Pele

'Pele'

Full Name : Edison Arantes do Nascimento
Date of birth : October 23, 1940
Place of birth : Tres Coracoes, Brazil
Height : 174 cm
Weight : 73 kg
Playing Position : Forward

Statistic Career

Club

Period Team Country

01/1975 - 12/1977 New York Cosmos USA
01/1956 - 12/1974 Santos FC Brazil


Internationals

Competition National Team

World Cup 1970 Mexico Brazil
World Cup 1966 England Brazil
World Cup 1962 Chile Brazil
World Cup 1958 Sweden Brazil

Individual

• Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee 1999

In December 2000, Pelé was named Footballer of the Century by FIFA. The award was intended to be based upon votes in a web poll, but after it became apparent that it favoured Diego Maradona, many observers complained that the Internet nature of the poll would have meant a skewed demographic of younger fans who would have seen Maradona play, but not Pelé. FIFA then appointed a "Family of Football" committee of soccer experts to decide the winner of the award. Maradona was instead awarded the title of FIFA Internet Player of the Century. Allegations that the Internet poll had been bombarded by Argentine fans still remain to this day.

• Laures World Sports Awards Lifetime Achievement Award from South African President Nelson Mandela, 2000

A consensus of media and expert polls rank Pelé as the greatest footballer of all time.

In 2005 Pelé won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award.


After Football

The most notable area of Pelé's life since football is his ambassadorial work for various bodies. In 1992, Pelé was appointed a United Nations ambassador for ecology and the environment. He was awarded Brazil's Gold Medal for outstanding services to the sport in 1995, Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso appointed him to the position of "Extraordinary Minister for Sport" and he was appointed a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. During this time he proposed legislation to reduce corruption in Brazilian football, which became known as the Pelé law. Pelé left his position in 2001 after he was accused of involvement in a corruption scandal.

In 1997 he was given an honorary British knighthood

Pelé scouted for Premier League Fulham in 2002. He was chosen to do the draw for the qualification groups for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals.

Pelé has published several autobiographies, starred in documentary and semi-documentary films and composed various musical pieces, including the entire soundtrack for the film Pelé in 1977. He appeared, alongside other footballers of the 1960s and 1970s, Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone, in the 1981 film Escape to victory, about an attempted escape from a World War II Nazi POW Camp. Pelé was one of the first black persons to be featured on the cover of Life magazine, and was the first sports figure featured in a video game with the Atari 2600 game Pele's Soccer.

Pelé at Bramall lane, celebrating Sheffield F.C.'s 150th anniversary

Pelé signed a major autobiographical book deal in 2006, resulting in a giant-sized, 45 cm × 35 cm, 2,500 unit limited-edition collectible "Pelé", created by UK luxury publishers, Gloria, as the first-ever football "big book". In the same period, Pelé received a lifetime achievement award from the BBC and in June 2006, helped inaugurate the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals, alongside supermodel Claudia Schiffer. Pelé has also helped to promote Viagra and raise the awareness of impotency.

Pelé was guest of honour at the world's oldest football club, Sheffield FC, 150th anniversary match vs Inter Milan in November 2007. Inter won 5–2 in front of an appreciative crowd of nearly 19,000 at Bramall Line. As part of his visit, Pelé opened an exhibition which included the first public showing in 40 years of the original hand written rules of football.