Edson Arante do Nascimento “Pele” is simply the best football player that has ever walked on earth. Pele’s original name (as it appears in his birth certificate) is Edison instead of Edson, name given by Pele’s parents in honor of the light bulb inventor Thomas Alba Edison. Even thought his parents wanted to name him Edison, years after Pele was born his parents decided to call him Edson but his birth certificate was never modified. Edson was born in October 21^st 1940, nevertheless for unknown reasons Edson himself says that he was born 2 days after they day mentioned in the birth certificate

There is a lot of people that strongly believe that Pele is the greatest football player that ever existed, however there also a substantial amount of people that in contrast believe that Pele was “the king of football”, but Maradona is “the god of football”. These opinion derivates simply by the way these football players performed in the field without considering the amount of goal scored by each one. Pele’s style was simply unique; the way he dribbled was extremely graceful making the audiences think that what he was doing was the easiest thing to do in the world. Every time Pele was on the football field everyone would simply stare at him, people from around the world would simply follow every single move made by Pele in awe. From the first time Pele participated in a football world cup he was only a teen ager, having only 16 years of age. From the very fist moment he began playing people realized the extremely great potential from this young fellow that seemed as if the football was stuck on his feet.

Pele debuted as a professional football player at the incredible young age of 15 in the famous Brazilian football team Santos du Brasil. The following year as a prominent young player he appeared for the first time in an international match with the Brazilian team in 1956 bearing the number “10” on his jersey. By age 17, Pele won his first world cup as part of one of the most famous Brazilian teams ever formed with names such as, Bellini, Nilton Santos, Zito etc. some of the most outstanding awards and recognitions given to Pele include, the Best Athlete of the Century, awarded by the International Olympic Committee, Football Player of the Century, awarded by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS).

As the best football player of all times, Pele is the only player in the planet that has being part of a national team to have won 3 world cups. Pele scored almost 1300 goals in 1363 football matches, allowing him to be the player holding the record for the most goals scored in football history with a total of 760 goals in international matches and 541 in domestic matches. In Brazilian football history Pele also holds the record of the player with the most goals scored, a record that hasn’t been beaten yet despite the fact that Pele retired more than 30 years ago. For obvious reasons Pele is considered to be more than a hero in Brazil, he is the nation’s pride and for football lovers all around the world, Pele is the “King” of football, followed by the “God”, Diego Armando Maradona.

As a retired athlete, Pele makes a living being a sport’s celebrity, making commercials for famous brands and being the football ambassador all over the world. Currently age 71, Pele is the honorary president of a football team in the U.S., also he founded a charitable organization that helps poor children in the poorest Brazilian neighborhoods. As a really nice gesture towards poor kids, Pele dedicated his goal number 1000 to them. Allegedly the nick name “Pele” was given to Edson by people that knew him as the result of hearing him pronounce the word Bile, Edson’s favorite Brazilian player at the time. In an autobiography written by himself, he says that he has no clue whatsoever about an actual meaning of the word “Pele”. His friends also have no idea about the word’s meaning. During his “golden years”, Pele was pretty much the most famous athlete in the planet and probably the best paid.

Quick Facts

Nick name: Pelé, “The King”, “The King of Football”.

Born: October 21^st 1940. *for unknown reasons Edson himself says that his birthday was on October 23^rd

Place of birth:  Três Corações, Brazil

Died: The king is still alive

Profession:  The best football player on earth

Origin: Brazilian with African ancestry

Known for: Being the “king” of football, scoring the most goals that any other player in football history, being the only player in football history to have won 3 world cups.

 Childhood and growing years

 Edison Arantes do Nascimento is the oldest son of Joao Ramos do Nascimento and Celeste Arantes, who had 2 other children. Edison’s parents name him after the famous inventor Thomas Alba Edison but without pronouncing the letter “I”, nevertheless there was a mistake on Edison’s birth certificate which caused certain confusion about Pele’s real name. Although Edson’s parents used to call him “Dico”, years later at school Edson’s school mates began calling him “Pele”, as he recalls, it was the result of the way he pronounced the name of his favorite Brazilian player, “Bile”. Edson said that the more he dislike his new nickname the more his peers would call him “Pele”, a word that has no meaning in Portuguese (Edson’s native language).

When little Edson’s family had economic difficulties resulting in a very limited life as a kid. Sometimes he made some extra bucks by working as a helper in restaurants and tea shops. As one of thousands of children leaving in the poorest neighborhoods (fabelas) in Sao Paulo, one of the few things that would make them forget the fact that they were poor was the love for “football”. Pele together with other kids would play football almost everyday, but since pretty much everyone couldn’t afford to buy and actual football, they would use pretty much anything rounded to play the best sport on earth, “football”. Pele’s parents would even prohibit him to play football because his shoes would wear out faster because of playing football and since his parents didn’t have enough money they couldn’t afford to buy new shoes for him. Young Pele would play football with pretty much anything he could kick, empty bottles, grapefruits, stuffed sucks etc simply because him nor any of his friends couldn’t afford to buy an actual football. Following his passion for football, Edson joined a football club in Sao Paulo name, “Club Atletico Bauru”.

In an average day, Pele was playing like usual on the streets together with other kids and suddenly a famous Brazilian football player (Waldemar de Brito) saw him and instantly became aware of the enormous potential of young Edison. Waldemar knew that young Edison was extremely talented but some technique improvement was needed. Soon after, Waldemar took young Pele to professional Brazilian football team tryouts.

Decisive years
When the famous Brazilian football player Waldemar de Brito discovered Pele, he knew that Pele will become “the best football player the world would ever see”. These were the words used by de Brito when he introduced young Pele to the directors of the famous Brazilian team, Santos (Santos Futebol Clube). 15 year old Pele impressed the football club recruiters by his amazing ability to play the sport. Pele was a genius on the field, the way he dribbled had no comparison, the way he kicked the ball was extremely accurate, it seemed that Pele knew his adversary’s moves allowing him to pass them with extreme ease. Despite Pele’s young age, he was accepted as part of Santos. A year after Pele join Santos, he debuted as a professional player in a friendly match against Corinthians. In this match Pele scored his first goal as a professional player, since the beginning his particular playing style captivated everyone alike. Then the football season officially started and Pele had already secured a starting position in Santos. To everyone’s surprise, Pele score more goals than any other player during his first season.

Less than a year after he sign up a contract with Santos as a professional football player, the coach from the Brazilian national team heard about the amazing abilities of a young individual who was drawing everyone’s attention. Pele’s excellent control over the ball, amazing dribbling abilities and outstanding ability to score goals allow him to wear the Brazilian jersey bearing the number “10”. Pele’s unique playing style was admired by millions at the world cup, several of the most famous and wealthy football clubs in Europe, made extremely appealing offerings to Pele’s team Santos. Although these football clubs offered a lot of money to Pele and Pele’s team, the Brazilian government declared Edson “A Brazilian treasure”, enabling any foreign football team to draft him as a player.

Even though Pele played his entire professional career in Brazil, his football level was incredible, his achievements helped his team become one of the most important and successful teams in Brazil. As a result of the amazing success of Pele’s team, Santos was able to participate in the most important football clubs’ tournament in the continent, La Copa Libertadores. Seeing Pele performing on the field was no less than breathtaking, his “beautiful” and timely goals allow his team to win important matches and win prestigious championships. By age 29, O’Rey (the King) score his goal 1000 in one of the most famous and one of the biggest football stadiums on earth, El Maracana. As every one knew that in this match “the King” would score his 1000^th goal, a huge celebration was pre planned as people expected “O Milesimo” (the thousandth goal). Pele scored his one thousandth goal after a penalty kick against the team Vasco Da Gama. Another remarkable event that took place in this famous football stadium was when Pele scored the incredible goal regarded as “El Gol Placa” (the goal worth being remembered in a plaque), yes this goal was that amazing! And that beautiful! that a plaque had to be commissioned in order to commemorate the most amazing and beautiful goal in the history of the stadium known as “El Maracana”. Even though everyone considers this goal to be “unreal”, Pele himself considers another goal as “his most beautiful goal ever scored”; unfortunately there isn’t available footage of this goal.

The way Pele scored goals and the way he moved on the field resulted in sudden international popularity and admiration. The whole world loved the way “the king” played. As a result of this admiration, Pele’s team Santos toured around the world so the people could admire the distinctive way Pele played and to have a chance to watch a “beautiful” goal score by the “king”. In fact, there was a matched scheduled to take place in an African country in which civil war broke out and surprisingly the parties that were involved in the conflict decided to ceasefire only to admire the way “the king” played football in a friendly match.

At age 32, Pele retired from Brazilian football after being a player of Santos Football Club for 17 seasons. A couple of year later in 1974, Pele signed a contract with a team in northern United States, New York Cosmos. Even though Pele’s greatest years were behind, he helped the New York Cosmos win the 1977 North American Soccer League Championship as well as helping football soccer become more popular in the U.S.

Days before his 37^th birthday Pele officially retired from the football fields in an emotive friendly match between his teams Santos do Brasil and New York Cosmos. In this unforgettable match, the “king” scored 2 goals one with his U.S. team and another with his beloved Santos. This match was televised world wide as the world was interested in the last goodbye of the greatest football player of all times, Edson Arantes do Nascimento “Pele”, “The King of Football”. By the end the match ended, Pele started crying in the middle of the field right before his teammates from both teams quickly rushed to him. Pele said goodbye by going around the football field together with his teammates holding a Brazilian flag in one hand and a Flag from the U.S. in the other.

 The King’s personal life

 Pele married twice in his life, the first time in 1966 and the second time in 1994, unfortunately his marriages didn’t work out well and in current times Pele hasn’t remarried. From his first marriage Pele had 2 daughters and one son and from his second marriage he had twins, a daughter and a son.

 Awards and nominations received by the King

Pele has received has received a vast number of awards and honorary nominations for his successful career as a football player. Some of the most important nominations include, UN ambassador, Minister of Sport, UNESCO “Good Will Ambassador”, Honorary Knight Commander, Honorary New York Cosmos’ president etc.

Pele’s professional achievements include 2 Copa Libertadores Trophies, 10 Campeonatos Paulistas, 5 Taca Brasil, and 8 more important Brazilian tournaments. 1 U.S. championship, 3 world cups (58, 62, 70), 2 Roca Cups (57,63), top scorer 13 times as a Santos and Brazilian national team player, several FIFA awards and the best Athlete of the Century.

 This pele biography tells the story of one of the most famous athletes that has ever walked the face of earth. Pele’s achievements as a very talented football player haven’t been surpassed yet despite the fact that he retired more than 30 years ago. For this and many other reasons Pele is and will always be “The King of Football”.