Pele (real name Edson Arantes do Nasiemento ) was born on October 23, 1940 in Tres Coracoes, Minoas Gerias, Brazil. He was a brazilian footballer.
Biography and Career :
Pele is regarded by many as the greatest footballer to have played the beautiful game.
He was dicovered at the age of 11 and a few years later was brought to Sao Paulo to play for Santos. He scored on his debut at 16 against Corinthians F.C, and by the following season was the top scorer in the league.
In 1958 Pele won his first World Cup medal and scored twice in Brazil's win over Sweden in the final. He played in the next three world cups for Brazil, winning again in 1962 and for the third time with the great 1970 side. Managed by Zag
alo, in addition to Pele the team boasted Carlos Alberto, Jairzinho, TostiŁo and Rivelino (Corinthians).
The great attacking ace scored over 1,280 goals in his 1,363 professional games.
Pele played mainly for Santos, where he also became a director, but did accept a lucrative contact with the New York Cosmos in the late 70s.
In 1981 Pele was part of the star-studded cast of the film Escape to Victory which was recently voted the best footballing film of all time.
Pele won the FIFA award for Best Soccer Player of the Twentieth Century, and was appointed UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in 1994.
He was given a lifetime achievement award in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards, 2005.
Pele once explained how he wasn't too happy to get his nickname: "Pele isn't my real name, my real name is Edson. A class-mate wanted to anger me with the name Pele, so I punched him and got suspended from school. I didn't want the name. Pele sounds like baby-talk in Portuguese."