Football’s greatest icon Edson Arantes do Nascimento, popularly known as Pele, passed away at the age of 82 on Thursday.
Pele died at the Albert Einstein hospital in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo following a battle with cancer.
Afrosport looks at some of his most outstanding achievements as we honour an illustrious life that influenced not only football but the whole world.
1 – The only individual to have won three FIFA World Cups: in 1958, 1962, and 1970.
2 – Joint-top scorer for the Brazilian national team, level with Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar. They are both on 77 goals but Pele scored achieved the feat in 92 matches; 32 fewer than Neymar.
3 – He served as Brazil’s Minister of Sports for THREE years, from January 1995 to April 1998.
4 – He was one of only five players to have scored in FOUR different editions of the FIFA World Cup, alongside Uwe Seeler, Miroslav Klose, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Lionel Messi.
5 – Ranked FIFTH in the list of top goalscorers in football history with 757 goals in 831 official matches.
6 – He won the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A (Brazil’s top football league), a record SIX times with Santos.
7 – He was the record-highest goalscorer in the Intercontinental Cup (a competition between the winners of the UEFA Champions League and the South American Copa Libertadores) with SEVEN goals.
8 – He is Santos all-time top scorer with 643 goals in 659 competitive matches.
9 – Scored 92 hat-tricks across an illustrious career, a number deemed to be the most ever.
10 – Pele provided the most assists in a FIFA World Cup tournament, 10.
