{"id":226443,"date":"2023-01-02T12:01:07","date_gmt":"2023-01-02T12:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=226443"},"modified":"2023-01-01T05:30:06","modified_gmt":"2023-01-01T05:30:06","slug":"pele-23-oct-1940-29-dec-2022-brazils-mighty-king-of-beautiful-game-has-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/01\/pele-23-oct-1940-29-dec-2022-brazils-mighty-king-of-beautiful-game-has-died\/","title":{"rendered":"Pel\u00e9 (23 Oct 1940 \u2013 29 Dec 2022), Brazil\u2019s Mighty King of \u2018Beautiful Game,\u2019 Has Died"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Brazil’s Pel\u00e9 wears his national team’s jersey in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 25 May 1962.\u00a0 (AP Photo, File)<\/p><\/div>\n

29 Dec 2022 – <\/em>Pel\u00e9, the Brazilian king of soccer<\/a> who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died today. He was 82.<\/p>\n

The standard-bearer of \u201cthe beautiful game\u201d had undergone treatment for colon cancer since 2021. The medical center where he had been hospitalized for the last month<\/a> said he died of multiple organ failure as a result of the cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cPel\u00e9 changed everything. He transformed football into art, entertainment,\u201d Neymar, a fellow Brazilian soccer star, said on Instagram. \u201cFootball and Brazil elevated their standing thanks to the King! He is gone, but his magic will endure. Pel\u00e9 is eternal!\u201d<\/p>\n

A funeral was planned for Monday and Tuesday, with his casket to be carried through the streets of Santos, the coastal city where his storied career began, before burial.<\/p>\n

Widely regarded as one of soccer\u2019s greatest players<\/a>, Pel\u00e9 spent nearly two decades enchanting fans and dazzling opponents as the game\u2019s most prolific scorer with Brazilian club Santos and the Brazil national team.<\/p>\n

His grace, athleticism and mesmerizing moves transfixed players and fans. He orchestrated a fast, fluid style that revolutionized the sport \u2014 a samba-like flair that personified his country\u2019s elegance on the field.<\/p>\n

He carried Brazil to soccer\u2019s heights and became a global ambassador for his sport<\/a> in a journey that began on the streets of Sao Paulo state, where he would kick a sock stuffed with newspapers or rags.<\/p>\n

In the conversation about soccer\u2019s greatest players, only the late Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are mentioned alongside Pel\u00e9.<\/p>\n

Different sources, counting different sets of games, list Pel\u00e9\u2019s goal totals anywhere between 650 (league matches) and 1,281 (all senior matches, some against low-level competition.)<\/p>\n

The player who would be dubbed \u201cThe King\u201d was introduced to the world at 17 at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, the youngest player ever at the tournament. He was carried off the field on teammates\u2019 shoulders after scoring two goals in Brazil\u2019s 5-2 victory over the host country in the final.<\/p>\n

Injury limited him to just two games when Brazil retained the world title in 1962, but Pel\u00e9 was the emblem of his country\u2019s World Cup triumph of 1970 in Mexico. He scored in the final and set up Carlos Alberto with a nonchalant pass for the last goal in a 4-1 victory over Italy.<\/p>\n

The image of Pel\u00e9 in a bright, yellow Brazil jersey, with the No. 10 stamped on the back, remains alive with soccer fans everywhere. As does his trademark goal celebration \u2014 a leap with a right fist thrust high above his head.<\/p>\n

Pel\u00e9\u2019s fame was such that in 1967 factions of a civil war in Nigeria agreed to a brief cease-fire so he could play an exhibition match in the country. He was knighted by Britain\u2019s Queen Elizabeth II in 1997. When he visited Washington to help popularize the game in North America, it was the U.S. president who stuck out his hand first.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy name is Ronald Reagan, I\u2019m the president of the United States of America,\u201d the host said to his visitor. \u201cBut you don\u2019t need to introduce yourself because everyone knows who Pel\u00e9 is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pel\u00e9 was Brazil\u2019s first modern Black national hero but rarely spoke about racism in a country where the rich and powerful tend to hail from the white minority.<\/p>\n

Opposing fans taunted Pel\u00e9 with monkey chants at home and all over the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said that he would never play if he had to stop every time he heard those chants,\u201d said Angelica Basthi, one of Pel\u00e9\u2019s biographers. \u201cHe is key for Black people\u2019s pride in Brazil, but never wanted to be a flagbearer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pel\u00e9\u2019s life after soccer took many forms. He was a politician — Brazil\u2019s Extraordinary Minister for Sport — a wealthy businessman, and an ambassador for UNESCO and the United Nations.<\/p>\n

He had roles in movies, soap operas and even composed songs and recorded CDs of popular Brazilian music.<\/p>\n

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Soccer superstar Pel\u00e9, waving the flags of Brazil and the U.S., is carried off the field in driving rain by players of both teams at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., after his final game on 1 Oct 1977. (AP Photo\/Richard Drew, File)<\/p><\/div>\n

As his health deteriorated, his travels and appearances became less frequent. He was often seen in a wheelchair during his final years and did not attend a ceremony to unveil a statue of him representing Brazil\u2019s 1970 World Cup team. Pel\u00e9 spent his 80th birthday isolated with a few family members at a beach home.<\/p>\n

Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, in the small city of Tres Coracoes in the interior of Minas Gerais state on Oct. 23, 1940, Pel\u00e9 grew up shining shoes to buy his modest soccer gear.<\/p>\n

Pel\u00e9\u2019s talent drew attention when he was 11, and a local professional player brought him to Santos\u2019 youth squads. It didn\u2019t take long for him to make it to the senior squad.<\/p>\n

Despite his youth and 5-foot-8 frame, he scored against grown men with the same ease he displayed against friends back home. He debuted with the Brazilian club at 16 in 1956, and the club quickly gained worldwide recognition.<\/p>\n

The name Pel\u00e9 came from him mispronouncing the name of a player called Bil\u00e9<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He went to the 1958 World Cup as a reserve but became a key player for his country\u2019s championship team. His first goal, in which he flicked the ball over the head of a defender and raced around him to volley it home, was voted as one of the best in World Cup history.<\/p>\n

The 1966 World Cup in England \u2014 won by the hosts \u2014 was a bitter one for Pel\u00e9, by then already considered the world\u2019s top player. Brazil was knocked out in the group stage and Pel\u00e9, angry at the rough treatment, swore it was his last World Cup.<\/p>\n

He changed his mind and was rejuvenated in the 1970 World Cup. In a game against England, he struck a header for a certain score, but the great goalkeeper Gordon Banks flipped the ball over the bar in an astonishing move. Pel\u00e9 likened the save \u2014 one of the best in World Cup history \u2014 to a \u201csalmon climbing up a waterfall.\u201d Later, he scored the opening goal in the final against Italy, his last World Cup match.<\/p>\n

In all, Pel\u00e9 played 114 matches with Brazil, scoring a record 95 goals, including 77 in official matches.<\/p>\n

His run with Santos stretched over three decades until he went into semi-retirement after the 1972 season. Wealthy European clubs tried to sign him, but the Brazilian government intervened to keep him from being sold, declaring him a national treasure.<\/p>\n

On the field, Pel\u00e9\u2019s energy, vision and imagination drove a gifted Brazilian national team with a fast, fluid style of play that exemplified \u201cO Jogo Bonito\u201d — Portuguese for \u201cThe Beautiful Game.\u201d His 1977 autobiography, \u201cMy Life and the Beautiful Game,\u201d made the phrase part of soccer\u2019s lexicon.<\/u><\/p>\n

In 1975, he joined the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League. Although 34 and past his prime, Pel\u00e9 gave soccer a higher profile in North America. He led the Cosmos to the 1977 league title and scored 64 goals in three seasons.<\/p>\n

Pel\u00e9 ended his career on Oct. 1, 1977, in an exhibition between the Cosmos and Santos before a crowd in New Jersey of some 77,000. He played half the game with each club. Among the dignitaries on hand was perhaps the only other athlete whose renown spanned the globe \u2014 Muhammad Ali.<\/p>\n

Pel\u00e9 would endure difficult times in his personal life, especially when his son Edinho was arrested on drug-related charges. Pel\u00e9 had two daughters out of wedlock and five children from his first two marriages, to Rosemeri dos Reis Cholbi and Assiria Seixas Lemos. He later married businesswoman Marcia Cibele Aoki.<\/p>\n

______________________________________________<\/p>\n

Azzoni reported from Madrid.<\/em><\/p>\n

Related Coverage:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n