Pele's biography (Edson Arantes do Nascimento)

Pelé

 

Date of Birth

23 October 1940, Três Corações, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Birth Name

Edson Arantes do Nascimento

Nickname

The Black Pearl

Height

5' 8" (1.73 m) 

 

Mini Biography

Simply he was, and for many people still is, the greatest football player of the world. Not a single thing was impossible for him: he won three World Cup with his National Team of Brazil (Sweden 1958, Chile 1962, Mexico 1970). He scored more than 1.200 goals during his long career (more than 1.300 official matches). He also won many national Leagues and Continental Cup ("Copa Libertadores"), with his team, the Santos Futebol Clube (of Brazilian 'São Paulo' State). In the Sixties he was nick-named "O Rei" (The King) and in the Seventies 95 peoples out of 100 knew his name. ("Wow, man, you're popular!" said Robert Redford, some years ago, after seeing Pelé give dozens of autographs in New York while he was not asked for one). In the late 1960's, when he and his team, Santos, went to Nigeria to play a few friendly matches, the ongoing civil war stopped for the duration of his visit. He finished his career in the New York Cosmos, in 1977. Now he is a United Nation's Ambassador and has been also Minister for Sports in his country, but, for the people who saw him make magics with his right foot, he is, now and forever, the biggest footballer in the world, and the one and only "King".

Spouse

Assiria	(30 April 1994 - 2008) (divorced) 2 children
Rosemary Cholbi	(1966 - 1978) (divorced) 3 children

Biography of Pele – 1000th Goal

One of the milestones in the history of Pele was definitely his 1000th goal scored in all competitions. It was both a highly anticipated moment and an emotional one. On November 19th, 1969 Pele already had scored 999 goals in his career, either for Santos or Brazil's national team. Playing on the Maracana Stadium, Brazil's "cathedral of soccer", against arch-rivals Vasco Da Gama, Pele managed to score from a penalty kick and broke all records standing in front of him. 

Trivia

Pelé is by most people recognized as the world's greatest footballer ever and was named "Footballer of the Century" in 2000. He combined skill with great flair and understanding of the game, and he was invaluable to Brazil's national team.
Known as "Pérola Negra" (The black pearl).
Played in 92 matches for Brazil and scored a remarkable 77 goals.
He is the only player to have won three FIFA World Cup titles (1958, 1962, 1970).
Played for the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League from 1975-1977.
In his entire career, he officially scored 1,284 goals in 1,363 matched. He played one game as a goalkeeper.
Had a video game named after him back in the 1980s called "Pelé's Soccer".
MMA legend Jose Landi-Jons was nicknamed "Pelé" after him. Landi-Jons never missed a Pelé soccer game and remembers every field action of his hero.
Was named after Thomas A. Edison and originally named "Dico" by his family.
During his professional career, he won two Intercontinental Cups and two Liberatadores Cups (both in 1962 and 1963) with Santos FC, his club from 1956 to 1974.
His jersey number, 10, has since been worn by many of soccer's top stars such as Ronaldinho Gaúcho, 'Zinedine Zidane' and Diego Armando Maradona.
Father, with Rosemary Cholbi, of a boy named Edson Cholbi Nascimento and two girls named Kelly Cristina and Jennifer.
Had a daughter, with Anisia Machado, named Sandra Regina Machado do Nascimento (died of cancer in 2006). She was married to Oseás Felinto and had two sons named Otávio and Gabriel.
Father, with journalist Lenita Kurtz, of Flávia Christina Kurtz.
Son of Celeste and João Ramos do Nascimento (died in 1996).
Brother of Maria Lúcia and Zeca.
Father, with 'Assíria', of twins named Joshua and Celeste.
Dutch artist Dick Brynestein made a drawing of him and called him Pietje Pele.

Biography of Pele – National Team and Records -

Throughout his 15 years spent at the Brazil national team, Pele managed to break hundreds of records, but we'll just follow up on those that are deemed most important:

>> He became the most prolific striker in Brazil's history, with 77 goals in 92 matches.

>> Pele, the footballer who used to shine shoes in order to raise money for a real soccer ball, scored 12 goals in different World Cup matches, being beaten only by Ronaldo.

>> He is considered by FIFA the most prolific scorer in soccer history, with 1281 goals in 1363 matches in all competitions.

>> He is the only player to have won three World Cups (gasp!), although he did not receive a medal for the one in 1962, since he was injured in the final (he played on several other matches throughout the campaign though)

>> He is one of the few players to achieve the performance of scoring in two different World Cup finals, sharing this record with Paul Breitner, Vava and Zinedine Zidane. 

Personal Quotes

I am constantly being asked about individuals. The only way to win is as a team. Football is not about one or two or three star players.
They don't love the game, they don't love the team" - on players who bring football into disrepute

Where Are They Now

(1997-) Sports Minister for Brazil

Pelé was guest of honour at the world's oldest football club, Sheffield's 150th anniversary match v Inter Milan in November 2007. Inter won 5–2 in front of an appreciative crowd of nearly 19,000 at Bramall Lane. As part of his visit, Pelé opened an exhibition which included the first public showing in 40 years of the original hand-written rules of football.

In 2009, he cooperated with Ubisoft on arcade football game Academy of Champions: Soccer for the Wii and appeared in the game as a coach to its players.

On 1 August 2010, Pelé was introduced as the Honorary President of a revived New York Cosmos, aiming to field a team in Major League Soccer.On 3 August 2011, it was reported that Santos were considering bringing him out of retirement for a cameo role in the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup.