The soccer world mourns one of its legends: King Pele has died
Steph Deschamps / December 30, 2022
After a long battle with illness, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pele, died on Thursday at the age of 82.
Soccer legend and the only player in history to have won the World Cup three times, the Brazilian Pele, Edson Arantes do Nascimento of his full name, died Thursday at the age of 82. One of his daughters, Kely, announced it on Instagram.
"Everything we are is because of you. We love you so much. Rest in peace," wrote Kely Nascimento in the caption of a photo where we can guess Pele lying in his hospital bed and supported by the hands of his relatives. Pele, who was fighting a colon cancer since 2021, had been admitted to the Albert-Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo a month ago to treat a respiratory infection.
Victim mainly of shortness of breath, the legend also underwent surgery to treat metastases detected earlier this year, again according to the local newspaper.
Considered the best player of all time, Pele is the only player to have won the World Cup three times, in 1958, 1962 and 1970. Edson Arantes do Nascimento was born on October 23, 1940 in Tres Coraçoes, Minas Gerais, Brazil. He scored 1,281 goals in 1,363 matches (77 of them in 91 appearances for Brazil).
This pure attacking genius also has an exceptional record with the two professional clubs he played for (Santos FC and New York Cosmos), including the Intercontinental Cup (1962 and 1963), the Copa Libertadores (1962 and 1963), the United States championship (1977) and eleven times the Sao Paulo championship in the 1950s and 1960s.
He was named player of the 20th century by FIFA, best player of the 1970 World Cup, FIFA Ballon d'Or of Honor in 2013. He played 831 official matches for 767 goals. According to FIFA, which also counts all his friendly matches, he played 1363 matches and scored 1281 goals (including 6 quintuplets, 30 quadruplets and 92 triplets). In the World Cup, Pele scored 12 goals in 14 matches and scored at least 1 goal in 4 editions.