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Pele - The World's Greatest Football Player!
Pelé (Edison Arantes do Nascimento) born October 23rd , 1940 is possibly the greatest ever footballer.
    
Pele started playing for his Sao Paulo based club, Santos (Junior Team), at the tender age of 15, moreover he represented his country at 16 years old and went on too win a World Cup with Brazil at only 17 years old.
These facts are absolutely incredible, and it isn’t any wonder that almost every football fan in the world would have Pele roll off the tongue if asked to name the top 3 greatest ever football players.
Pele’s ball skills were almost magical, his shimmy’s legendary, his headers unstoppable, his shots, a goalkeepers nightmare, his dribbling surreal and his passing , sublime.
Yes! Pele was the greatest alright – anyone want to argue?
Pele’s father played for Fluminenense and then went on to play for Athletico Mineiro where he unfortunately sustained a knee injury and was forced to leave the game.
His dad, Dondinho , thankfully taught and encouraged him to play soccer, which he practiced endlessly, with either a grapefruit or a paper filled sock.
Pele was phenomenal throughout the 1950s and 60s and scored some truly spectacular goals – the top European clubs clamored for a piece of him, but the Brazilian’s would not allow him to cross the Atlantic, on the contrary, there was no way they were going to lose their ¨National Treasure¨
In 1973 however, Pele did retire from the Brazilian scene and headed north to play for New York Cosmos.
Pele won 3 FIFA World Cups with Brazil and numerous Brazilian national titles and cups with his club, Santos.
Since retiring from football Pele has continued to represent football interests in various guises, including; ambassadorial duties with FIFA, UNESCO and United Nations.
  
Pele is still very active in many different spheres (unsurprisingly though, mostly with a soccer twist).
He has penned an autobiography, opened everything from a supermarket to the World Cup Finals, done a spot of acting and film making - and dare I say it , has even promoted Viagra.
Pele will remain a football superstar and off the field, as of 2008 it doesn't look as if he will ever retire. |
