THE BOY FROM BRAZIL
Football legend Pelé is turning 80. MARION McMULLEN looks at the striker who proved a goal-scoring hit with fans around the world
HE WAS born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, but to people around the world he is better known simply as Pelé. The football legend started from humble beginnings in the slums of San Paulo in Brazil and was originally apprenticed to be a shoemaker.
However, he developed a talent for soccer by kicking crumpled newspapers and a rolled-up sock stuffed with rags around the streets.
His skill saw him win the first of three World Cups when he was just 17. He effectively won the 1958 World Cup for Brazil with a hat-trick in the semi-final against France and two goals in the final against host nation Sweden.
Growing up, a passion for football was always present in his family.
“The first World Cup I remember was in 1950 when I was nine or 10 years old,” said Pelé.
“My father was a soccer player, and there was a big party and, when Brazil lost to Uruguay, I saw my father crying.”
Pelé went on to become a global star thanks to his unerring knack of finding the net, and the striker, who played club football for Santos and the New York Cosmos, scored more than 1,200 goals in 1,363 games, including friendlies and tour matches, during his career.
Regarded by many as the world’s greatest footballer, fans in New York once ignored Hollywood star Robert Redford in their rush to ask for an autograph from Pelé.
“Wow, man, you’re popular,” the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid actor told him.
Pelé appeared on the cinema screen himself in 1981 in the movie Escape To Victory alongside Sylvester Stallone and Sir Michael Caine.
The film about Second World War Allied prisoners of war who organise a football game against the Germans as part of an escape attempt also featured football stars like Bobby Moore and Ossie Ardiles.
Sir Michael admitted the only reason he said yes to the movie was for the opportunity to work alongside Pelé.
The football star, who turns 80 on October 23, was originally named after American inventor Thomas Edison but earned the moniker Pele because his father’s old goalkeeper was nicknamed Bilé and when the future football star was little, he distorted the name saying he wanted to be like ‘Pilé’.
He once said: “I was really proud that I was named after Thomas Edison and wanted to be called Edson. I thought Pelé sound horrible. It was a rubbish name. Edson sounded so much more serious and important.”
Pelé wore the number 10 shirt and became known for his trademark bicycle kick in which he would throw himself on his back while kicking the ball over his head.
He spent 19 seasons of his illustrious career at Brazilian club Santos, for whom he scored 643 goals. Pelé then went on to become the face of soccer in America when he moved to New York Cosmos in 1975, scoring 64 goals in 107 games.
He said the secret of success was “you must respect people and work hard to be in shape.
“And I used to train very hard.
“When the other players went to the beach after training, I was there kicking the ball”.
The Brazilian legend led the crowd in a chant of “Love, love,
love” when he attended the GQ Men of the Year Awards in 2017 and was presented with the Inspiration award by England manager Gareth Southgate. Gareth said: “In football there is one individual who stands above all that have gone before and after him, he scored over 1,000 goals, won the World Cup on three occasions, inspired his nation and the rest of the world to embrace the beautiful game. “There has never been another footballer like him.” His last professional playing appearance took place on October 1, 1977, in a friendly between the Cosmos and Santos. It was watched by a capacity crowd at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
At half-time, the Cosmos retired Pelé’s number 10 and he presented the shirt to his father.
The soccer star has had health issues over the last few years and had prostate surgery in 2015.
He had to pull out of the opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and also arrived at the draw for the 2018 World Cup using a wheelchair.
But his inspiring football legacy lives on and he continues to inspire generation after generation of young footballers.
“I always had a philosophy which I got from my father,” said the striker.
“He used to say ‘Listen, God gave you the gift to play football. This is your gift from God.
“If you take care of your health, if you are in shape all the time, with your gift from God no one will stop you, but you must be prepared’.”