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Real name: Edson Arantes do Nascimento. He is better known by his nickname Pelé.
He was a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a forward and has been widely regarded as the greatest player of all time. He appeared 92 times for Brazil and scored 77 goals from 1957-1971. His main club was Santos in Brazil for whom he played 583 times (1956-1974) and scored 569 goals. His final games were with New York Cosmos (1975-1977), playing 64 games and scoring 34 goals. He began at 15 with Santos and aged 16 he made his international debut. In 2000 he was named as the Player of the Century. He played in the winning of three World Cups – 1958, 1962 and 1970. In all matches all over the world he scored 1,279 goals in 1,363 games – a world record, some say. He was also the youngest player ever to win a World Cup winners’ medal and he was probably the highest-paid athlete in the world in his time. In 1995 he was appointed Brazil’s Minister of Sports, but although he did not pass away till 2022, since 1977 his health had brought concerns that started with a kidney removal.