King Pelé passed away on Thursday at the age of 82.
He will remain as the man at the three Football World Cups with the Brazilian national team (1958, 1962 and 1970), and a player with unparalleled ease on the pitch.
Professional football player from 1956 to 1977, he made the happiness of the Santos FC club, before ending his career at New York Cosmos in the United States.
He will then continue to use his public notoriety for various humanitarian, political and event actions.
Back, in pictures, on the life of this legend of the round ball.
Directed by:
Olivier JUSZCZAK
Edson Arantes do Nascimento aka Pelé was born on October 23, 1940 in Três Corações in the state of Minas Gerais, north of Rio de Janeiro.
Spotted at a very young age, Pelé left his family in 1956 at the age of fifteen to play for the Santos FC club and become a professional player.
Called up to the Brazilian national team in 1957, he played his first World Cup in Sweden in 1958, at the age of 17.
He then became the youngest participant in the tournament, a record still in progress.
On June 19, 1958, Pelé scored his first World Cup goal against Wales in the quarter-finals of the tournament, aged 17 years and 239 days, another record still in effect.
Brazil wins 1 to 0. In the semi-finals, the Seleçao faces France of Raymond Kopa.
With a victory 5 goals to 2 including 3 from Pelé, the Brazilians slipped into the final.
Pelé scored two more goals in the final against Sweden on June 29, 1958. Brazil won 5-2 in the first-ever World Cup final to be shown live on television.
With this victory, the Brazilians experience great media coverage on their return to the country.
After the trauma of the defeat in the final against Uruguay at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, the Seleçao won its first World Cup.
And a genius appears in the eyes of the world!
Four years later at the World Cup in Chile, Pelé was injured in the second match against Czechoslovakia on June 2, 1962. He let his partners play the end of the tournament without him, and win a second World Cup in a row.
But it is also a second title for the Brazilian prodigy.
In 1966, during the World Cup in England, Pelé's fame and talent fueled the violence of opposing defenders.
It becomes the target of attacks not always sanctioned, and Brazil is quickly eliminated from the competition.
With his club Santos FC in Brazil, he was Brazilian champion six times (1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1968).
He also won two Libertadores Cups (1962 and 1963) and two Intercontinental Cups (1962 and 1963).
On November 19, 1969 against Vasco da Gama, he scored his 1000th career goal from a penalty.
In 1970, Pelé participated in his fourth World Cup in Mexico, the first broadcast in color on television.
After beating Uruguay in the semi-finals (3-1) and avenging the affront of defeat in 1950, the Brazilians find themselves in the final against Italy.
The Brazilian prodigy scores the first goal of the match by flying over the Italian defenders, despite his height of 1.73m.
The celebration of this goal will reward us with an iconic image of Pelé in the arms of his teammate Jairzinho.
A legendary photo that will forever remain in the history of this sport.
Brazil wins 4-1 against Italy and wins the third World Cup in its history.
Pelé becomes the first player to earn three "stars".
He is still the only player currently to have achieved this performance.
But this World Cup in Mexico is also a colorful recital for the Santos footballer.
With his shot attempt 50m from Czechoslovakia's goal, his feigned body without touching the ball in front of Uruguayan goalkeeper Ladislao Mazurkiewicz, his passes, his dribbles and his straddles, Pelé delights all football lovers during this World Cup.
A year after this title, Pelé retired from international football.
However, he continued his club career, still at Santos FC, through various competitions and friendly tours around the world.
In 1974, after eighteen years at Santos FC, Pelé decided to retire from the world of football.
However, a few months later, the former Santos player answered the call for dollars from the New York Cosmos and resumed football activity in the American championship, in June 1975. On August 27, 1977, he won the national title.
His last trophy since he is retiring in September.
Pelé also plays in a few films including John Houston's
Victory
where he shares the poster with Sylvester Stallone and Michael Caine, in 1981.
Just after the end of his football career, Pelé became Brazil's ambassador to the UN and was awarded the title of “Citizen of the World”.
He engages in several humanitarian actions.
He works on the FIFA Fair Play Committee and is also a Goodwill Ambassador for Unicef.
After several refusals, he accepted the post of Sports Minister of Brazil in 1995. From his mandate until the end of 1998, there remained the "Pelé law" allowing players to join the club that they want an adaptation of the Bosman judgment in Europe.
Neymar, who like Pelé came from the FC Santos club, is often considered his heir in Brazil.
Always consensual in his actions, Pelé promotes as an ambassador of the 2014 FIFA World Cup organized in his country.
In January 2014, he received an Honorary Golden Ball for his entire football career.
During its period of activity, this reward was reserved for European players.
On the private side, Pelé is the father of five children from two unions.
He also has two other children, recognized later, with two other women.
In 2016, he got married for the last time to a businesswoman of Japanese origin, Marcia Cibele Aoki.
It was alongside Kylian Mbappé that Pelé made one of his last public appearances, in April 2019, in Paris, for a promotional event with a common sponsor.
In view of the precocity and talent of the French footballer, he is often compared to the "King".
In September 2021, the Brazilian legend underwent surgery on a cancerous tumor.
He leaves us this Thursday, at the age of 82 following the worsening of his state of health.
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