Pele obituary: Brazil and Santos legend dies aged 82 as only player to have won three World Cups

He had a tumor removed from his colon in September 2021, but was readmitted to Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in Sao Paulo at the end of November 2022.

Doctors later said his illness had progressed and special attention was being paid to “renal and cardiac dysfunctions”.

Pele’s daughter Kely Nascimento wrote on Instagram on December 29: “Everything we are is thanks to you. We love you infinitely. Rest in peace.”

Pele is widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers to have ever played the game – regularly mentioned alongside Diego Maradona, Johann Cruyff and, more recently, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, the man who would become known as Pele, burst onto the scene at just 16, showing his talent from an early age with his club side Santos in Sao Paulo.

He was soon playing at international level, making his debut in a 2-1 defeat against Argentina at the Maracana in 1957. Pele found the net in that game and became his country’s youngest ever goalscorer – a record which still is yet to be beaten.

This was just the beginning of a record-setting career.

The next year, Pele shone as Brazil announced himself on the global stage as he led his country to World Cup glory in Sweden.

He scored the only goal of a quarter-final victory over Wales, before a hat-trick in the semi-final and a brace in a 5-2 final win against the host nation as Brazil lifted the trophy.

As he struck the net in football’s biggest competition, Pele became the youngest player to score at a World Cup, a record he still holds.

No player has won more World Cup trophies than Pele, with his 1958 success followed by victory in Chile in 1962 (although he missed much of the tournament through injury) and a final triumph in 1970, where he also won the Golden Ball with four goals in Mexico.

In 1966, Pele became the first player to score in three successive World Cups, but Brazil failed to qualify from their group. Pele reportedly contemplated international retirement after the tournament, where he was on the end of some strong challenges, but returned for one more World Cup in 1970.

Brazil won all six of their matches at the 1970 World Cup and Pele was famously denied a goal by a remarkable save from England goalkeeper Gordon Banks in the group stage.

“When you are a footballer, you know straight away how well you have hit the ball,” Pele later said about the save.

“I hit that header exactly as I had hoped. Exactly where I wanted it to go. And I was ready to celebrate…I scored so many goals in my life, but many people, when they meet me, always ask me about that save.”

Pele finished his World Cup career having scored 12 goals in 14 games. He is joint-top all-time scorer for Brazil with 77 goals in 92 games, alongside Neymar.

Pele’s club career saw him spend 18 years with Santos, before his swansong saw him turn out for New York Cosmos for two years.

He made his Santos debut aged 15 and enjoyed huge success with the club, winning the Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental Cup in both 1962 and 1963.

He was such an important figure in Brazil that he was declared a national treasure by the Brazilian government, which prevented him from being transferred out of the country.

Speaking in 2015, Pele said: “I had many offers to sign for [Real] Madrid, Barca, Milan and Bayern [Munich] , but I was happy at Santos and that’s why I stayed for 18 years.

“When I left it was an experience to go to the Cosmos and promote football, do soccer clinics and learn English… if not I would never have left Brazil.”

Pele announced his retirement in 1974 only to return a year later to play for New York Cosmos. He hung up his boots for the last time after securing the league title for Cosmos in 1977.

Over 75,000 fans attended Pele’s farewell game at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. He played for Cosmos in the first half and Santos in the second half, scoring for Cosmos.

Speaking to the crowd, Pele said: “I want to take this opportunity to ask you, in this moment when the world looks to me, to please take more attention to the young ones, to the kids all over the world.

“We need them too much…I want to ask you – because I believe that love is the most important thing we can take from life, because everything else passes—to say with me three times, Love! Love! Love!”

It remains much disputed over how many goals Pele officially scored during his time in the game. FIFA’s website says he netted 1,281 goals in 1,363 games, but that does include friendly matches too. The Guinness World Records have a total of 1,289 goals from 1,363 games.

Staggering, whichever way you look at it.

Reflecting on his career during his 80th birthday celebrations, Pele admitted he achieved everything he wanted to in the game…on Planet Earth anyway.

“When there’s football on the moon, I’ll go there and have a little kickaround.”