Pele

Edson Arantes do Nascimento , better known as Pelй is considered one of the best soccer players ever. He was considered the perfect soccer player, as he was completely two-footed, very productive at finishing, excellent at dribbling and passing, a very good tackler for a forward. In other words, he was technically outstanding, known for his lightning speed, and his strength at the ball. When he retired in 1977, he had scored over a thousand goals and won three world cups (1958, 1962 and 1970).

Pele's success did not come easy. He was born in Tres Coracoes, Brazil by a very poor family. His father, Joao Ramos do Nascimento was also a soccer player until he fractured his leg, ending his career as a soccer player.

Pele started playing soccer at a very young age. When he was a child, Pele and his family moved to Bauru in the interior of the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, where he learned to master the art of soccer. At fifteen, he observed his father play soccer for hours, hoping that someday he would become a professional player himself.

Pele played soccer with his neighborhood friends, often going barefoot and improvising with coconuts for balls and cans as goalposts. Pele began playing soccer for a local team when he was a teenager. He was discovered at age of 11 by one of the country's player, Waldemar de Brito. He was the one who brought Pele to Bauru, Sao Paulo and told the club's directors he was going to be one of the greatest player in the world.

Waldemar was right, Pele's impact was immediate. On his first professional appearance for the team, he scored a goal right away. He was only sixteen.

At the age of seventeen, he was selected to play in the Brazil's national team in the world cup of 1958 in Sweden and he astonished the world by being the player who scored the most goals including two in the championship game to help Brazil win its first world cup title. He was only seventeen years old, and already a legend.

Four years later he played on Brazil's world cup team at in the finals in Chile, but an injured suffered in the first game of the tournament prevented him from helping Brazil win its second world cup title.

Many clubs throughout the world offered a lot of money to sign the young and promising player, but the government of Brazil declared Pelй an official national treasure to prevent him from signing a contract in another country. He stood out on the field because of many of his qualities: powerful kicking, great vision, skillful ball control with both left and right feet, good passing and field strategy.

Also, in the 1966 world cup in England, Pele was the victim of some brutal tackles from defenders of opposite teams and left the finals injured and in tears. But the best team of him was still to come.

At the world cup final in Mexico in 1970, Pele led one of the greatest teams ever brought together to win Brazil's third world cup title. In the final game, he scored a glorious goal which was Brazil's 100th world cup goal. He became the only player to participate in three World Cup victories. By 1974, when he retired for the first time, Pele had scored 1200 goals in 1253 games and became a Brazilian national

He made 1281 goals in 1363 matches, which is all time world record, also

top Brazilian goalscorer of all-time, and IOC Athlete of the Century 1999.

Clubs he once joined were Santos, from 1956-1974, and New York Cosmos from

1975-1977, right after he retired from Brazilian Football. Pele then signed up with the New York Cosmos in 1977. His talent and enthusiasm on and off the field brought thousands to the stadium and created a new national awareness about the game of soccer. His contract with the Cosmos,