Pelé, the legendary Brazilian soccer player who rose from barefoot poverty to become one of the greatest and best-known athletes in modern history, has died at the age of 82.
Sao Paulo's Albert Einstein hospital, where Pelé was undergoing treatment, said he died at 3:27pm on Thursday due to "multiple organ failures resulting from the progression of colon cancer associated with his previous medical condition."
The death of the only man to win the World Cup three times as a player was confirmed on his Instagram account.
"Inspiration and love marked the journey of King Pelé, who peacefully passed away today," it read, adding he had "enchanted the world with his genius in sport, stopped a war, carried out social works all over the world and spread what he most believed to be the cure for all our problems: love."
A inspiração e o amor marcaram a jornada de Rei Pelé, que faleceu no dia de hoje.
— Pelé (@Pele) December 29, 2022
Amor, amor e amor, para sempre.
.
Inspiration and love marked the journey of King Pelé, who peacefully passed away today.
Love, love and love, forever. pic.twitter.com/CP9syIdL3i
World pays tribute
Tributes poured in from across the worlds of sport, politics and popular culture for a figure who epitomized Brazil's dominance of the beautiful game.
The out-going government of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro declared three days of national mourning. Bolsonaro said in a statement that Pelé was "a great citizen and patriot, raising the name of Brazil wherever he went."
Bolsonaro's successor, President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, wrote on Twitter that "few Brazilians carried the name of our country as far as he did."
US President Joe Biden said on his Twitter account that Pelé's rise from humble beginnings to soccer legend was a story of "what is possible."
French President Emmanuel Macron said Pelé's legacy would live forever. "The game. The king. Eternity," Macron tweeted.
Le Jeu. Le Roi. L’Éternité.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) December 29, 2022
O Jogo. O Rei. A Eternidade. pic.twitter.com/ZjeaF7zIGx
Nation in mourning
Pelé had been undergoing chemotherapy since he had a tumour removed from his colon in September 2021.
He also had difficulty walking unaided since an unsuccessful hip operation in 2012. In February 2020, on the eve of the coronavirus pandemic, his son Edinho said Pelé's ailing physical state had left him depressed.
On Monday, a 24-hour wake will be held for Pelé in the centre of the field at the stadium of Santos, his hometown club where he started playing as a teenager and quickly rose to fame.
The next day, a procession carrying his coffin will pass through the streets of Santos, passing the neighbourhood where his 100-year-old mother lives, and ending at the Ecumenical Memorial Necropolis cemetery, where he will be buried in a private ceremony.
Inspirational sportsman
Pelé, whose given name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, joined Santos in 1956 and turned the small coastal club into one of the most famous names in football.
In addition to a host of regional and national titles, Pelé won two Copa Libertadores, the South American equivalent of the Champions League, and two Intercontinental Cups, the annual tournament held between the best teams in Europe and South America.
He took home three World Cup winner's medals, the first time as a 17-year-old in Sweden in 1958, the second in Chile four years later – even though he missed most of the tournament through injury – and the third in Mexico in 1970, when he led what is considered to be one of the greatest sides ever to play the game.
He retired from Santos in 1974 but a year later made a surprise comeback by signing a lucrative deal to join the New York Cosmos in the then nascent North American Soccer League.
In a glorious 21-year career he scored between 1,281 and 1,283 goals, depending on how matches are counted.
Pelé vinha do futuro, o MAIOR, MELHOR e não tem jeito.
— memes futebolisticos. - vito (@Mfutebolisticos) November 20, 2021
Que vídeo foda. pic.twitter.com/C5oOI0TBIS
Beyond football
Pelé, though, transcended soccer, like no player before or since, and he became one of the first global icons of the 20th century.
With his winning smile and a humility that charmed legions of fans, he was better known than many Hollywood stars, popes or presidents – many if not most of whom he met during a six-decade-long career as player and corporate pitchman.
Pelé credited his one-of-a-kind mix of talent, creative genius and technical skill to a youth spent playing pick-up games in small-town Brazil, often using grapefruit or wadded-up rags because his family could not afford a real ball.
He was named "Athlete of the Century" by the International Olympic Committee, co-"Football Player of the Century" by world soccer body FIFA, and a "national treasure" by Brazil's government.
His celebrity was often overwhelming. Grown adults broke down crying in his presence with regularity. When he was a player, souvenir-seeking fans rushed the field following games and tore off his shorts, socks and even underwear.
The king of football has left us but his legacy will never be forgotten.
— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) December 29, 2022
RIP KING 💔👑… pic.twitter.com/F55PrcM2Ud
Legacy of the 'King'
Yet even in unguarded moments among friends, he rarely complained. He believed that his talent was a divine gift, and he spoke movingly about how soccer allowed him to travel the world, bring cheer to cancer patients and survivors of wars and famine, and provide for a family that, growing up, often did not know the source of their next meal.
Brazil's CBF soccer federation said "Pelé was much more than the greatest sportsman of all time... The King of Soccer was the ultimate exponent of a victorious Brazil."
Kylian Mbappé, the French star many view as the current best soccer player in the world, also offered his condolences.
"The king of football has left us but his legacy will never be forgotten," he wrote on Twitter. "RIP KING."
