When you say this name and surname, they will tell you that you have no idea who it is: Edson Arantes do Nascimento.
That is the legend of Brazilian and world football ... Mr. Pele.
Brazilian football player, born on October 23, 1940 as Edson Arantes do Nascimento in the Brazilian town of Tres Coracoes in the state of Minas Gerais to mother Celeste and father Joao Ramos.
The family called him Dico, and his football friends called him Pele. Pele himself no longer remembers how that word came about.
Shortly afterwards, his family moved to Baure, Sao Paulo. As a boy, he played football, from a ball made of old socks. His father, Joao Ramos, was a professional player at the Brazilian football club Fluminense. But he had to end his career due to injury. As a result of his own experience, Joao Ramos encouraged his son’s interest in sports. The result of such support was that, when Pele was nine years old, he left school to realize his dream - to become a professional football player. He earned money as a carpenter's apprentice while his father trained him.
As a teenager, he started playing football for lower-class clubs (Baquinho, Sete Setembro and Ameriquinha) where he regularly “warmed up the bench”. He remained in the Ameriquinha team for four years (1950-1954), and during his last season he became the most famous player of that team. His talent was noticed by the famous Brazilian player Waldemar de Brito. De Brito brought Pele to Sao Paulo and told the management of the Santos football club:
This boy will be the greatest football player in the world.
In 1956, thanks to de Britt's influence, Pele became a member of the Santos football club, where he played in the junior national team at the age of 15. He played his first game for the new team on May 7, 1956, when he entered the game as a replacement for striker Del Vecchi. After entering the game he scored six of the seven goals scored in the game (the final score was 7: 1)
The 16-year-old sensation in the form of Pele entered the world stage on July 7, 1957, in the game of Brazil against Argentina, when he scored one goal, but Brazil still lost 2: 1. A little later, the London Times will write about him: How do you spell Pele? G - O - D.
Pele's fame and reputation were so great that when he became a world-famous and recognized player, he managed to stop the civil war in Nigeria. Namely, both warring parties declared a truce lasting 48 hours so that in 1967 Pele could play an exhibition match in the capital of Nigeria - Lagos. Of course, the same passion for football was nurtured (and is cultivated) by the Brazilians themselves. To illustrate - a little earlier, in 1962, when in Chile, led by Pele, Brazil won the title of world champion in Rio de Janeiro, everything stopped for two days - Brazil's victory was celebrated for so long.
His talent delighted people. So Brazilian journalist Armando Nogueira said of Pele:
If Pele had not been born as a man, he would have been born as a ball.
In 1978, Pele completely withdrew from football and ended his career with an impressive 1282 goals and 1362 games played.
