Edson Arantes do Nascimento or Pele, the legendary Brazilian soccer player, who rose from abject poverty to become one of modern history’s greatest athletes, died on Thursday at the age of 82.
The “beautiful game’s” standard-bearer has been battling colon cancer since 2021. The icon was hospitalized for a month before dying of cancer-related multiple organ failure.
Pele won three World Cups. The first when he was 17 in Sweden in 1958, the second in Chile four years later despite missing most of the tournament due to injury, and the third in Mexico in 1970 when he captained one of the finest teams ever to play the game.
The legend won two Copa Libertadores, South America’s equivalent of the Champions League, and two Intercontinental Cups, an annual tournament between the best teams from Europe and South America.
He resigned from Santos in 1974, but a year later made an unexpected comeback by accepting a lucrative contract with the nascent North American Soccer League’s New York Cosmos.
The legend scored over 1,280 goals in a spectacular 21-year career. Pele has been named “Athlete of the Century” by the International Olympic Committee, “Football Player of the Century” by FIFA, and a “national treasure” by the Brazilian government.
Rest In Peace Black Pearl