Pele. It’s more than just a four-letter word. It’s more than just a name. It’s a symbol of hope and everything beautiful. A light at the end of a dark tunnel. It’s a metaphor. You know about Pele before you know how to kick a ball or run around in your backyard. Even before you learn nursery rhymes. It’s powerful yet mysterious. You know about Pele even before you figure out where Brazil is. No name has touched more lives than Pele’s.
He transcends the human world, he permeates into the world of the poor, he moves around in the society of the rich, he is in the classrooms, he is in boardrooms, he is everywhere. Pele is so popular that his name—Edson Arantes do Nascimento—is tucked into the folds of quiz books. We have yet to determine its origin. There are various theories, but even Pele could not give a clear picture.
Pele’s rise to greatness is not just on the football field and the game he played but what he represented. Born in a poor family in Três Corações, a small town in Minas Gerais, he was raised in poverty. A Black player who had magic in his feet. He became the youngest player to score in the World Cup at the age of 17 when he helped football-crazy Brazil win its first trophy. Until then, the nation was looking for a hero—someone to deliver the proverbial Holy Grail.
He went on to win two more in 1962 and 1970. He turned Santos into a brand with 25 titles in the sixties. He scored 1,283 goals in 1,363 matches, which remains a record. He gave meaning to football, turning it into ‘jogo bonito’ (a beautiful game). He even came out of retirement to popularise the game in the United States, where he played for New York Cosmos. His iconic words—love, love, love—still unify the fissured world. Capitalist or communist, dictatorship or democracy, one can never help falling in love with Pele. He gave belief to the world when there was none. He was toasted by classicists and romantics alike. In an ethnically and racially divided Brazil, Pele, also known as Black Pearl, brought everyone together irrespective of class, colour and creed. His name resonated across the world and remained untouched and unharmed until this day and perhaps never will. The eternal king of football lives on.