Bloomberg Línea — Edson Arantes do Nascimento, universally known as Pelé, died this Thursday at 82 after a cancer battle. The Brazilian star was found to have an intestinal tumor in August 2021 and had been hospitalized at the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in São Paulo since 30 November this year.
Pele’s death came just a few days after the closure of the 2022′s edition of the FIFA World Cup, a tournament that made him famous globally and which he won three times with his Scratch do Oro (Gold Team).
In 2000, Pelé was voted World Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS), and in 1980 he was called the Athlete of the Century by the French newspaper L’Equipe, on top of American sprinter Jesse Owens. He’s also one of the top scorers in the history of soccer with 1,283 goals, including official and friendly matches. He remains one of team Brazil’s top strikers with 77 goals in 92 official matches and he won two Club World Cups with his team, Santos. Although he retired more than 40 years ago, his achievements resonated worldwide for decades.
On Saturday (December 24), Pelé was placed under palliative care, according to Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, which reported that the star was no longer responding to chemotherapy treatment.
Pelé was the youngest player in the world to score in a World Cup final, having made his debut in the 1958 tournament in Sweden at the age of 17. It was Brazil’s first victory in the competition.
He also won the 1962 World Cup in Chile, when he was injured in the first round, and the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, a victory that is considered by experts as the greatest performance by a soccer team in a tournament in history. He shared the glory in the Azteca Stadium with stars such as Rivellino, Gerson, Tostao and Jairzinho.
After learning that Pelé's health condition deteriorated, all of the his family members went to the hospital and spend Christmas with him.
“We are still here, in the fight and in faith. One more night together,” wrote Kely Nascimento, daughter of the Brazilian star, on her Instagram account with a moving photograph she shared hugging her father as he remained hospitalized and rested in the hospital bed.
He is the seventh top scorer in the history of the World Cup, with 12 goals in 14 games. Until the start of the World Cup in Qatar, the Brazilian was the only player to have scored seven World Cup goals under the age of 24, a feat France’s Kylian Mbappé also achieved this month.
On December 1, Pelé posted on his Instagram profile a message to thank the tributes in Qatar and said he was making his monthly visit to the hospital.
Pelé's influence travels the world to this day in a way that transcends the four lines of the soccer field.
After rising as a young black man of humble origins who rose to the top of world sport, Pelé has been revered by heads of state around the world; he became the face for global brands in an era with no internet or immediate mass media and has even managed to stop a war: when Santos, the club he played for most of his career from 1956 to 1974, played a friendly match in Nigeria in 1969.
Born on October 23, 1940 in the town of Três Corações, in Minas Gerais, Pelé fulfilled the promise he made to his father, Dondinho (who was also a footballer), at the age of 10, when Brazil lost the 1950 World Cup at home, in Rio de Janeiro, and went further, much further: he helped the country win 3 World Cups and became a landmark and an icon of soccer and world sports.