Pele Biography, Age, Wife, Children, Family, Wiki & More

Pele’s birth name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento. He was fondly called "Dico". He was raised in poverty. He though developed skills for playing soccer by kicking pieces of stuff on the streets of Bauru. 

 

He started off his journey by joining a youth squad. That squad was coached by former international star Waldemar de Brito. He was highly impressed with his skills and thus convinced his family and made him join Santos professional soccer club. He was just 15 years old then. Soon after joining the squad, he became the poster boy of the team and scored his first goal even before he turned 16. Soon after coming in the reckoning, he was drafted in National side. He was included in the squad that was announced for the 1958 football world cup. He was instrumental in Brazil’s win in that world cup as the 17-year-old three goals in the semi-finals and two in the finals. He after his heroics was offered a lot of lucrative deal to play for European clubs and was officially declared as a national treasure by the then Brazilian President, Jânio Quadros. 

 

In the next two world cups, he had to wait on sidelines as he was nursing injuries. However, he showed what he is capable of in the 1970 Football World Cup in Mexico. He netted four goals in the tournament which includes one screamer in the finals against Italy which made them lift the World Cup once again. He announced his retirement from the international arena in the year 1974 but kept playing in the North American Soccer league and finally played his last match in 1977. He retired with 1281 goals to his name from 1362 games. 

 

Retirement didn’t diminish his popularity at all and is even today considered as a legend in the world of football. He was named "Co-Player of the Century" by FIFA in the year 1999 alongside legendary Argentine footballer “Diego Maradona”. In 2006, he published his autobiography called Pele: The Autobiography.