Pele, the man credited with globalizing soccer into the beloved sport it is today, passed away due to a long fight with colon cancer at the age of 82.
Born in the southeastern city of Tres Coracoes, outside of Sao Paolo, Pele became the youngest player at 17 to ever score in the World Cup en route to his record three World Cup victories in 1958, 1962 and 1970.
While his 12 World Cup goals are tied for sixth all-time, he scored with a sense of style, acrobatic flair and joyfulness that helped earn the canary yellow-clad Selecao the moniker of “The Samba Kings”
While his list of accomplishments on and off the pitch are extensive, known as O Rei (The King) such as scoring, his impact is seen and felt everywhere in soccer, from players wearing his fable No. 10, to other countries and clubs adopting Brazil’s trademark yellow in their own kits to inspiring modern-day players such as Neymar, Kylian Mbappe in terms of flash and finesse.
His record of 618 goals for his Brazilian club, Santos FC, was just broken two years ago is one of the many reasons Pele was named FIFA’s “Player of the Century” for a reason back in 2000.
Pele came out of retirement in 1975 to play for the New York Cosmos of the upstart NASL until 1977, to help light the spark of soccer in the United States at that time, and some can argue that thanks to him playing in a global market such as the Big Apple, it helped create the groundswell for what would become MLS.
His debut NASL match drew a then-record audience of ten million viewers.
A simple and humble man with a 1000-watt smile, Pele was and will forever be the standard of futbol worldwide. His passing will leave a mark not only in his native Brazil, but for the whole world as he helped build and create the beautiful game, “o jogo bonito,” as it’s called in Portuguese, he was its original artist, whose work will forever and always be treasured and appreciated for years to come.
Long live The King forever.