Biography Of Pele - The King Of Football
Author: Niv Orlian

For us younger folks, Brazil soccer is great because that's how
it's meant to be…we take that as a natural order of things,
having grown up with the Brazilian soccer team's successes in
the World Cups of the 1990s.

But the myth of Brazilian soccer was born a lot earlier, in
times when soccer started to become a worldwide "plague" and
there are a lot of people who attribute this internalization of
soccer to the Brazilian team of the 50s, a team that was lead to
success by one of the most preeminent figures in sports, the
famous soccer player Pele.

Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pele climbed a steep mountain
from living his youth in a poor Brazilian family, to becoming
one of the most beloved figures in the modern history of sports.
His father was a footballer himself, playing for Fluminense in
the Brazilian league and it was only natural that young Pele
would follow his father's footsteps in the game.

He wasn't always known as Pele though. Rumor has it that this
nickname was given to him in primary school, as he kept
misspelling the name of one of his favorite players at that
time, Vasco Da Gama's goalkeeper Bile.

His schoolmates gave him this new nickname and mostly made fun
of him, so he obviously disliked it; so much that he punched the
fellow classmate that coined the nicknamed. However, in time, he
gradually became used to it and even started liking it and it
wasn't long before everyone knew the soccer wonderkid as Pele.

Living in poverty, he couldn't afford soccer equipment, nor a
soccer ball. He shined shoes for an extra coin that would help
him and his friends stitch up a newspaper-filled sock to use as
a football. He formed a team with his neighbors from the Sete de
Setembro street and even participated in a youth tournament,
where the team earned the nickname "the shoeless ones" because
none of the kids could afford to waste their walking shoes (if
any) on playing soccer.

A few years later, each member of the team worked hard for the
extra money to get a proper pair of shoes and renamed their team
to Ameriquinha. Participating in numerous youth tournaments with
Ameriquinha, Pele made a name for himself at a tender age for
his prowess in front of goal, becoming top scorer in almost all
of these tournaments.

At the tender age of 15, he caught the eyes of one of the
biggest teams in Brazil, FC Santos, who offered him a contract
and by 16 he was already a member of the senior squad. He spent
almost his entire career at Santos, since European transfers
weren't that popular back, although the final 2 years of his
career were spent at New York Cosmos, before Pele finally hanged
his boots.

Pele made his debut in the Brazilian soccer team in the same
year he debuted at Santos' senior squad, when he was just 16
years old. Amazingly, he was taken on to the 1958 World Cup
squad, at age 17, becoming the youngest player in the
competition. He even scored a crucial goal in the quarterfinals
against Wales, a goal which took Brazil past that stage and into
the semis.

But Pele was saving the best for the final: meeting Sweden, he
scored a magnificent goal, lobbing the ball past a defender and
volleying it into the net, eventually winning the final for
Brazil. After the match ended, the effort and the joy bundled up
and the 17-year old Pele couldn't take it, passing out on the
field and needing medical attention.

As a soccer player, Pele attended 3 more World Cups, between
1962 and 1970, winning the first and latter. He was the first
player ever to score in 4 different World Cups and in 1970 he
achieved a unique performance that boosted him to the heights of
international soccer: he scored 1,000 official goals for club
and country.

Although many dispute this record or try to bring it down,
saying that soccer wasn't as defensive or tactical back than as
it is today (which is partially true), his merit of being a
major stand pole on the international soccer stage between the
mid 50s all the way to the late 70s should not be undermined.
Named best soccer player in the World and athlete of the 20th
century, Pele now acts as an ambassador for soccer and fair
play.


About The Author: Niv Orlian is the author and the owner of
http://www.soccer-fans-info.com , a website that provides
information on various topics related to soccer. For additional
biographies on soccer players visit
http://www.soccer-fans-info.com/famous-soccer-players.html