Pele: Football's greatest gift

  • 1 Year Ago 05 December 2022
For if there ever was a football great, it is none other than King Pele.

Nicknamed ‘The Black Pearl’, 82-year old Pele - whose full name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento - is regarded by many as the greatest footballer of all time, and rightfully so.

He is the best to come out of the best footballing country ever, a phenomenon the likes of which we may never see again.

You cannot think or talk football and not mention Pele. His professional career started in 1956 when he signed to Santos at the age of 15. The man who took him to Santos predicted that he would become the greatest player in the world. How true this is, no one knows – but did it happen? It surely did.

No other player, male or female, has matched his achievements, which came during an unimaginable career that spanned two decades from the 1950s through the 70s. He scored on his debut for Santos and by the end of his first season, he was the league's top scorer.

At the age of 17, he was called up for the 1958 World Cup squad. He scored in his debut.

In that match, he whipped the ball over a defender’s head, spun off the defender and struck a volley shot – this goal is still unmatched in World Cup play.

Pele’s accomplishments dwarf all-comers and require an entire book to tell his story - I don’t think a mere column will do him justice, but try we must.

At the World Cup final, Pele scored twice, helping Brazil to a 5-2 victory over Sweden. His first goal was voted one of the best in World Cup history. So, by the age of 17, he had been top scorer in his domestic league and won a World Cup.

Interest from big clubs started. The government of Brazil declared him an ‘official national treasure’, meaning he could not be sold or contracted to clubs outside Brazil.

He continued to dominate football, scoring a record 1 281 goals in 1 363 matches, including a record 77 strikes in 92 appearances for Brazil. Cherry on the cake – he won three World Cups with Brazil in 1958, 1962 and 1970.

I didn’t have the pleasure of watching Pele play football when I was growing up. But my uncle did. He loved Pele, and so I grew up hearing stories of how magnificent he was. My uncle played football himself and always read up on Pele and tried to imitate his famous volley kick.

This is a man who never met Pele. But it just goes to show how far his success - and the impact he had on people’s lives - spread.

Pele transformed Brazil and changed the history of the sport itself. Wherever he went to play, someone was inspired. His visit with Santos to Lagos, Nigeria, in 1967, stopped a civil war in that African nation. Enemies laid down their weapons and stopped the killing to watch him in action.

This is a tribute to the global icon, as reports are coming in from his native country that he has been moved to ‘end-of-life care' at the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo, as doctors stopped chemotherapy after his body stopped responding to treatment in a fight against bowel cancer.

Namibia prays for you and your family. Thank you for sharing your gift with the world.

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