1 October 1977 - This was the End Of An Era, when Pelé played the last match of his outstanding career - an exhibition between his two former clubs, the New York Cosmos and Santos, with Pelé playing one half for each side.
The match was played at New Jersey's Giants Stadium before a capacity crowd of 77,000, that included President Jimmy Carter and Muhammad Ali. After a pre-match speech in which he asked the crowd to chant "love" three times, Pelé played the first half for the Cosmos and the second for Santos. Santos took the lead with a first-half goal from Reynaldo, but Pelé equalized for the Cosmos off a direct free kick. It was the final goal of his career. At half time, the Cosmos retired his jersey as he exchanged it for a Santos shirt. His replacement for the Cosmos, striker Ramon Mifflin, then scored their match winner in the second half. When the match ended, several Cosmos players lifted Pelé and carried him around the stadium as he held a US flag in one hand and a Brazilian flag in the other.
“F***, Brazil lost the World Cup,” said the nine-year-old Edson Arantes do Nascimento, as he noticed his father was crying after the national team lost the 1950 World Cup to Uruguay. The boy who earned some coins as a shoe-shiner, never forgot that day.
Christened, Thomas Edison, after inventor, Edson, was proud of his name but couldn’t avoid the bullying from a classmate who insisted on calling him Pele – he hated it because he thought it sounded too childlike. He ended up punching his tormentor and got suspended from school for two days. When he returned to class, he was not Edson anymore, he was Pele to everyone. And he should thank his schoolmate for this – because Brazilians usually say that Edson and Pele are two different people. Of course, that has nothing to do with his 1,281 career goals.
At the age of 17, in 1958, Pele became the youngest player to feature in a World Cup Final. He scored six times in Sweden, including a semi-final hat-trick and two more in the final. It was to be the first of three World Cup trophies he brought back home as an answer to those tears he saw running down his dad’s face. Below Pele in 1962
The 1970 tournament, hosted in Mexico, saw England, the1966 World Cup Winners, qualify as "holders". Despite losing 0-1 to Brazil, England ended as runners-up in their Group. Romania 2 points and Czechoslovakia 0 points came 3rd and 4th. England lost the Quarter-final 2-3 aet to West Germany, having been 0-1 up at half time. Brazil motored on, to win the Final 4-1 against Italy. Which ever team won that game "kept" the Jules Rimet Trophy, both nations having won it three times. Brazil, manager, Mario Zagolo added another winners' medal to the two he won as a player.
While Jairzinho top scored in the tournament, Pele added four more to his World Cup tally. In the 1960s and '70s, Pele travelled the world with his club team Santos. In Nigeria, a two-day truce was declared in the war with Biafra as a way for both sides to watch him play. His impact on the Nigerian football "psyche" is so huge that when he predicted an African nation would win the World Cup before the noughties, local fans already saw it coming. “In some countries they wanted to touch him, in some they wanted to kiss him. In others they even kissed the ground he walked on,” said his former team-mate Clodoaldo. The Brazilian played his last game for Santos in 1974 and postponed his retirement plans to sign for the New York Cosmos. He was in debt and desperate to recover his finances, so chose to move to the North American Soccer League. After leading the Cosmos to the NASL title in 1977, he played his farewell game on a rainy New York day. But how many days he'd brightened before that.
Perhaps as a way to protect everything, Pele did, to become the most complete player that football has ever seen. Those who couldn't put up with his choices after retirement (the decision not to recognise his own daughter, or his endorsement of people like Sepp Blatter) preferred to call him Edson from the day he hung up his boots. “Pele with his mouth shut is a poet. On the field, he was our father, outside it, he should put a shoe in his mouth,” Romario once said about him.
In November 2007, Pelé was in England, to mark the 150th anniversary of the world's oldest football club, Sheffield FC. Pelé was the guest of honour at Sheffield's anniversary match against Inter Milan 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. (Photo at Number 10 for part of his charitable work.)
Career highlight? On November 19, 1969, Pele scored his 1,000th goal from a penalty in a match against Vasco da Gama at the Maracana stadium. Statistics vary...here's one source. RSSSF 2021
In December 2000, Pelé and Maradona shared the prize of FIFA Player of the Century. The records he held may be found on the www!
Club/team Matches Goals
Santos FC 660 643
New York Cosmos 64 37
Brazil 92 77
Military Team 4 4
São Paulo 15 12
Other Selections 5 2
TOTAL 840 775
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.jpg) Pelé with Brazil in 1970 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Edson Arantes do Nascimento 23 October 1940[note 1] Três Corações, Brazil | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 29 December 2022 (aged 82) São Paulo, Brazil | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Resting place | Memorial Necrópole Ecumênica, Santos, São Paulo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouses | Rosemeri dos Reis Cholbi (m. 1966; div. 1982)Assíria Lemos Seixas (m. 1994; div. 2008)Marcia Aoki (m. 2016) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 7, including Edinho and Joshua Nascimento | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Parent |
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| Relatives | Zoca (brother) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1st Minister of Sports | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1 January 1995 – 30 April 1998 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President | Fernando Henrique Cardoso | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Office established | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Rafael Greca (Sports and Tourism) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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