Pelé(1940-2022)
- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Simply he was, and for many people still is, the greatest football
player of the world. Not a single thing was impossible for him: he won
three World Cups with his National Team of Brazil (Sweden 1958, Chile
1962, Mexico 1970). He scored more than 1.200 goals during his long
career (more than 1.300 official matches). He also won many national
Leagues and Continental Cups ("Copa Libertadores"), with his team, the
Santos Futebol Clube (of Brazilian 'São Paulo' State). In the '60s,
he was nick-named "O Rei" (The King), and in the '70s, ninety-five people
out of 100 knew his name. ("Wow, man, you're popular!" said Robert Redford,
some years ago, after seeing Pelé give dozens of autographs in
New York while he was not asked for one). In the late 1960s, when he
and his team, Santos, went to Nigeria to play a few friendly matches,
the ongoing civil war stopped for the duration of his visit. He
finished his career in the New York Cosmos, in 1977. He later became a United
Nations Ambassador and has been also Minister for Sports in his
country, but, for the people who saw him make magics with his right
foot, he is, now and forever, the biggest footballer in the world, and
the one and only "King".