Pelé was born in 1940 with the birth name Edson Arantes do Nascimento, in a poor family in Brazil. His father was also a football player, playing for Fluminense in the Brazilian National Championship. Perhaps that is why the passion for football was inherent in young Pele, and later, with his innate talent and his best efforts, he rose to become a famous player around the world.

The poor, anonymous boy became a football legend

Pelé himself was never a rich child. Since he was young, because he was poor, he had to shine shoes to earn extra income for his family. Loves soccer but can’t afford to buy a ball, so Pelé stuffs paper into his socks to make soccer balls. With the boys in the neighborhood, he formed a soccer team called Ameriquinha to practice and participate in a local youth tournament.

Participating in many youth tournaments with Ameriquinha, Pelé has affirmed his outstanding soccer skills, creating many beautiful goals in most tournaments. At age 11, Pelé caught the eye of Waldemar de Brito, a top player in the country. Brito is said to have introduced Pelé to the coaches of big teams, boldly declaring that Pelé would be the greatest football player in the world. From there, Pelé officially entered the path of professional soccer when joining Santos Club – the most professional soccer team in Brazil at that time.

Pele proved himself with Santos when, at the age of 16, he scored a goal in his first major match, which was against Corinthians FC. And then from the initial steps, the world began to pay attention when 17-year-old Pelé scored 6 goals at the 1958 World Cup and led the Brazilian National Team to win the first World Cup that year. there.

With his speed and skill combined with his physical strength, Pelé has been invited by the world’s top clubs. Former President Janio Quadros declared him a national treasure to retain Pelé as the only star of the Brazilian team. Just like that, Pelé and Brazil were crowned champions two more times at the 1962 and 1970 World Cups. And to this day, he is still the only player in the world to be crowned World Champion three times.

In the fall of 1977, “King of Soccer” Pelé officially retired from his career with dazzling milestones: scoring 1,281 goals in 1,363 matches. This is an extremely impressive and memorable number for not only soccer legend Pelé but also world soccer fans. In 1999, after 22 years of retreating behind the scenes, Pele was awarded the title “Player of the 20th Century” by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) – a noble title awarded by football stars. It will be difficult for future football stars to keep up.

At the age of 82, emaciated by illness, he is still a great monument in the hearts of fans

Besides his top career, Pelé’s personal life also consumes a lot of ink in the press. In the peak years of his youth, the “King of Football” was surrounded by many women and had brief love affairs. Pelé was married three times. His marriage to his first wife ended in 1982.

12 years later, Pele married his second wife, singer Assiria, but this marriage only lasted 14 years. In the summer of 2016, he married again to his third wife, Marcia, and has lived happily ever since. However, at the age of 82, the “King of Football”‘s health was not really good and had to be hospitalized in his home country of Brazil.

According to ESPN (Brazil), doctors discovered Pele had colon cancer in September 2021 when he had a series of routine checks that were postponed for 15 months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In February this year, the football legend was hospitalized for 2 weeks due to a urinary tract infection, which made his cancer treatment more complicated. Recently, Pelé was hospitalized in Sao Paulo with his health condition deteriorating with signs of generalized edema and heart failure.

Most recently, on December 3, the world press reported that former celebrity Pelé was transferred to the “hospice care” area by Albert Einstein Hospital in Brazil, after his body no longer responded to the treatment. chemotherapy to treat bowel cancer. This makes many football fans worried about the health condition of the legendary Brazilian team.

However, Pele posted the message “get well soon” on social networks to reassure fans. Besides the attraction from the fiery football matches at the 2022 World Cup, many fans around the world are now looking to Pelé, praying and hoping he can overcome his illness.

It can be said that, even though Pelé has retired from his shorts career, he is always a solid monument in the soccer world and in the hearts of soccer fans.