OBITUARY: Pele was a cut jewel - sharp-edged, glittering and flawless. Brazil's three-time World Cup winner was perfect in every dimension and stands alone as football's greatest of all time
- Pele has died at the age of 82 after being kept in hospital over Christmas when his colon cancer advanced
- The Brazil and Santos legend scored almost 1,300 goals over the course of his illustrious career
- He won the World Cup with Brazil three times - as a teenager in 1958 and then again in 1962 and 1970
- The 1970 Brazil team are widely regarded as one of the best sides ever to have taken to a football pitch
- READ: Pele's life off the pitch was just as colourful as the famous yellow shirts of the Selecao
- Here, Sportsmail's Jeff Powell pays tribute to the man he says is the greatest ever footballer
- Sportsmail has also analysed the other contenders who could be considered the greatest ever
His passing is mourned as universally as his conjuring of a football was a source of wonder from the poorest barrios to the pillars of wealth.
He was the god of the beautiful game who transported a World Cup which England once deemed unworthy of entering into the greatest sporting show on earth.
For those among us who might be described as vertically challenged, it came as something of a shock to meet for the first time the absolutely best footballer of all time.
![Pele, the Brazilian star who is arguably the greatest footballer of all time, has died at the age of 82](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/12/26/09/37964662-9143969-Pele_the_Brazilian_star_who_is_arguably_the_greatest_footballer_-a-2_1672046584642.jpg)
Pele, the Brazilian star who is arguably the greatest footballer of all time, has died at the age of 82
![Pele, pictured on February 13, had been undergoing chemotherapy for a colon tumour](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/02/23/12/54496607-9143969-Pele_pictured_on_February_13_has_been_undergoing_chemotherapy_fo-a-14_1645620723089.jpg)
![The all-time great returned to hospital for follow-up treatment (pictured with daughter Flavia)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/02/23/12/51549389-9143969-The_all_time_great_returned_to_hospital_for_follow_up_treatment_-m-13_1645620709964.jpg)
Pele, pictured (left) on February 13, had been undergoing chemotherapy for a colon tumour and passed away on Thursday
Even more so if that happened after you had seen him soar crossbar-high to power the header from which our own Gordon Banks made that phenomenal World Cup save at Mexico ’70.
My first of many a handshake with Edson Arantes do Nascimento came in Rio de Janeiro a couple of years after that indelible moment of combined magic.
![Pele and his wife Marcia Aoki pictured at the world premiere of 'Pele: Birth of a Legend' during the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/12/24/13/37966726-9143969-Pele_and_his_wife_Marcia_Aoki_pictured_at_the_world_premiere_of_-m-8_1671890323428.jpg)
Pele and his wife Marcia Aoki pictured at the world premiere of 'Pele: Birth of a Legend' during the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City
At the time I was still five feet, seven-and-a-half inches small — yes, even smaller now — and to my amazement we greeted each other virtually eye-to-eye.
This icon who always looked a giant on the pitch stood just five feet, eight inches in his boot studs. But then, the genius otherwise known as Pele was born with the gift to astonish.
Residents of a poverty-stricken quarter in Sao Paulo would stand gawping as a kid from the shanty next door performed miraculous tricks in a dusty street with either a rolled-up sock or a grapefruit.
By 15 this boy whose family could not afford a football was conjuring goals from nowhere for the Santos first team.
At 16 he was playing for Brazil and was still only 17 when he scored six goals in four matches at Sweden ’58 to become the youngest ever World Cup winner. And Pele was only just getting started. By the time he had finished he was enshrined as the only player to win three World Cups and the only footballer to score a thousand goals.
Of late, it has become rather the fashion for young tyros of my profession to question Pele’s stature as The Greatest, to impugn his unique reputation as nostalgic fantasy, to sneer that he is flattered by statistics.
Yet they are the same young men who urge the modern claims of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo by citing their scoring records, while hardly giving a glance to the only non-Brazilians who have mounted fully arguable challenges to Pele’s eminence. Namely Diego Maradona, Alfredo Di Stefano and Johan Cruyff.
It is in his own country that the argument rages most fiercely. Millions upon millions in Brazil are divided still in their worship between Pele and his blood brother Garrincha.
There is an emotional tug for Garrincha, the Bohemian romantic whose wizardry on the ball was coupled with a louche lifestyle conducted in the bars, among the people. Those who vote for Garrincha do so from their hearts and souls. They are lovers of artistry. Those who cast their ballot for Pele do so with their heads as well as adulation.
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/01/13/17/37964364-0-image-m-5_1610557535908.jpg)
Still a teenager, Pele is seen here weeping on the shoulder of keeper Gilmar Dos Santos Neves after the 1958 World Cup win
![Pele is carried shoulder high from the field after Brazil's triumph over Italy in the famous World Cup final of 1970 in Mexico](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/01/13/17/37964336-0-image-a-1_1610557434498.jpg)
Pele wasn't the tallest but reached the highest heights in the game - winning further World Cups in 1962 and 1970 (pictured)
They give the numbers their due value — those statistics are undeniably mountainous — and they are bewitched that their idol was as calculating as the computers needed to compile the data of his phenomenal career. It screams volumes for each of them that Brazil never lost a match when both Pele and Garrincha were in the team.
Yet if more recent generations can bring themselves to accept the reality that Maradona is the only choice as runner-up to Pele in the GOAT race, then it is easier to put the debate into perspective.
The Hand of God’s divine talent was extravagant, cavalier, flamboyant — and confrontational. Brazil’s Black Pearl was a perfectly cut jewel. Sharp-edged, glittering, cold to the touch, so consequently the most deadly. And flawless. Maradona was all passion and drama. Pele was the essence of economy, the master of football intelligence.
Two-footed, lightning off the mark, gravity-defying in the air. The touch exquisite but never over-indulged. Always to a purpose. Lethal in front of goal. Courageous but brutal when he was offended by inferior louts.
The mutual admiration between himself and Bobby Moore ensured that they engaged in battles of skill, wit and honour.
Yet in one of the first matches I saw Pele play for Brazil a Uruguay defender who had been sent out to cripple him was last seen being led from the field of play, his nose spread wide and bloodied across his face.
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/01/13/18/37966520-0-image-a-26_1610561870062.jpg)
Gordon Banks pulled off THAT save to deny Pele after he defied gravity to get above the ball and power his header goalwards
Of all who have merited elevation to the pantheon, only Pele was perfect in every dimension. Never mind all others from Little Bird Garrincha and Manic Maradona to Little Leo and Rocket Ronnie. He alone has been the multiplicity of all and every individual talent past, present and quite probably future.
Countless of his contemporaries and heirs have described him in such grandeur. But perhaps the most convincing testimony came from the intellectual manager who built that 1970 World Cup team into the Greatest XI, only to resign before the tournament after being shot at for his political convictions as he sat at a pavement cafe.
Joao Saldanha was keeping his selection for the ultimate South American derby, that against Argentina, close to his heart. A Brazilian sportswriter sought to glean clues by asking him: Who is the best keeper in Brazil?
‘Pele,’ said Saldanha.
‘Well, the best right back?’
‘Pele.’
And so it went through half the team before Saldanha smiled and said: ‘Look, Pele is the best footballer in the world in any position.’ Those who played with or against him agreed.
The young Pele was badly injured just before the 1958 World Cup but members of the squad demanded he be taken to Sweden. He recovered sufficiently to score those six priceless goals, two of them in the final against the host nation. He collapsed at the end of that game from his barely-fit exertions. As he regained his footing one of his opponents, Sigvard Parling, told him: ‘When you scored your second goal, I felt like applauding.’
![There was a mutual admiration between Pele and Bobby Moore - pictured here after Brazil's 1-0 win over England in 1970](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/01/13/19/37968234-9143969-image-m-2_1610564780490.jpg)
There was a mutual admiration between Pele and Bobby Moore - pictured here after Brazil's 1-0 win over England in 1970
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/01/13/17/37964414-0-image-a-6_1610557584139.jpg)
Pele, pictured here in March 2014, just a few months before his country hosted the World Cup and crashed out on the semis
![Pele kicked off that year by presenting Real Madrid and Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo with the Ballon d'Or prize in Zurich](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/01/13/17/37964422-0-image-a-7_1610557605505.jpg)
Pele kicked off that year by presenting Real Madrid and Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo with the Ballon d'Or prize in Zurich
Four years later, Planet Football was agog at what Pele might achieve in Chile. But after scoring one and making the other in the opening victory over Mexico, he was injured playing against Czechoslovakia and out of that World Cup. Garrincha was left to be the dazzling inspiration of another Brazil triumph. Come 1966, England’s glory and all that, such was Pele’s fame that he was kicked out of the competition in the first round of matches by Bulgaria and Portugal. This time Brazil went with him.
So disgusted was he by that treatment, especially as the harshest of it came from Brazil’s Portuguese blood brothers, that he threatened never to play in a World Cup agan. Fortunately, he was coaxed to Mexico ’70.
Not only were there more goals for Pele but the man who would be elected Footballer of the Century made the Assist of the Century — the cunningly disguised, perfectly weighted, inch-perfect lay-off to his overlapping captain Carlos Alberto which culminated in that thunderous cross-shot to climax the final.
Four-one to Brazil. All over for Italy. The original Jules Rimet trophy won outright. Tarcisio Burgnich, the Italian arch-defender who had been commissioned to mark Pele, said: ‘Before the final I told myself he was just flesh and bones like the rest of us. I was wrong.’
Cruyff was moved to this tribute: ‘Pele is the only footballer who has surpassed the boundaries of logic.’
The Greatest also made sure that his unique talent was hugely rewarded. As well as accumulating 40 trophies with Santos, Brazil and at the tail-end of his career with New York Cosmos — when he and Franz Beckenbauer went to kick-start soccer in America — along with all the individual player of the year, century and millennium awards, he piled up the sponsorship and marketing contracts.
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/01/13/18/37966718-0-image-a-28_1610562253616.jpg)
In the summer of 2016 he attended the launch event of the Pele Academy in Rio and the facility was opened back in 2018
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/01/13/17/37964460-0-image-a-8_1610557634762.jpg)
Diego Maradona, Pele's great rival for the title of the best ever, was with the Brazil hero in France ahead of Euro 2016
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/01/13/17/37964474-0-image-a-9_1610557670152.jpg)
That 1970 line-up: Carlos Alberto, Brito, Gerson, Piazza, Everaldo, Tostao, Clodoaldo, Rivelinho, Pele, Jairzinho, Felix
![Pele reunited with old foe Gordon Banks during an event at the original Wembley Stadium in London back in October 2000](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/01/13/17/37965924-0-image-a-25_1610560423075.jpg)
Pele reunited with old foe Gordon Banks during an event at the original Wembley Stadium in London back in October 2000
![Pele holds the prize aloft after Brazil had won the 1962 World Cup, beating Czechoslovakia 3-1 in the final](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/01/13/17/37964528-0-image-a-17_1610557755200.jpg)
![Pele celebrates with Brazilian team-mate Jairzinho after scoring during the 1970 edition of the tournament](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/01/13/17/37964538-0-image-m-16_1610557747479.jpg)
Pele got his hands on the Jules Rimet Trophy in 1962 (left) and was all smiles again after scoring in the 1970 final (right)
The Brazilians who adored Garrincha tended to frown on Pele’s driven commercialism but he needed to fund a chequered domestic life, to support at least five children by different mothers. Michel Platini, when he was still a wondrous player in his own right and before he became what might be described euphemistically as an eccentric president of UEFA, said: ‘There was Pele the footballer, and there was Pele the man, but when he played football, Pele was God.’
While he was unfailingly courteous, there was invariably purpose to his charm, with the door to Pele the human being usually remaining shut.
Tostao, his 1970 strike partner in probably the best football team of all time, observed: ‘He loves being Pele.’ One of the very few times he showed genuine warmth in my company was at a dinner in Rome the night before the 1990 World Cup final. He arrived slightly late and when he saw Bobby Moore seated at the table his face lit up. The great old foes — who had exchanged shirts and mutual admiration at the end of their epic duel in the sun of Mexico ’70 — embraced once again. For several minutes.
Then they sat reminiscing into the small hours, to our fascination. The mask was a smiling one but this was a rare occasion when it revealed his truth. Pele was profoundly sentimental about the game at which he was supreme. He saw a number of big matches at Wembley but never played there. It was an omission he deeply regretted.
![Pele, pictured with Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe in 2019, made the most of his talents away from the pitch as well](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/01/13/17/37965570-0-image-a-23_1610559823343.jpg)
Pele, pictured with Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe in 2019, made the most of his talents away from the pitch as well
![Pele continued to post on social media in the weeks before his death at the age of 82 - always commenting on his love for the game of football](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/11/30/16/65095939-9143969-image-a-5_1669826774920.jpg)
Pele continued to post on social media in the weeks before his death at the age of 82 - always commenting on his love for the game of football
So one balmy afternoon during a visit to London — some years after his retirement in 1977 — he went quietly to the empty old stadium. In his now-customary suit and tie of a gentleman, he walked the length of the turf, gently rolled a ball into the net in his Gucci shoes, then stood some time in quiet contemplation. History had been served. Not just by 1,282 goals in 1,366 league, cup, international, tour and friendly matches. Not only by the clinical majesty of his play but by his abiding respect for the game he christened beautiful and played with glory.
What more did the world have any right to ask of an immortal legend of the one global game, which he reimagined as a thing of wonder?
Of late, Pele dealt with illnesses of increasing severity with the same assured aplomb and obsessive determination. While knowing, as we all do, that such victories are inevitably pyrrhic.
So comes down the final curtain on a golden age, leaving football with its cinematic library of marvels. With the abiding memories of we who witnessed him in his pomp and splendour.
We who join today the mourning of such fevered reverence in his land where football is the abiding religion.
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