Edson Arantes do Nascimento commonly referred to as, well we don’t need any introductions, do we? The teenager, the man and then the God himself who parched the throats of football commentators shouting Goal! Goal! almost innumerable times for two decades. This light has been extinguished after 82 years as it merged into the Supreme light. God, sorrowfully collecting legends as a numismatist collects coins. Pele who is also known to the football world as O Rei or The King is no more.
Our story begins in 1940, in rural Brazil, a country torn with poverty, changes in power and of course The World War II, a country which in later years would be a herald of football due to thus man’s heroics for generations to come. The country which would be the playground and battleground for the likes of Cafu, Rinaldo, Ronaldinho, R9, Neymar JR and the newbies like Vinicius JR and many more. All because of one man. But revolutions are not started by men, but by Gods.
The teenage God, Pele entered the global arena in 1956 and made its sacred trophy his own for the first time in 1958 and didn’t he do so in style, shattering record after record. The youngest hattrick scored, youngest final player and any more counting which would take eons. This teenager proclaimed that there would be no debate ever about the Rei of football. He would go on to win 2 more World Cups, in 1962’Chile, 1970’Mexico. The only player with the treble. This man’s career started with a Sliver Ball amd ended with a Golden Ball.
The man, the legend, the inspiration, Pele has moved on but his aura remains, the burden on his successors remain. The memories remain, the philosophy remains. Who said Pele is dead, he just changed his address.
