Pelé, the greatest soccer player ever and the most decorated athlete in the history of “the Beautiful Game,” has died at the age of 82.
In 1956, at only the age of 15, Pelé tried out for the Santos FC professional club near São Paulo. He soon signed a contract with the team and made his professional debut on Sept. 7, 1956. In the Brazilian press, Pelé was instantly hailed as a star, with the forward leading the league in scoring as a 16-year-old in 1957.
Pelé’s dominance continued through the Sixties as his Santos team won six championships in the Brazilian league over the course of that decade, while Brazil also won the World Cup in 1962 and 1970, with Pelé winning the Golden Ball for best player at the latter tournament. In his 19 seasons at Santos, spanning from 1956 to 1974 and roughly 660 games, Pelé scored a record-shattering 643 goals.
In 1975, Pelé helped ignite interest in “the Beautiful Game” — a phrase he in part popularized for the sport, inspired by his own majestic style of play — in the U.S., a country seemingly culturally impervious to soccer’s charms: The American team failed to even qualify for the World Cup between 1954 to 1986. Following nearly two decades at Santos and a brief retirement, Pelé signed with the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League.
Pelé’s mere presence helped the Cosmos reach record attendances, and the sport itself gained public awareness otherwise unheard of stateside. He spent three years with the Cosmos, culminating in a Soccer Bowl championship with the Cosmos in 1977. That same year, Pelé played his final game as a pro as the Cosmos hosted his former longtime team, Santos, for an exhibition match at a sold-out Giants Stadium, with Pelé playing for both teams during the game.
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