Before the Champions League turned into the contemporary global powerhouse of football, the World Cup was seen as the pinnacle of the game, not only in terms of prestige but also of standards, tactical development and individual achievement. And the name Pele is synonymous with the tournament. He bestrode the game at the moment when Brazil established themselves as the greatest and most attractive power on the planet, everyone’s favourite “other” team.
Born in 1940 — just 52 years after Brazil abolished slavery — he takes his leave as the undisputed king of the global game. He was originally named Edson Arantes do Nascimento after Thomas Edison — his birth came as electricity was introduced to his remote hometown of Tres Coracoes in the state of Minas Gerais. A fitting name for a player who would go on to illuminate the game of football.
He did not set out with a global mission. As a 9-year-old he was struck by his father’s tears as he listened on the radio to Brazil’s defeat to Uruguay in the final of the 1950 World Cup. The child vowed to avenge the father’s tears. Brazil were still wearing white in 1950. Twenty years later their yellow shirts were synonymous with the beautiful game, with winning in style.
His is a tale in which natural talent meets drive and ambition. Pele’s father, known as Dondinho, was a highly rated player who suffered an injury that essentially put an end to his footballing prospects on the day that should have been his big break. The family were plunged into poverty and the youngster earned some cash as a shoeshine boy.
In order to take up the game he had to overcome fierce maternal resistance; football was an insecure profession, argued his mother, where you were only ever one injury away from the scrap heap. The young Pele — the origins of the nickname have never been entirely explained, and he originally hated it — paid attention. He gave himself the best chance of success by making the most of his enormous potential.
