona, Ronaldinho, Leo Messi

• Favorite color:

   black

• Favorite Digit:

  10

• Favorite Pet: 

  Cat, Dog

Pele early life

In this part of our article on Pele biography, we will review some facts about 

Pele childhood

 and family facts, from his early days to the time he became famous. Football fans know about Pele abilities, but few consider his bio, which is quite interesting.

Pelé was born on October 23, 1940, in Três Coraçes,

, as Edson Arantes do Nascimento, the first child of Joo Ramos and Dona Celeste. Pelé, nicknamed "Dico" after Thomas Edison, moved to Bauru with his family when he was a young child.

Pelé grew up in poverty, and Joo Ramos, best known as "Dondinho," struggled to make a living as a soccer player. Even so, he honed his soccer skills by kicking a rolled-up sock stuffed with rags around the streets of Bauru. The root of the nickname "Pelé" is unknown, but he recalls despising it when his friends first called him that.

Pelé joined a youth team coached by Waldemar de Brito, a former member of the Brazilian national soccer team when he was a teenager. De Brito finally persuaded Pelé's family to let him leave home at the age of 15 to try out for the Santos professional soccer team.

Stay tuned to read more of Pele biography.

Pele profile

Edson Arantes do Nascimento was one of the most influential and famous sports personalities of the twentieth century, regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, and nicknamed "the greatest" by FIFA. Pelé was the best-paid athlete in the world for a time during his playing career.

Pelé was one of two joint recipients of the FIFA Player of the Century award in 1999 when the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) named him World Player of the Century.

Pele was named Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee in the same year, and he was named to Time's list of the 100 most influential people of the twentieth century. Pelé is the most prolific top division scorer in the sport, according to the IFFHS, with 541 goals in 560 games. He set a Guinness World Record with 1,279 goals in 1,363 games, including friendlies.

Pelé joined Santos at the age of 15 and the Brazil national team at the age of 16. He was the only player to win three FIFA World Cups during his international career: 1958, 1962, and 1970.

Pelé is credited with coining the term "The Beautiful Game" to refer to football, and his "electrifying play and knack for spectacular goals" made him a global icon, with his teams traveling globally to capitalize on his success. Pelé has been a global ambassador for football since his retirement in 1977, and he has dabbled in acting and commercial projects. He was elected Honorary President of the

in 2010.

Stay tuned now in this section of Pele biography because we want to share some information about his playing style.

Style of play

Pelé is also known for associating football with the term "The Beautiful Game." He was a prolific goalscorer, known for reading opponents in the area and finishing chances with an accurate and strong shot with either foot.

Pelé was also a devoted team player and a full forward with excellent vision and intellect, recognized for his accurate passing and ability to link up with teammates and assist them. He played a number of offensive positions throughout his early career. His wide range of skills allowed him to play in a more withdrawn position, as an inside forward or second striker, or out wide, even though he typically played inside the penalty area as the main striker or center-forward.

Later in his career, he moved to a deeper playmaking position behind the strikers, often acting as an attacking midfielder. Pelé's innovative playing style combined physical strength, endurance, and agility with pace, imagination, and technical ability. He was able to beat opponents with the ball thanks to his excellent technique, balance, flair, agility, and dribbling abilities.

Stay tuned to read more of

Pele life story

.

Reception

Pele scored 8 of his team's 11 goals while playing for Santos against another Brazilian team,

, in the Brazilian league. The final score was 11-0, which was a complete blowout. This is a fantastic accomplishment for any soccer player, regardless of ability. It's unusual for a single player to have several opportunities to fire on target in a single game, let alone score.

A hat trick happens when a player scores three or more goals in a single game. During his career, Pele scored 129 hat tricks. The number of goals Pele has scored during his career has astounded many people. It's a remarkable achievement to score three goals in a single game; Pele did it 129 times.

Goal celebration

As a Forward, Pele has scored about 757 goals during his career and although he doesn't have a trademark goal celebration, we have seen him celebrate his goals very differently. One point to remember about the goals celebrations of Pele is that, along with his teammates, he always preferred to celebrate his goals.

Pele outside football

Pelé was appointed a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in 1994. Pelé was named Extraordinary Minister of Sport by Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso in 1995. During this time, he introduced legislation known as the "Pelé bill" to combat corruption in Brazilian football. In 1997, Queen Elizabeth II bestowed an honorary knighthood on him during a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. Pelé and supermodel Claudia Schiffer have helped kick off the 2006

finals.

Pelé has written a number of autobiographies, acted in documentaries, and composed music, including the soundtrack for the 1977 film Pelé. He starred in the 1981 film Escape to Victory, which portrayed a football match between Allied prisoners of war and a German team during World War II. Pelé co-starred in the film with actors Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone, as well as other footballers from the 1960s and 1970s.

Following his career in football and management, he likes to spend more time with his wife and grandchildren and spends less time at various parties.

Pelé's tumor had advanced after years of infecting Pele's body, and he needed "more care relating to renal and cardiac dysfunctions," according to the Albert Einstein Hospital, where he was being treated, on December 21, 2022. Pelé died on December 29, 2022, at the age of 82, from multiple organ failure, a side effect of colon cancer.

Current players, including Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappé, and Lionel Messi, as well as other notable sporting figures, celebrities, and world leaders, paid tribute.

Pele personal life

Now we want to read about Pele life story. are you ready?

In 1976, Nigeria experienced a coup, and Pele was in the country on a Pepsi-sponsored tour. He then went on to stay at the Brazilian ambassador's residence before leaving the country dressed as a pilot.

In 1977, Pele's right kidney was removed. Pele was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection in 2019, and his uncle, Edson, announced that he could no longer walk in 2020.

Pelé has been married three times and has had many affairs, all of which have resulted in several children.

Family, children and relationships

Pelé married Rosemeri dos Reis Cholbi on February 21, 1966. Kelly Cristina, who was born on January 13, 1967, married Dr. Arthur DeLuca, Jennifer (born 1978), and their son Edson were their children ("Edinho", b. 27 August 1970). In 1982, the pair divorced. Edinho was sentenced to 33 years in prison in May 2014 for laundering money from drug trafficking. The sentence was shortened to 12 years and 10 months following an appeal.

Pelé had a romantic relationship with TV presenter Xuxa from 1981 to 1986, which helped launch her career. They began dating when she was 17 years old. Pelé married Assyria Lemos Seixas, a psychologist, and gospel artist, in April 1994, and she gave birth to twins Joshua and Celeste on September 28, 1996, after fertility treatments. In 2008, the pair split.

Pelé had at least two more kids from previous marriages. Sandra Machado, the daughter of Pelé's affair with a housemaid, Anizia Machado, in 1964, struggled for years to be remembered by Pelé, who declined to submit to DNA tests. Despite the fact that she was recognized as his biological daughter by courts in 1993 based on DNA data, Pelé never acknowledged his eldest daughter, nor her two brothers, Octavio and Gabriel, after her death in 2006. Pelé had a second daughter, Flávia Kurtz, from an extramarital affair with journalist Lenita Kurtz in 1968. He immediately recognized Flávia as his daughter.

Pelé declared his intention to marry Marcia Aoki, a 41-year-old Japanese-Brazilian medical equipment importer from Penápolis, So Paulo, whom he had been dating since 2010. They first met in New York in the mid-1980s, and then again in 2008. They tied the knot in July of 2016.

Philanthropy

Pelé's ambassadorial job is the most notable part of his life after football. He was named as a United Nations envoy for ecology and the environment in 1992. In 1995, he was also given the gold medal by Brazil for exceptional contributions to the sport. Pelé received an honorary degree from the University of Edinburgh in 2012 for his social and environmental contributions, as well as his sporting accomplishments.

Pelé attended the 2012 Olympic Hunger Summit, hosted by UK Prime Minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street in London on August 12, 2012, as part of a series of international attempts to address the reemergence of hunger as a high-profile global problem.

Legal issues

Pelé was prosecuted by the military dictatorship in Brazil in 1970 for perceived leftist sympathies. Pelé was investigated, according to declassified documents, after being sent a manifesto calling for the release of political prisoners. Pelé chose not to get more active in the country's political struggles.

Pelé was in Lagos, Nigeria, on a Pepsi-sponsored trip in 1976 when the attempted military coup occurred. Pelé was stuck in a hotel with Arthur Ashe and other tennis pros during the 1976 Lagos WCT tournament, which was canceled. Pelé and his entourage finally left the hotel to stay at the ambassador's residence in Brasilia because they couldn't leave the country for a few days. Pelé fled the country posing as a pilot after the airport was reopened.

He was chastised by the public in June 2013 for his conservative views. During the 2013 Brazilian protests, Pelé urged people to "forget the marches" and support the national team of Brazil.

Stay tuned to read more of

Pele biography

.

Pele Career statistics

During his professional career, Pele has featured for two teams already. We want to hear more about these 2 teams now in the Pele biography.

Club

The first team he played in was

and now we want to know about it.

Santos

Waldemar de Brito, Pele's youth coach at Bauru Athletic Club juniors, took the 15-year-old Pele to a Santos FC tryout. Pele will be the best player in the world, according to Brito, who told Santos executives. During the tryout, Pele persuaded the Santos coach, and he signed a contract with the club. To the media, Santos hailed Pele as a superstar, which he backed up with his success.

Following Pele's impressive success at the 1962 World Cup, top European clubs such as

attempted to sign him. Inter Milan was able to secure a regular contract with him, but after the uproar of Santos supporters, former Inter Milan owner Angelo Moratti ripped the contract at the coach's request.

Pele's popularity grew to the point where the government, especially ex-President Jânio Quadro, declared him a national treasure in order to prevent him from being moved out of Brazil.

With Santos, he won his first trophy, the Campeonato Paulista, in 1958. With 58 goals, he was the tournament's leading scorer, a record that has yet to be broken. He kept up his excellent form, assisting Santos in winning many trophies. He won the

, South America's first and most coveted title, in 1962.

The following year, he won the title, but after the 1964 Copa Libertadores, Santos' form started to deteriorate, although Pele's remained unchanged. Pele's popularity was widespread despite the fact that he did not play in the top European leagues. In 1967, at the height of Nigeria's civil war, a 48-hour cease-fire was declared solely to allow Pele to play an exhibition game in Lagos, Nigeria.

New York Cosmos

Pelé retired from Brazilian club football after the 1974 season (his 19th with Santos), though he continued to play for Santos in official competitive matches on occasion. He came out of semi-retirement two years later to sign with the North American Soccer League's (NASL)

for the 1975 season.

The Cosmos debuted Pelé at a frantic press conference at New York's 21 Club. According to John O'Reilly, the club's media spokesperson, "In the United States, we had superstars, just none on the stage of Pelé. Everyone wanted to contact him, shake his hand, and have their picture taken with him."

Pelé was credited with greatly raising public knowledge and interest in the sport in the United States, despite the fact that he was well past his prime at the time. He was injured by a crowd of fans who had surrounded him during his first public appearance in Boston and was taken away on a stretcher.

Pelé made his Cosmos debut on June 15, 1975, against the Dallas Tornado at Downing Stadium, scoring one goal in a 2–2 tie. Pelé paved the way for a slew of other stars to perform in North America. Giorgio Chinaglia, Franz Beckenbauer, and Carlos Alberto, his former Santos teammate, all accompanied him to the Cosmos. Johan Cruyff, Eusebio, Bobby Moore, George Best, and Gordon Banks were among the players who entered the league in the following years.

Pelé finished his career in an exhibition match between the Cosmos and the Santos on October 1, 1977. The game was played in front of a sold-out crowd at Giants Stadium and was broadcast live around the world on ABC's Wide World of Sports.

Pelé's father and wife, as well as Muhammad Ali and Bobby Moore, were all in attendance. Pelé played the first half with the Cosmos and the second half with Santos, delivering a message to the crowd prior to the game: "Love is more important than what we can take in life."

The game ended with the Cosmos winning 2–1, with Pelé scoring the last goal of his career with a 30-yard free-kick for the Cosmos. It began to rain during the second half, causing a Brazilian newspaper to publish the headline "Even The Sky Was Crying" the next day.

International

Pele scored his first international goal at the age of 16, making him Brazil's youngest goalscorer, a record he still holds. Pele was the youngest player in the 1958 World Cup, and he was instrumental in Brazil's 5-1 victory over

in the final.

He was dubbed the tournament's best young player since becoming the youngest player to appear in a world cup final. Following FIFA's decision to assign jersey numbers due to disorganization, he was given the number 10 jersey.

He was in incredible form at the 1959 South American Championship, winning the tournament's best and highest scorer. He was in sensational form in the 1962 World Cup, leading Brazil to yet another World Cup victory.

Brazil did not win the 1966 World Cup, but Pele, who was in incredible form, became the first player to score in three World Cup tournaments in a row. Pele was fouled in a game against Portugal that Brazil lost, but the referee did not send him off, causing him to announce that he would no longer play football, a decision he later reversed.

Pele, who had originally declined to participate in the competition, led Brazil to victory in the 1970 World Cup. Pele was a part of the biggest team goal in tournament history in the tournament final. He was granted the title of Golden Ball. In 1971, he played his final international match against Yugoslavia in Rio de Janeiro.

Pele honors

Santos

• Campeonato Brasileiro Série A: 

  1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968

• Copa Libertadores: 

  1962, 1963

• Intercontinental Cup: 

  1962, 1963

• Intercontinental Supercup:

   1968

• Campeonato Paulista:

   1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1973

• Torneio Rio-São Paulo:

  1959, 1963, 1964, 1966

New York Cosmos

• North American Soccer League, Soccer Bowl: 

  1977

• North American Soccer League, Atlantic Conference Championship:

  1977

Brazil

• FIFA World Cup: 

  1958, 1962, 1970

• Taça do Atlântico:

  1960

• Roca Cup:

  1957, 1963

• Taça Oswaldo Cruz:

  1958, 1962, 1968

• Bernardo O'Higgins Cup:

  1959

Individual

• Copa Libertadores Top Scorer:

   1965

• Intercontinental Cup Top Scorer:

   1962, 1963

• Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Top Scorer:

   1961, 1963, 1964

• Campeonato Paulista Top Scorer:

  1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1969, 1973

• Torneio Rio-São Paulo Top Scorer:

  1963

• Bola de Prata:

  1970

• FIFA World Cup Best Young Player:

   1958

• FIFA World Cup Silver Ball: 

  1958

• FIFA World Cup Golden Ball:

   1970

• South American Championship Best Player:

   1959

• South American Championship Top Scorer:

   1959

• FIFA Ballon d'Or Prix d'Honneur:

   2013

• World Player of the Century, by the IFFHS:

  1999

• South American player of the century, by the IFFHS:

  1999

• Elected best Brazilian player of the century, by the IFFHS:

  2006

• France Football's Ballon d'Or :

  1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1970

• FIFA Player of the Century:

  2000

• FIFA Order of Merit:

  1984

• FIFA Centennial Award:

  2004

• FIFA 100 Greatest Living Footballers:

  2004

• Winner of France Football's World Cup Top-100:

  1930–1990

• BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year:

  1970

• BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award:

  2005

• Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award:

  2000

• Greatest football player to have ever played the game, by Golden Foot:

  2012

• Athlete of the Century, by Reuters News Agency:

  1999

• Athlete of the Century, elected by International Olympic Committee:

  1999

• South American Footballer of the Year:

  1973

• Football Player of the Century, elected by France Football's Ballon d'Or Winners:

  1999

• Inducted into the American National Soccer Hall of Fame:

  1992

• World Team of the 20th Century:

  1998

• One of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th century:

  1999

• World Soccer Greatest XI of All Time:

  2013

• FWA Tribute Award:

  2018

• Included in the North American Soccer League (NASL) All-Star team:

  1975, 1976, 1977

• Number 10 retired by the New York Cosmos as a recognition to his contribution to the club:

  1977

• Elected Citizen of the World, by the United Nations:

  1977

• Elected Goodwill Ambassador, by UNESCO:

  1993

• Ballon d'Or Dream Team:

  2020

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