Why Pele towers over them all
Stats apart, as World Cup stays football’s holy grail, having three of them in his trophy cabinet makes the Brazilian the best
NEW DELHI: Comparing players of different generations is a task fraught with danger at the best of times. And it gets even more complicated when we try and look for the greatest in a team sport. But has that ever deterred us from trying? The short answer is no.
So who is the best football player ever? While for many the debate would be restricted to Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentina’s Lionel Messi, don’t blame those of a certain vintage for wanting to throw Brazilian legend Pele in the mix.
So here’s why the player, born Edson Arantes do Nascimento in
1940, towers over the two superstars active in the game today and whose duopoly on the world’s best player award stretched from 2008 to 2017?
PELE HAS MORE CAREER GOALS
Pele has 1283 goals for club and country, according to the football statistics website rsssf.com. For a perspective on how incredible that number is consider this: Ronaldo has 659 goals and Messi 627. Ronaldo is 33 meaning despite superb fitness he is in the sunset of his career. Messi is 31 but the odds would be high on him nearly doubling his tally.
PELE SCORED HIS GOALS AT A FASTER RATE
While Ronaldo scores at a rate of 0.72 goals per game (taking both club and international matches into account) and Messi scores at a rate of 0.81 goals per game, Pele scored at a rate of 0.94 goals per game.
Goals aren’t everything
Putting aside the goals scored and the rate at which these players scored them, a more important pointer is how many World Cups these players have won.
Even in the era of Messi and Ronaldo where the European Champions League is considered to be football’s toughest test, the World Cup remains the sport’s holy grail.
Leaving aside the 1966 World Cup in which Brazil went out in the group stage, the country has won every World Cup when Pele’s been in the team: in 1958, 1962 and 1970.
So this, in a way, is the most damning statistic: Number of World Cups won: Pele—3, Ronaldo—0 , Messi—0.