Pelé

2022 - 12 - 30

Post cover — Image courtesy of "The Hindu"

Pelé, Brazil's mighty king of 'beautiful game,' passes away (The Hindu)

In all, Pelé played 114 matches with Brazil, scoring a record 95 goals, including 77 in official matches.

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. He played half the game with each club. He was often seen in a wheelchair during his final years and did not attend a ceremony to unveil a statue of him representing Brazil's 1970 World Cup team. Pelé's talent drew attention when he was 11, and a local professional player brought him to Santos' youth squads. “He is key for Black people's pride in Brazil, but never wanted to be a flagbearer.” Pelé's life after soccer took many forms. 10 stamped on the back, remains alive with soccer fans everywhere. Although 34 and past his prime, Pelé gave soccer a higher profile in North America. 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. His first goal, in which he flicked the ball over the head of a defender and raced around him to volley it home, was voted as one of the best in World Cup history. His grace, athleticism and mesmerizing moves transfixed players and fans. 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.

UNESCO 'deeply saddened' over death of football legend, Pelé (UN News)

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”.

'Thank you, King': Brazil lights up in honour of Pele (BBC News)

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.

Sporting world pays tribute to Pelé "The Eternal King" (Olympics)

The Brazilian football legend is the only three-time FIFA World Cup winner and became a global football icon, with many of the top names in global sport ...

[pic.twitter.com/1MS3DPxPDF] [December 29, 2022] [pic.twitter.com/ovlL3rA4h5] [December 29, 2022] My time playing alongside him in Escape to Victory was a dream come true. [pic.twitter.com/F55PrcM2Ud] [December 29, 2022] [pic.twitter.com/oCpQlw7EIK] [December 29, 2022] I have so many memories of Pele, without doubt the best footballer I ever played against (with Bobby Moore being the best footballer I ever played alongside).

Pelé, Brazil's king of the 'beautiful game', dies at 82; fans pay tribute (Economic Times)

Pelé, Brazil's mighty king of soccer, has died. He was 82. Since 2021, he had been undergoing treatment for colon cancer discovered during a routine medical ...

- 02:16 - 01:50 He died of cancer in Brazil at age 82.

Movies, music and TV helped Pelé to even more stardom (The Indian Express)

Pelé's success on the soccer field made him a sports icon, but he added to that with many performances as an actor and singer.

Sousa said in several interviews the player wanted to be portrayed as a strong child athlete. Three years later, the Brazilian star wanted to record another album for international audiences and invited U2 singer Bono to share the vocals on one of the tracks. Most of his appearances were on TV Globo’s soap operas, which are often exported to the rest of the world. The plot involves prisoners of war preparing to face a German team in Nazi-occupied Paris amid their attempt to escape. Pelé‘s first big-screen moment came in a movie directed by Carlos Hugo Christensen in the same year he won his second World Cup title. Whether or not Pelé scored almost 1,300 goals in his professional soccer career, all of his biographers agree that the three-time World Cup champion wrote more than 100 songs and sold more than 100,000 copies of one of his albums.