Pele

A black-and-white image shows Pelé near the far left of the frame. Pelé, second from left, scored Brazil's third goal in its 5-2 victory over Sweden in the ...

But in these images, his genius as a player and his indescribable appeal are frozen forever in time. He would go on to score 1,283 goals in his 21-year career, leading Brazil to three World Cup championships and becoming recognizable worldwide for his unmatched skill and captivating smile. He was born Edson Arantes do Nascimento in the tiny Brazilian village of Três Corações, where he played soccer barefoot, using rolled-up rags for a ball.

Pelé, the greatest soccer player ever and the most decorated athlete in the history of "the Beautiful Game," has died at the age of 82.

In the near half-century following his retirement, Pelé became one of soccer’s greatest ambassadors, continuing his push to keep the “Beautiful Game” on the forefront of the world stage. In the Brazilian press, Pelé was instantly hailed as a star, with the forward leading the league in scoring as a 16-year-old in 1957. Following nearly two decades at Santos and a brief retirement, Pelé signed with the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League. “The king of football has left us but his legacy will never be forgotten.” That same year, Pelé played his final game as a pro as the Cosmos hosted his former longtime team, Santos, for an exhibition match at a sold-out Giants Stadium, with Pelé playing for both teams during the game. The following year, Pelé joined the Brazilian national team for the 1958 World Cup, delivering a performance that would make him a global star and earn him the nickname “O Rei,” or “The King.” He received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth as well as every other possible soccer-related accolade, from the FIFA Order of Merit to the FIFA Player of the Century to a spot on TIme’s 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century list. In his 19 seasons at Santos, spanning from 1956 to 1974 and roughly 660 games, Pelé scored a record-shattering 643 goals. Pelé — who was given his nickname by childhood friends because of the way he mispronounced his favorite soccer player goalkeeper Bilé — honed his craft playing futsal (or indoor soccer) in Bauru, the region within São Paulo, where Pelé grew up. 18, Pelé’s daughter revealed a couple of days later that her father would remain hospitalized through the Christmas holiday under “elevated care” due to “kidney and cardiac dysfunctions.” He soon signed a contract with the team and made his professional debut on Sept. “Inspiration and love marked the journey of King Pelé, who peacefully passed away today,” read the post.

He was 82. Brazil's Pele is hoisted on the shoulders of his teammates after Brazil won the World Cup final against Italy, 4-1, in Mexico City's Estadio Azteca, ...

He changed his mind and was rejuvenated in the 1970 World Cup. He led the Cosmos to the 1977 league title and scored 64 goals in three seasons. 1, 1977, in an exhibition between the Cosmos and Santos before a crowd in New Jersey of some 77,000. Pelé likened the save — one of the best in World Cup history — to a “salmon climbing up a waterfall.” Later, he scored the opening goal in the final against Italy, his last World Cup match. He went to the 1958 World Cup as a reserve but became a key player for his country’s championship team. Brazil was knocked out in the group stage and Pelé, angry at the rough treatment, swore it was his last World Cup. 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. When he visited Washington to help popularize the game in North America, it was the U.S. Despite his youth and 5-foot-8 frame, he scored against grown men with the same ease he displayed against friends back home. Pelé’s 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 is key for Black people’s pride in Brazil, but never wanted to be a flagbearer.” He was carried off the field on teammates’ shoulders after scoring two goals in Brazil’s 5-2 victory over the host country in the final.

Quick, agile, adept with both feet and laserlike with his headers, he helped Brazil win three World Cup championships.

Brazilian soccer legend Pelé, a three-time World Cup champion who's largely considered to be one of the best players ever, has died.

The game was televised on ABC's "Wide World of Sports." Gave voice to the poor, blacks and mostly gave visibility to Brazil...He's gone, but his magic remains." "Pelé had a magnetic presence and, when you were with him, the rest of the world stopped," Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, said in a statement Thursday. "An inspiration to so many millions, a reference yesterday, today and forever. Rest in peace, O Rei." Pelé had been in and out of the hospital over the past year as he fought colon cancer. The Cosmos was the only club besides Santos that Pelé ever played for. "He turned football into art, into entertainment. Pelé won two additional World Cup titles -- in 1962 and 1970. He scored an astounding 618 goals in 636 games with Santos and won six Brazilian league titles. He scored 77 goals in 92 international appearances. Rest in peace."

Pelé, the global soccer star that popularized the sport on an international level, died Thursday. He was 82.

In a full-circle moment for the Brazilian star, he was named honorary president of the Cosmos in 2010 with the organization aiming to field a team in Major League Soccer. He brought two state youth championships to Bauru Athletic Club juniors and participated in the booming popularity of indoor soccer, winning the first futsal competition in his region. For a period of time during his playing days, Pelé was considered the highest-paid athlete in the world. The teams he played for often traveled and played internationally to take advantage of his popularity around the world. Pelé is credited with popularizing the term “The Beautiful Game” in association with soccer, with his global popularity being a catalyst for the sport’s overall growth worldwide. For Brazil, he is the country’s joint top scorer in goals with 77 in 92 career games.

“Oh, by the way,” the president began, almost as an aside, “my name's Ronald Reagan.” The Brazilian soccer star next to him needed no introduction. Everyone ...

He was effectively Brazil’s ambassador to the entire world, a man who moved in the company of He was finally able to capitalize on that fame when he moved to the United States in 1975: His three-year contract with New York Cosmos was worth $6 million, the equivalent of more than $34 million today. Brazil’s confidence was sky high then, and in Pelé the nation had found “O Rei,” its king, a nickname that would be attached to Pelé until his last breath. Even as he remained tied to Santos, though, Pelé’s fame was dovetailing with the start of modern sports sponsorship. With Pelé in its ranks, it was lured to Europe for monthslong tours, where it took on — He was nearing 30 as the 1970 tournament neared, and he had said he had enough. Yet his country, and its military leaders, wanted him to go, and he finally buckled to the pressure and traveled to Mexico with a team few at home believed could win the title. It is hard to overstate the meaning of the connection between the individual and the country, a link that endured at his death almost as strongly as it did in Pelé’s heyday, when he was among the most famous people in the world. His popularity also lifted him above the fray of domestic issues, soccer royalty in a nation still finding its way. That defeat, Rodrigues wrote, exemplified a collective inferiority complex Brazil saw in itself, not just in soccer but in its relationship with the rest of the world. Brazil’s canary yellow shirts and Pelé’s dazzling play became synonymous with the country itself, its calling cards to the world. For a country still looking to make its mark in the postwar years, Pelé’s arrival signaled Brazil’s coming-of-age.

Brazilian soccer legend Pelé, winner of a record three World Cups, died Thursday at the age of 82 at Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo, where he had been ...

One was the true and genuine warmth of his nature. Soccer back then offered far less protection for skilled players, and as the most destructive attacker in the world, he was the most obvious target. He arguably saved his best for last on the biggest stage of all. It was impudent, mischievous, perfect and helped clinch the title for Brazil — the only time a South American team has won a World Cup staged in Europe. A worldwide audience got its first glimpse of Pelé during the 1958 World Cup, at the age of 17. Medical officials said he died of multiple organ failure as a result of the cancer, according to the Associated Press.

Pelé was one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century. He won a record three World Cups with Brazil and was the standard-bearer of "the ...

He changed his mind and was rejuvenated in the 1970 World Cup. He led the Cosmos to the 1977 league title and scored 64 goals in three seasons. 1, 1977, in an exhibition between the Cosmos and Santos before a crowd in New Jersey of some 77,000. Pelé likened the save — one of the best in World Cup history — to a “salmon climbing up a waterfall.” Later, he scored the opening goal in the final against Italy, his last World Cup match. He went to the 1958 World Cup as a reserve but became a key player for his country’s championship team. Brazil was knocked out in the group stage and Pelé, angry at the rough treatment, swore it was his last World Cup. 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. When he visited Washington to help popularize the game in North America, it was the U.S. Despite his youth and 5-foot-8 frame, he scored against grown men with the same ease he displayed against friends back home. Pelé’s 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 is key for Black people’s pride in Brazil, but never wanted to be a flagbearer.” He was carried off the field on teammates’ shoulders after scoring two goals in Brazil’s 5-2 victory over the host country in the final.

Pele, the 82-year-old soccer legend, died in Sao Paulo. He was fighting colon cancer since 2021.

He was a TV show host, an actor and musician, and endorsed multiple brands across the globe (including a Japanese anti-impotence drug and Subway sandwiches). [Pele](https://www.sportico.com/t/pele/) came out of retirement to play for New York Cosmos in 1975 when he was 34 years old. He ended his professional career against his former club Santos in front of a sold-out Giants Stadium on Oct. Following his success at the 1958 and 1962 World Cups, he was asked to play for European clubs such as Real Madrid, Manchester United and Juventus, and even signed a contract with Inter Milan. He was only 17 when he won the World Cup in Sweden. [FIFA](https://www.sportico.com/t/fifa/), Pelé is the only man to have won three World Cups (1958, 1962 and 1970).

Appreciation: Pelé was the greatest soccer player. Was that good or bad for Brazil and for soccer? Soccer great Pelé. Brazilian soccer legend Pelé, ...

A few seasons later, he and his new team, the New York Cosmos, set down the Lancers once more in the regular season and again in the playoffs. I saw him one more time, as a pitchman for the 2014 World Cup, which Brazil hosted and got knocked out of in humiliating fashion. In a 1970s exhibition game between his Brazilian club, Santos, and my benighted hometown Rochester Lancers of the benighted North American Soccer League, Pelé scored the only goal on a late penalty. Even a tragedy like the 2019 fire that killed 10 young players at the Flamengo club’s training ground in Rio won’t stop the frenzy to “discover” the next Pelé, the next Maradona, the next Messi. Ever since fútbol was imported to this hemisphere more than a century ago, Latin America has not only radically reimagined the game and produced many of its brightest luminaries, but also has turned soccer into an escape hatch from poverty, racism and despair — in fantasy, if not often in truth. Both occurred at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico City, where Brazil’s formidable Seleção was bidding for its third World Cup championship in a dozen years.

Born into poverty in 1940 in Três Corações, Brazil, Pelé followed in his father's footsteps to become a professional soccer player, but it was clear from a ...

[brutally fouled](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OtnR06Z3EY), while the ref did not make a call against the offender. [Santos FC](https://www.santosfc.com.br/en/home/), and at 17 scored two goals in the 1958 World Cup finals in Sweden. Four years later, Pelé and the Brazilian national team repeated their win, this time against Czechoslovakia in Chile. Pelé’s first trip to the FIFA World Cup in 1958 ended with a victory for Brazil against host nation Sweden. There are understandable asterisks about whether “friendly” matches should count (and you can go [down that rabbit hole](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_footballers_with_500_or_more_goals) if you like), but there was more to Pelé’s greatness than just his numbers. He earned his nickname as a child when he mispronounced the name of a local soccer player named Bilé.

Pelé, the Brazilian football legend, who many regard as the greatest player of all time, has died in hospital in Sao Paulo at the age of 82.

He scored a world record 1,281 goals, playing in 1,363 games during his professional career, which began when he was just 15. We are deeply saddened by the passing of Pelé. At the time, the Secretary-General of the Summit, Maurice Strong, described him as not only the greatest footballer in the world, but “a universal man”, rooted in Brazil. He was also appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the crucial UN Earth Summit, in Rio de Janeiro, in 1992, one of the first major global development and environment summits devoted to a more sustainable future for all. He devoted considerable time in retirement to supporting the UN and its work, both as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Children’s Fund [UNESCO](https://en.unesco.org/), tweeted that it was “deeply saddened” at his passing, and extended condolences to the Brazilian people, and the wider “football family”.

Brazilian soccer icon Pelé, regarded as the sport's greatest player, whose wizardry on the pitch helped popularize it as “the beautiful game,” died ...

And as one of the most recognizable athletes in the world, he understood the power of sports to bring people together." [most divine of footballers and joyous of men](https://www.instagram.com/p/Cmw2EX6rxcx/),” while Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo said a “mere ‘goodbye’ ... His record still stands, and he is still the only player under 18 to have scored in a World Cup. I’m the president of the United States of America. RIP Pele and thank you,” he tweeted. He rubbed shoulders with the likes of boxing's His daughter Flávia Kurtz, 53, was born to Lenita Kurtz in 1968. His seven known offspring include Sandra Machado, whom he refused to acknowledge even after a court-ordered DNA test proved she was his daughter. It was the biggest crowd to ever see an NASL match. profile and popularity before he closed out his professional career in 1977. “Everything we are is because of you. We love you infinitely.

Pele is hoisted on the shoulders of his teammates after Brazil won the World Cup final. Pelé in 1970, when he became the only man to win three World Cups.Credit ...

He had already done everything there was to do: He had scored a thousand goals; he had broken countless records; he had decorated the game with endless moments of wonder. He had retained the World Cup in 1962 but been injured for the tournament’s decisive matches. It was enough to make opponents relish facing him and to draw fans, thousands upon thousands of them, to his games, meaningless or not. It was, by the standards of those who can breathe in the rarefied air of a World Cup final, a pass that was easy. A far better gauge of Pelé’s legacy would be not those bald, raw numbers but something far less tangible: the scope and the extent of his fame. To do so, though, strips away process for raw output; it reduces an athlete who defined not only a whole class of player — before Pelé, as Neymar said, “10 was just a number” — but an entire soccer culture to nothing but a productive goal scorer. He had already racked up more than a thousand games, condemned to partake in an endless parade of exhibitions as his club, Santos, sought to monetize his fame and pay his salary. Before that, for the vast majority of fans — especially outside Brazil — Pelé had only existed in black-and-white footage. As the journalist Andrew Downie has observed, it is noteworthy how many of the most lasting images of Pelé come from that World Cup. And yet, other than perhaps his poise and arguably his vision, the pass does not display any of the traits that made Pelé Pelé. Then he plays the pass, almost with a shrug, gently guiding the ball to the exact spot where Carlos Alberto requires it to be so that he can meet it, at full speed, without breaking stride. It was not a pass that he made look easy.

Pele was a footballing legend the world over, but for people in Brazil he was so much more.

Again, many felt that was a weak position given his huge influence - and of course the turbulent politics that he lived through - including a dictatorship. Pele was also known to keep his head down when it came to politics. In fact, president Janio Quadros in 1961 even declared him a national treasure, which meant for years he couldn't be "exported" to play for clubs abroad, such was his hero status and importance for national pride. In a country where racism and classism are still so dominant, Pele, a black footballer from a poor background, was an incredible success story. When news eventually came of his passing, it was still a big moment. This is a moment that Brazilians had been expecting for some time but also dreading.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Pelé, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last ...

He changed his mind and was rejuvenated in the 1970 World Cup. He led the Cosmos to the 1977 league title and scored 64 goals in three seasons. 1, 1977, in an exhibition between the Cosmos and Santos before a crowd in New Jersey of some 77,000. Pelé likened the save — one of the best in World Cup history — to a “salmon climbing up a waterfall.” Later, he scored the opening goal in the final against Italy, his last World Cup match. He went to the 1958 World Cup as a reserve but became a key player for his country’s championship team. Brazil was knocked out in the group stage and Pelé, angry at the rough treatment, swore it was his last World Cup. 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. When he visited Washington to help popularize the game in North America, it was the U.S. Despite his youth and 5-foot-8 frame, he scored against grown men with the same ease he displayed against friends back home. Pelé’s 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 is key for Black people’s pride in Brazil, but never wanted to be a flagbearer.” He was carried off the field on teammates’ shoulders after scoring two goals in Brazil’s 5-2 victory over the host country in the final.

Brazil soccer great Pele died on Thursday aged 82 after a long battle with cancer. Following are reactions to his death from around the world:

A sad day for the world of football, for the world of sport. Today the world of football cries for the loss of O Rei. Our thoughts are with the people of Brazil and the world football family. We extend our condolences to the Brazilian people and the football family. My deepest condolences to all of Brazil, and in particular to the family of Mr. He made football the beautiful game and truly international. A mere "goodbye" to the eternal King Pele will never be enough to express the pain that embraces the whole world of football at this moment. The King of Kings has died. As I could experience myself, he was a true believer in the Olympic values and a proud carrier of the Olympic flame. Pele was one of the greatest to ever play the beautiful game. One of the greatest footballers in history has left us. And as one of the most recognizable athletes in the world, he understood the power of sports to bring people together.

The Brazilian superstar helped to expand the sport's appeal and turn it into a multibillion-dollar business.

He seemed to take great joy from the US hosting the World Cup in 1994 — and the fact that it was won by Brazil, for the first time since his 1970 triumph. Ten million people tuned in to watch the live broadcast of his debut match, an unprecedented audience for a soccer game. The clamor only grew louder when, with Pelé as talisman and top scorer, Brazil went on to dominate world soccer for over a decade, winning the World Cup in 1962 and 1970. It helped, too, that he came from the wrong side of the tracks in the municipality of Bauru, in Brazil’s São Paulo state. When he first emerged on the world stage, at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, the sport was still predominantly the preserve of white men. Modern soccer — a spectacle with billions of fans that generates hundreds of billions of dollars in revenues — would not be possible but for Pelé.

Born into poverty -- he used to kick a grapefruit around Brazil's Minas Gerais state -- Pelé finished his career as arguably soccer's greatest ever player.

Clearly, a footballer needs to make a living from the game. “There isn’t that love of playing for my club, playing for my country. [Diego Maradona](http://www.cnn.com/2018/06/11/football/world-cup-argentina-england-1986-diego-maradona/index.html)? It was a surprise for us,” Pelé told CNN in 2016. The greatest team to never win the World Cup? He gave a voice to the poor, to Black people and especially. Or is it And I was ready to celebrate. Exactly where I wanted it to go. “When we arrived in Sweden, no one knew what Brazil was. He gave visibility to Brazil.” From dazzling as a 17-year-old in 1958 on his way to his first World Cup success to claiming the Golden Ball award as player of the 1970 World Cup as he won a third global title, “O Rei” (“The King”) achieved almost everything possible in the famous yellow and blue of Brazil.

The sports world lost an all-time icon on Thursday as Brazilian soccer legend Pelé passed away at the age of 82. Pelé was one of the greatest to ever play the ...

in Brazil (1956-1974), the legend went on to finish his career playing three seasons for the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League. The all-time great's presence helped the Cosmos win their second Soccer Bowl title and set numerous attendance records that season. He played in four World Cups for Brazil and is still the only player in history to win three.

Brazil on Friday mourned the death of one of its brightest stars, soccer legend Pele, who died at the age of 82 after battling colon cancer for just over a ...

"I'll never forget him, the Brazilian king of soccer," said 67-year-old Antonio da Paz. Register for free to Reuters and know the full story [died](/lifestyle/sports/brazilian-soccer-legend-pele-dies-82-his-daughter-says-2022-12-29/) at the age of 82 after battling colon cancer for just over a year.

Brazil begins first day of mourning the late footballing legend as landmarks are lit up in tribute.

He regularly faced monkey chants on the pitch and was called several racist nicknames. Lots of parallels have been drawn between Pelé and royalty - he was the closest Brazil had. But really, Brazilians will mourn for much longer. The front pages in Brazil were all talking about Pelé on Friday. He turned football into art, into entertainment. Pelé had been undergoing treatment for colon cancer since 2021.

Brazilian football legend Pele poses with the FIFA World Cup trophy on March 9, 2014 in Paris. Franck Fife | AFP | Getty Images. Pelé, the Brazilian soccer icon ...

... For me Pele remains the greatest of all time and I was proud to be on the the pitch with him. He used his platform after soccer to support charitable works and try to improve the lives of Brazil's poor. Despite the competition, the two struck up a friendship before Maradona died in 2020 after years of trading jabs. Muhammad Ali, he was there on the field for that final game, and at that time, the two most recognizable people on the planet were the two of them." He ended up playing for the Cosmos for two years, helping them win the North American Soccer League trophy, and he was widely credited with increasing popularity in the sport in the U.S. Pelé tore a muscle at the next World Cup tournament in 1962 and had to sit out after the second match, but the Brazilian national team prevailed and picked up back-to-back titles. When the time expired, his teammates lifted the emotional Pelé onto their shoulders and paraded him around the field. He played the first half with the Cosmos and the second half with his beloved Santos. He picked up a hat trick in the semifinal against France and scored two goals in the championship game against the 1958 tournament host, Sweden. He also had a respiratory infection, and his family said he would be staying in the hospital over the Christmas holiday. At 34, he signed a three-year $7 million deal to play for the U.S. Pelé joined the Santos Football Club in Brazil in 1956 at age 15 as an inside forward.

Pelé's body will lie at midfield at the Estádio Urbano Caldeira, known popularly as Vila Belmiro, in Santos, Brazil, for 24 hours, from Monday morning to ...

Roger Federer was the Pelé of tennis. “Muhammad Ali was the Pelé of boxing. Michael Phelps was the Pelé of swimming. “His profile as a global icon of sporting excellence and high athletic achievement was an inspirational model which encouraged young men to transcend their limitations and defy all economic, social, cultural and political barriers.” Three times he lifted the most coveted gold trophy in that beautiful yellow shirt.” He lives on in our memories, in the memories of our grandparents.” “He turned football into art, into entertainment, he gave a voice to the poor, to Black people and, above all, he gave visibility to Brazil. “He played a game only a few chosen ones have come close to. Brazil is in mourning; the whole world is in mourning.” The stadium, in the state of São Paulo, is home to Santos F.C., the club where Pelé spent nearly his entire career. “And I was enchanted from that moment. I confess I had a lot of anger issues regarding Pelé, because he always slaughtered my Corinthians.

But it's the nature of the goals that turned him into a global superstar while still a teenager. To see the first goal in the game, scored by Sweden's Nils ...

He was great enough that we will never know whether he was the GOAT or not, not for sure. What Pelé did was to codify the notion that a soccer player, that a sportsman, could be a genius, and that some level of genius was required for your legacy to stand with the all-timers. What stands out most watching the highlights that survive is how little room he needed to beat a defender. But he is in many ways where the game’s institutional memory really kicks into gear, with assists from a growing mass media and the rise of television and the burgeoning globalization of the era. Instead of letting Pelé play for a European power, Santos spent extended periods barnstorming the continent, playing teams in lucrative friendlies so the whole world could pay to get a glimpse of Pelé. He scored nearly 1,300 goals in his career, counting time at Santos in Brazil, where he was declared a national treasure and forbidden from transferring to Europe; with the national team; and with the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League in the twilight of his career. To see the first goal in the game, scored by Sweden’s Nils Liedholm, is to confirm all your worst prejudices about the game’s previous eras. He scored two goals in the final, which finished 5–2 in favor of Brazil over the hosts Sweden. The world would never be the same. [died Thursday](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/29/sports/soccer/pele-dead.html) in São Paulo at the age of 82, after a lengthy battle with cancer. Many, many others [crowned a new Greatest of All Time](https://slate.com/culture/2022/12/argentina-messi-wins-world-cup-final-france-mbappe.html) less than two weeks ago, which makes it even harder today to talk about Pelé in a vacuum. You had to be a creative problem solver, an artist with a spark of inspiration in how you devastated defenses, whether that was through your passing or your dribbling or your shot-making—or all of the above.

MADRID (AP) — Pelé or Diego Maradona? Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo? Endless arguments over the greatest player in the history of men's soccer can often ...

“People in many countries only knew of Brazil because of what Pelé did,” former Brazil star Zico said. He instead decided to go to the United States after ending his career with Santos in 1974. In Santos’ European tour that year, Santos routed Inter Milan 7-1 with four goals by Pelé, and beat Barcelona 5-1 with Pele scoring two goals. Pelé remains the highest scorer in Intercontinental Cup history with seven goals. Some 110,000 fans reportedly watched Santos beat Inter Milan 4-1 at the San Siro Stadium in Italy in 1961. “We used to play exhibition games and we would travel all around the world to Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and Australia and the one everyone wanted to talk to was Pelé.

The sporting world expressed its sorrow at the death of one of its greatest heroes on Friday, bidding farewell to Brazilian soccer legend Pele with a flood ...

"Pele was our biggest idol in sports. Register for free to Reuters and know the full story The Premier League, EFL and A-League said they would pay tribute to the soccer great through a minute's applause before games.

“Before Pelé, '10′ was just a number,” current Brazil forward Neymar wrote following the soccer great's death Thursday at the age of 82. "That line, beautiful, ...