Três Corações (Brasil), 1940
By Equipo Latinoamericana
At age 10, Pelé formed his first team, Sete de Setembro. Soon, he was invited to play in local amateur football, earning 4,500 réis in his first “contract.” When the Bauru Atlético Clube formed a youth team for players aged 15, Pelé participated in a selection process with over a hundred boys and earned a spot on the “Baquinho” team. The coach was Waldemar de Brito, a former player who had competed in the 1934 World Cup for Brazil. Pelé quickly stood out, attracting interest from some Rio de Janeiro clubs. Initially, his mother, Dona Celeste, didn’t want him to pursue a football career and rejected the first offer. However, months later, Brito brought the 15-year-old to Santos Futebol Clube, marking the start of Pelé’s legendary career.
Pelé went on to have an extraordinary career at Santos and with the Brazilian national team, filled with countless achievements and nearly unbeatable records, including three World Cups, two international club titles, and over a thousand goals scored.
Regarded as the most complete footballer of all time, or simply the King of Football, Pelé won numerous accolades such as “Athlete of the 20th Century,” “Most Remarkable Sportsman of the Century,” and “FIFA Player of the Century.” He was also appointed as a UNESCO Ambassador, Citizen of the World by the United Nations, and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Even thirty years after his retirement, Pelé remains one of the most recognized figures and faces globally.
Santos
Pelé made his debut with Santos on September 7, 1956, scoring a goal. However, Santos, the São Paulo state champion in 1955-56, had a team full of established players such as Zito, Pepe, and Pagão, so Pelé had to wait for his chance, playing with the youth team. His opportunity came in 1957, and in his first full season in the Campeonato Paulista, he finished as the top scorer with 17 goals, despite having joined the competition midway. In his second Paulista, he scored an incredible 58 goals in 38 matches, setting a nearly unbreakable record. This marked the first of his ten Paulista championships.
During the 1960s, Santos became an unparalleled force in the state championship, winning titles in 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, and 1969. Pelé was the undisputed king, finishing as top scorer an astounding eleven times throughout the 1950s and 1970s. He also set the record for most goals in a single match (8 goals against Botafogo de Ribeirão Preto in 1964) and enjoyed an impressive undefeated streak against Corinthians that lasted from 1958 until 1968.
Moreover, Pelé helped lead Santos to victory in five Taça Brasil titles, two Copa Libertadores titles, and two Intercontinental Cup titles (1961 and 1962).
“Gol de Placa”
In 1961, during a match against Fluminense in the Rio-São Paulo Tournament, with Santos leading 1–0, Pelé received the ball at midfield and began dribbling past opponents. The fifth defender he encountered was Jair Marinho, and after evading him, Pelé beat goalkeeper Castilho with a low shot. The stunning goal prompted journalist Mário Filho (brother of playwright Nelson Rodrigues) to commission a plaque with the inscription: “On this field, on 5-3-1961, Pelé scored the most beautiful goal in Maracanã’s history.”
In the 1960s, Santos toured the world, often encountering legendary scenes of adoration for the King. Among the many unforgettable stories of fan fervor, some stand out. In 1968, during a friendly match against the Milionários of Bogotá (Colombia), the stadium was packed with spectators who had come to see Pelé. After Pelé was sent off due to a scuffle, the frustrated fans stormed the pitch. The organizers had no choice but to put Pelé back on the field and eject the referee. Another iconic moment occurred in 1969 during a Santos tour in Africa, where the nations of Nigeria and Biafra, which were in the midst of a civil war, declared a 48-hour ceasefire so both sides could attend the match.
Three-time Champion
Pelé first wore the Brazilian national team shirt at just 17 years old, scoring his first goal with the “canarinho” jersey. Called up for the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, Pelé got injured shortly before the tournament began. He only played in the third match, alongside Garrincha, in the 2-0 victory over the Soviet Union, making a decisive contribution to Brazil’s first World Cup title. In the final, against the host country, he scored two goals (the match ended 5-2), with the first one being a masterpiece, controlling the ball with his chest inside the penalty area and then performing a “nutmeg” on the defender before shooting. At just 17 years old, he became the youngest world champion.
In the next World Cup, held in Chile in 1962, Brazil was the favorite, and Pelé was already considered the best player in the world. However, in the second match, he suffered a muscle strain that ruled him out of the tournament. Brazil, with Amarildo replacing Pelé and especially the talent of Garrincha, progressed through the competition and won the final 3-1 against Czechoslovakia.
In the 1966 World Cup, Pelé was hunted down on the field, and Brazil was eliminated in the first round. The image of this World Cup is of the injured star being carried off by the masseur Mário Américo, with the match ending in a defeat to the Portuguese national team led by the great Eusébio.
For the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, Pelé prepared intensively and led what is considered the best team in World Cup history. With other Brazilian legends like Carlos Alberto, Gérson, Tostão, and Rivelino, Brazil won all six of its matches and became the first team to win three World Cups. In the final against Italy, which Brazil won 4-1, Pelé scored the first goal with a header. Interestingly, in this World Cup, some of Pelé’s most iconic moments in football history did not result in goals, such as the header against England (with Gordon Banks’ save being considered one of the most difficult of all time), the “drible da vaca” on goalkeeper Mazurkiewicz of Uruguay, and the first-time shot on a ball re-start against Czechoslovakia.
Retirements
After achieving all the possible titles, Pelé first retired from the national team in 1971, in a match against Yugoslavia, when 138,575 spectators shouted “Stay, stay” during the victory lap. He then retired from Santos, the team he had represented for nearly twenty years, in 1974, after having played 1,327 matches and scored 1,279 goals.
However, seduced by a huge amount of dollars and the challenge of bringing football to a place where it was virtually unknown, Pelé returned to playing in 1975, joining the New York Cosmos. The North American league was beginning to organize itself and signed some of the great football stars, including Pelé, German Franz Beckenbauer, and Italian Giorgio Chinaglia, among others, with the goal of promoting the sport in the United States. When he retired definitively in 1977, King Pelé organized a farewell match between Santos and Cosmos. About 700 million people watched the spectacle on television.
The player also ventured into cinema, appearing as an actor, and in music, composing several works, including the full soundtrack of the biographical film Pelé (1977). He was also a sports commentator and columnist for various newspapers. His popularity caught the attention of politicians: he received offers to support candidates, and there was even a suggestion that he run for the presidency of Brazil, which he declined. However, in 1994, he accepted the appointment as Special Secretary of Sports in Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s government. Three years later, he presented the so-called “Pelé Law,” which, among other aspects, aimed to eliminate the slave-like relationship between clubs and players in Brazil. He had a falling out with the then president of FIFA, also Brazilian João Havelange, after denouncing corruption within the Brazilian Football Confederation, led by Havelange’s son-in-law.
Despite his political positions not always being forceful, Pelé remains to this day the greatest symbol of the most popular sport in Latin America and is considered unsurpassable. As Brazilian poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade once said: “Scoring a thousand goals, like Pelé, is not so difficult. Scoring a goal like Pelé is.”
In 2014, Pelé was honored by the International Football Federation (FIFA) and France Football magazine with the Ballon d’Or for the best player in the world. The King of Football received the award during the annual best-of-the-year ceremony in Zurich, Switzerland. Emotionally, he confessed a hint of jealousy toward those who had received the Ballon d’Or before him, a prize he had not previously won. “Now I can say I’ve completed my collection,” he stated. The Ballon d’Or is on display at the Pelé Museum in Santos, São Paulo, which was also inaugurated in 2014 and houses 2,500 pieces from the Athlete of the Century’s collection.
