Pele
Pele
Edson Arantes do Nascimentoɐˈɾɐ̃tʃiz du nɐsiˈmẽtu]; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé, is a retired Brazilian professional footballer who played as a forward. He is widely regarded as the greatest player of all time. Pelé is also credited with making the phrase "the beautiful game" synonymous with football. In 1999, he was voted World Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics. The same year, France Football asked their former Ballon d'Or winners to...
NationalityBrazilian
ProfessionSoccer Player
Date of Birth23 October 1940
CityTres Coracoes, Brazil
CountryBrazil
The bicycle kick is not easy to do. I scored 1,283 goals, and only two or three were bicycle kicks.
the most talented kid we've ever seen at that age.
Everybody knows my life. I won a lot of tournaments and scored more than 1,000 goals, won three World Cups but I could not play in Olympic Games.
I was really proud that I was named after Thomas Edison and wanted to be called Edson. I thought Pele sounded horrible. It was a rubbish name. Edson sounded so much more serious and important.
When I retired, at that time I had a lot of proposals to play in Europe, England, Italy, Spain, Mexico. But I said no, after 18 years I want to rest, because I want to retire.
Edson is the person that supports Pele. Edson is the base. Pele just comes and adds the face.
I played for Santos at 16, and we had an excellent team, so it helped a lot. And then I played for Brazil at the Maracana against Argentina. So I get more experience. This was one year before the World Cup, and it made a lot of difference.
When I was minister of sport in Brazil, I tried to bring in a law that would make the chairmen of clubs reveal their accounts like other businesses. It was turned down, but I think it is an important story that will make a good film.
Success isn't determined by how many times you win, but by how you play the week after you lose.
Football is the only sport where you put people together, it doesn't matter if you are rich, or poor, or black, or white. It is one nation. This is the beauty of football.
The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.
A team is not made up of isolated individuals. Always stay in the game. Don't be passive. Football is a team game. No one plays alone. Success depends on your whole team being a single unit.
A lot of people, when a guy scores a lot of goals, think, 'He's a great player', because a goal is very important, but a great player is a player who can do everything on the field. He can do assists, encourage his colleagues, give them confidence to go forward. It is someone who, when a team does not do well, becomes one of the leaders.
Football is like a religion to me. I worship the ball, and I treat it like a god. Too many players think of a football as something to kick. They should be taught to caress it and to treat it like a precious gem.