Pele

Pele:
Pelé was born in Três Corações, Minas Gerais, Brazil, the son of Fluminense footballer Dondinho (born João Ramos do Nascimento) and Dona Celeste Arantes. He was the oldest of two siblings.[56] He was named after the American inventor Thomas Edison.[1][12] However, his parents decided to remove the 'i' and call him 'Edson', but there was a mistake on the birth certificate, leading manydocuments to show his name as 'Edison', not 'Edson', as he is actually called.
In 1956, de Brito took Pelé to Santos, an industrial and port city in the state of São Paulo, to try out for professional club Santos Futebol Clube telling the directors at Santos that the 15-year-old would be "the greatest football player in the world."[62][64] Pelé was able to impress Santos coach Lula during his trialat the Estádio Vila Belmiro. He subsequently signed a professional contract with the club in June 1956.[62][64] Pelé was highly promoted in the local media as a future superstar. He made his senior team debut on 7 September 1956 at the age of 16 against Corinthians Santo Andre and had an impressive performance in a 7-1 victory.[62] Pelé scored the first of his record 1281 goals in footballduring the match.
1958 World Cup
Pelé cries on the shoulder of a peaceful Gilmar, after Brazil won the 1958 Cup.
Pelé arrived in Sweden sidelined by a knee injury but on his return from the treatment room, his colleagues closed ranks and insisted upon his selection. [86][87] His first match was against the USSR in the third match of the first round of the 1958 FIFA World Cup, where he gave theassist to Vavá's second goal.[88] He was the youngest player of that tournament, and at the time the youngest ever to play in the World Cup.[89] He scored his first World Cup goal against Wales in quarterfinals, the only goal of the match, to help Brazil advance to semifinals, while becoming the youngest ever World Cup goalscorer at 17 years and 239 days.[84] Against France in the semifinal, Brazilwas leading 2–1 at halftime, and then Pelé scored a hat-trick, becoming the youngest in World Cup history to do so.[90][91]
On 19 June 1958 Pelé became the youngest player to play in a World Cup final match at 17 years and 249 days. He scored two goals in the final as Brazil beat Sweden 5–2. His first goal, a lob over a defender followed by a precise volley shot, was selected as one of the bestgoals in the history of the World Cup.[92] Following Pelé's second goal, Swedish player Sigvard Parling would later comment; "When Pelé scored the fifth goal in that Final, I have to be honest and say I felt like applauding".[93] When the match ended, Pelé passed out on the field, and had to be attended by the medical staff.[12] He then recovered, and was visibly compelled by the victory; in tearsas he was being congratulated by his teammates. He finished the tournament with six goals in four matches played, tied for second place, behind record-breaker Just Fontaine, and was named young player of the tournament.[94]
It was in the 1958 World Cup that Pelé began using a number 10 t-shirt that immortalized him. Recently it is known that the event was the result of disorganization: theleaders didn't send the shirt numbers of players and it was up to FIFA to choose the number 10 shirt to Pele, who was a substitute on the occasion. The press of the time cataloged Pelé as the greatest revelation of the 1958 Cup who was also given retroactively the Silver Ball as the second best player of the tournament, behind Didi.
1962 World Cup
Pelé fighting for a ball against the Swedishgoalkeeper Kalle Svensson during the 1958 World Cup final.
This was expected to be Pelé's World Cup, as he was rated as the best player in the world at the time.In the first match of the 1962 World Cup, against Mexico, Pelé assisted the first goal and then scored the second one, after a run past four defenders, to go up 2–0.[99] He injured himself while attempting a long-range shot against...