Long Live ‘O Rei’ Pelé, Remembering the King of Soccer
The world of international soccer went from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in less than a month. After seeing Lionel Messi finish writing his story with the sport by winning the 2022 Qatar World Cup with Argentina, fans of the sport were hit by the devastating news of Pelé’s passing on December 29.
For many fans of the sport, Edson Arantes Do Nascimento “Pelé” is the cornerstone of excellence when thinking about soccer. While there have been legends before him and after that have graced the field with their talents, there’s a reason Brazil’s historic:”10” was always considered “The King.”
It’s mostly because of him that soccer is the most popular sport in the world today. Whether it was with his beloved club Santos, later in his career with the New York Cosmos, or being a part of the legendary Brazil soccer team that captured three World Cup titles, Pelé transformed the sport and made it into a form of art and entertainment.
With the world of sports mourning the loss of one of its biggest legends, let’s take the time to remember the legend that was Pelé.
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From the Streets to the Annals of History
Pelé’s tale started in the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil, kicking socks filled with newspapers to resemble a ball. From there, the world would experience the birth of soccer’s biggest legend. While he was already making rounds in the local Brazilian soccer league, it was in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden where at 17 years old, everyone would start learning about “The King.”
After scoring two goals in Brazil’s 5-2 win over Sweden in the tournament’s final, Pelé was carried out of the field on the shoulders of his teammates, as the hero that he had become, and the hero that he would continue to be for the rest of his life.
For a country that until 1958 only experienced disasters in World Cup tournaments, with the “Maracanazo” nightmare from 1950 lingering in their memories, Pelé came and lifted the team and country and never looked back.
A second World Cup win in 1962, even with him being sidelined for most of the tournament due to injury, and the third victory in 1970, catapulted Pelé to a place only dreamed of by other players. With three World Cup titles, there will probably never be another player in the world to achieve such a feat.
Let’s talk numbers in case there was any doubt left. Besides his three World Cup titles, Pelé also won six Brazilian league titles, two Copa Libertadores tournament titles, South America’s equivalent to the UEFA Champions League, two intercontinental titles, and 1 NASL Soccer Bowl Championship.
With 1,351 games played in total between Santos, NY Cosmos, and the Brazilian National Team, and a whopping 1,284 goals scored, that amounts to 0.94 goals scored per game. Mind-blowing? Yes. But everything Pelé did on the field was mind-blowing as well, so it’s only fitting.
Pelé Didn’t Play a Game, He Transformed the World of Sports
Neymar Jr., Brazil’s most important soccer player in actuality summed it up best when he said, “Before Pelé, ‘10’ was just a number.” While before, numbers on the back of soccer jerseys meant nothing more than an organizational formality, Pelé managed to make “10’ the most coveted number in the history of the game.
There’s a reason why in every soccer team the best player in the squad usually gets to don the “‘10” jersey. It’s because he or she is the team’s leader, the best on and off the field. All of this was because of Pelé.
Pelé wasn’t only an over-the-top athlete getting paid to show off his skills. He was a voice for the unheard, especially the poor, the Black, and the forgotten. He single-handedly managed to put Brazil on the map for the rest of the world to see them.
Even with soccer being a sport played by hundreds of millions of people around the world, both professionally and at an amateur level, Pelé managed to have the whole world bow at him. Be it because of his talents, the joy he brought with his personality, or the simple fact that he was the living embodiment of hard work paying off in the best ways, there will never be another player like him.
In the history books, when speaking of the most influential sports athletes in the world, only two names come to mind to begin and finish that list. One is Muhammad Ali and the other? Of course, Pelé. Both of them helped the world understand that through sports we could all unite and be one, without regard to race, creed, or anything else.
In a society where racism was, and sadly continues to be a day-to-day problem, Pelé showed the world what it meant to be bigger than ignorance, and stronger than hate.
Long Live the King
In the conversation of who the best player in the history of soccer is, Johan Cruyff, Diego Armando Maradona, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Lionel Messi, are always up on the list. But without a shadow of a doubt, when speaking of who has been the most important player in the history of the game, Pelé will always be first.
Even if many of us didn’t get a chance to see him play, countless stories of his feats on the field have always been there to help us imagine what it was like to experience Brazil’s mythical ”10” on the field.
Pelé managed to make a country, a continent, and the whole world fall in love with a humble sport like soccer. He allowed aspiring soccer players to understand that striving to be the best while respecting the beauty of the game is possible.
In a world that moves as fast as ours, taking a moment to recognize Pelé’s contributions to the world of sports is a must. So thank you ‘O Rei’, from everyone who has ever loved the sport of soccer.
