Brazil’s Football Legend Pele turns 80: glimpse of his life’s best moments
Published by: Kanishk Sharma Here are some of Brazilian legend’s best moments of his life as his celebrates Birthday with Friends and family in isolation.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:
He was a very, very special player. His immense technical ability, eye for goal and his long, successful career helped him showcase his skills to the world at large. He is a man who needs no introduction. He is Brazil’s Football Legend Pele.
The only player in history to win three World Cups (1958, 1962 and 1970), Pele turned 80 recently and celebrated his birthday quietly as he does almost every year, he says, coronavirus pandemic or not.
Voted as the joint-winner of the FIFA Player of the Century award, Pelé is often celebrated as the greatest footballer to have graced the planet. The insanely-talented forward epitomised everything that Brazilian football stands for: flair, technique, and flamboyant samba skills.
“Thank you to Brazil and all Brazilians. I was always very happy wearing this jersey. Thank you for all your warm wishes for my birthday,” he wrote Wednesday on Instagram, posted with a photo of himself celebrating one of his 1,281 goals.
Born on October 23, 1940, Edson Arantes do Nascimento fondly known as Pele, is Brazil’s all-time leading scorer with 77 goals, and has scored more than 1,200 goals, a record likely to stand for all time, and which includes more than 1,000 goals for Santos, Pele’s club from 1956 to 1974. He also added 72 goals in 92 appearances for A Seleção.
Pele also collected a slew of trophies for Brazilian club Santos from 1956-74, including 10 Sao Paulo state league titles, which was a top tournament at the time, six Brazilian championships, two Copa Libertadores titles and the Intercontinental Cup in 1962 and 1963.
Remembering Pele’s brilliance let us pause, rewind and play Pele’s career’s best moments:
- 1,000th Career Goal
Pelé amassed over 1,000 goals in his career, and upon achieving this monumental feat’, sparked a pitch invasion and the game had to be stopped for 20 minutes. Pelé kissed the ball, before teammates, opposition and fans swarm towards him and carry him on a lap of honour around the stadium.
- The 1959 South American Championships The1959 South American Championships was the one that got away for Pelé during his illustrious career. Pelé lit up the competition in 1959, fresh off the back of being crowned a champion of the world. Brazil somehow failed to win the South American Championships, finishing a point behind Argentina, but the teenaged superstar lit up the campaign, scoring eight goals and being named player of the tournament.
- Copa Libertadores Success with Santos:
Having won the Brazilian league title in 1961, Santos qualified for the 1962 Copa Libertadores – a competition they had never won before. Santos cruised through the opening round, and edged past Universidad Católica in the semis.
Santos came out on top, thanks a goal to brace from Pelé in the final match. The striker scored four in the entire competition, and helped his club win their maiden Copa Libertadores trophy.
- 17-Year-Old World Beater
The 1958 edition saw17-year-old Pelé take to the world stage as a mere teenager, but he left an everlasting mark on the sport in Sweden.
Pelé scored the winning goal against Wales in the quarter-finals, and completing a stunning hat-trick to defeat France in the semis.
Pelé produced one of the greatest goals that the World Cup has ever seen. He later doubled his tally, as Brazil won 5-2 to lift the nation’s first ever World Cup trophy.
Pelé remains the youngest player to ever participate and score in a World Cup final.
After initially refusing to play for the Brazil national side in 1969, the superstar caved and helped the Seleção qualify for the 1970 World Cup.
Pelé came close on a few occasions to scoring the most outrageous goal of his career, particularly against Uruguay and Czechoslovakia. Unbelievably, Pelé miscued his finish, firing wide with the whole goal to aim at.
Pelé smashed in a lovely outside of the boot free-kick against Romania, and he starred in the 4-1 final victory over Italy, laying on the final pass for Carlos Alberto’s famous team goal, and burying a brilliant header of his own.
The Brazilian ended his career with the New York Cosmos, where he played from 1975-77, winning one national title and attracting sports greats like boxer Muhammad Ali to watch him play as soccer took root in the United States.
Pele was also Brazil’s sports minister from 1995-98.
Our best wishes to the Football Maestro…