Football is one of the most popular games in the world; the best football player may logically be regarded as the most celebrated one. Pele has been one of the best football players of the world. According to a French newspaper, Pele, in an informal poll, was voted to be the best player of the century.
Pele was born in a poor family on October 23, 1940 in Brazil. His full name is Edson Arantes Do Nascimento. But people affectionately call him Pele. He is a Negro and thus has earned the name of Black Pearl of football. He is also called ‘King’ of football. Because of his poverty he had to drop out from school in the fourth class. He used to play soccer barefooted with a football made from cotton cloth. Once even he stole peanuts from a goods train to buy a leather football. Later he took up a job with a cobbler on a meagre salary.
At an early age of 11, he came in contact with the famous football instructor Waldimar Do Brito. Under his coaching Pele became an ace football player. When he was only 18, he became a member of the Brazilian Football Team and participated in the world football competition. Because of his skillful play Brazil became world champion in football. Subsequently he took part in the world football competition of 1962, 1966 & 1970.
Wearing the number 10 shirt, that was to become his trade mark, Pele scored 1216 goals in 1254 matches between 7th September 1956 to 2nd October 1974 – a world record for a single soccer player.
Pele has become a legend in his lifetime. Even today he receives more than 300 letters every week, most of which carry just the two-word address, “Pele, Brazil”. Now he has retired from football and established a football academy to train the budding footballers of his country.
Football has enabled Pele to earn a big fortune, but for him the most precious possession is a letter written to him by a blind boy from Columbia. The letter reads: “I have not been able to see any of the thousand goals scored by you. But after I heard that you had scored 999 goals, I constantly prayed to God to enable you to score the 1000th goal”. Pele says that he wept like a child after reading this letter.