Was Pelé the greatest footballer of all time?

Axel May 1:20 p.m., December 30, 2022

Football lovers around the world have been in mourning since Thursday, and the announcement of the death of Pelé, at the age of 82.

Can we say that Pelé was simply the greatest footballer of all time?

Was he "The Greatest" as the headline this morning in the British daily

, or as Italy's

points out .

Pelé or Maradona?

Decades after Pelé's retirement, the debate over who was better between him and Diego Armando Maradona is still heated.

If we stick to the statistics, it is clear that they are incredible: three world champion titles 1958, 1962, 1970. He is the only footballer, all generations combined, all countries combined, to have been crowned three times.

First goal in the World Cup scored at 17 and a half.

He remains to this day the youngest scorer in the history of the competition and also the youngest to have played in a world final.

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All this makes you dizzy, but there are also those who will tell you 'no, it's Maradona and his excesses of all kinds who are the best'.

, Brazilian media, also has fun pointing out that the Argentinians and the Argentinian press refuse to qualify Pelé as the greatest player of all time, and others will point out to you that there was Beckenbauer, Cruyff, Platini, Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappe.

In short, that comparison is not right.

Political ambiguities

Beyond the praise concerts from all over the planet, there is also a darker, more questionable side of King Pelé.

There, too, there are debates.

The newspaper

 recalls the political ambiguities of the king of football away from the field.

The main grievance undoubtedly concerns the period of the military dictatorship which lasted between 1964 and 1985 in Brazil, and in particular when the

, in 1970, used Pelé to try to make people forget the repression.

Pelé does not protest and this will be reproached to him many years later.