The debate about who is the greatest to ever play the sport of soccer will be debated for time eternal. Who the sport’s king and ambassador is is indisputable. Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pele, passed away on Thursday after a long battle with cancer at the age of 82. His family was by his side at Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein.
Pele is the only man to win the World Cup three times in 1958, 1962, and 1970. He won as a 17-year old guiding Brazil past Sweden scoring twice in the Final. He would miss most of the 1962 World Cup due to injury as Brazil repeated as champions in Chile. After being fouled out of the 1966 World Cup, he returned in 1970 in time to become the sport’s first genuine global superstar as he led Brazil to their third World Cup scoring once in the final and assisting on another for Carlos Alberto.
He’s also a six-time Balon d’Or winner, twice Copa Libertadores winner with Santos of Brazil, and of course, one-time NASL Champion with the Cosmos.
Soccer had existed for about a century in this country before he came out of retirement in 1975 to play for the New York Cosmos, but there is no doubt that he gave it its biggest jump-start in the USA. Almost overnight, the Cosmos went from playing before a handful of fans at Downing Stadium to nearly 79,000 at Giants Stadium. The North American Soccer League went from a niche league closer towards one of the major sports (for a time) in this country. There have been many bumps on the road to relevance for soccer in this country since Pele arrived, but neither the bumps, nor the continued advancement of the sport would be possible without Pele.
This will be one of many tributes about Pele as his time as a player was before this reporter’s time on Earth. However, he is the sport’s undisputed ambassador and you did not have to know about soccer to know about Pele.
Our Steve Clare got to interview Pele:
I interviewed Pele once. He was a great man with a great sense of humour, and only kind words to say about other legends.
RIP Pele@ProstSoccer @ProstInt
— Steve Clare (@Steve__Clare) December 29, 2022
Pele played his last match as a professional on October 1st, 1977, playing one half for the Cosmos and one for Santos. Prior to the match, Pele gave the following speech:
“Ladies and gentlemen, I am very happy to be here with you in this greatest moment of my life. I want to thank you all, every single one of you. I want to take this opportunity to ask you to pay attention to the young of the world, the children, the kids. We need them too much. And I want to ask you because I think that, I believe that, love is. the, the, the… Love is more important than what we can take in life. Everything pass. Please say with me, three times — love! love! love!”
As stated before, there will be always debate as to who the greatest player to ever play the soccer. As for who the sport’s king and ambassador? There is no debate. It’s the man who brought “The Beautiful Game” to the World.
Love! Love! Love!
