Sports

Pele The King, The GOAT: Historic Milestone & Legacy Of A Football Legend

Published

3 years ago

December 29, 2022

Editor

The greatest player of all time, as widely regarded and three-time World Cup winner, Pele was announced dead by his family on Thursday.

The Brazilian football legend, who masterminded the “beautiful game,” died at the age of 82.

Read also: BREAKING: Brazilian football legend Pele is dead

Here is some of the historic milestone & legacy of the football legend.

Pele is the only footballer in history to win three World Cups — 1958, 1962 and 1970. He was named athlete of the century by the International Olympic Committee in 1999.

pic.twitter.com/LM2Fi1jHQ3— SportsGrid (@SportsGrid) December 29, 2022

Nicknamed “O Rei” (The King), he scored more than 1,000 goals in one of the most storied careers in sport, before retiring in 1977.

He had been in increasingly fragile health, battling kidney problems and colon cancer — undergoing surgery for the latter in September 2021, followed by chemotherapy.

‘Samba football’

Born October 23, 1940, in the southeastern city of Tres Coracoes, Edson Arantes do Nascimento — Pele’s real name — grew up selling peanuts on the street to help his impoverished family get by.

His parents named him for famed American inventor Thomas Edison.

But he was soon given the nickname Pele, for his mispronunciation of Bile, the name of a goalkeeper at Vasco de Sao Lourenco, where his footballer father once played.

Pele dazzled from the age of 15, when he started playing professionally with Santos. He led the club to a flurry of titles, including back-to-back Intercontinental Cups, against Benfica in 1962 and AC Milan in 1963.

Known for his genius with the ball, he epitomized the sublime style of play called “samba football” in Brazil, where he was declared a “national treasure.”

He scored an all-time record 1,281 goals in 1,363 matches for Santos (1956-74), the Brazilian national team, and the New York Cosmos (1975-77).

But beyond his records, he will be remembered for revolutionizing the sport, his ever-present number 10 on his back.

The first global football star, he played a lead role in the game’s transformation into a sporting and commercial powerhouse, tapping his preternatural athleticism despite his relatively small size — 1.70 meters (just under five-foot-seven).

He also played with heart, visible in the iconic black-and-white footage of the 17-year-old phenom bursting into tears after helping Brazil to its first World Cup title, in 1958.

Eight years earlier, seeing his father cry when Brazil lost the 1950 World Cup final at home to Uruguay, he had promised to bring the trophy home one day.

Sports royalty

Pele reached the pinnacle of his greatness at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, the first broadcast in color, where he starred on what many consider the greatest team of all time, with talents such as Rivellino, Tostao and Jairzinho.

He was often welcomed like royalty when traveling abroad with Santos or the national team. Legend has it in 1969 his arrival in Nigeria was the occasion for a 48-hour truce in the bloody Biafra war.

Pele declined offers to play in Europe, but signed for a brief, lucrative swan song with the Cosmos at the end of his career, bringing his star power to the land of “soccer.”

His reign extended beyond the pitch, with gigs as a movie star, singer and later sports minister (1995-1998) — one of the first black cabinet members in Brazil.

But he faced criticism at times in Brazil for remaining quiet on social issues and racism, and for what some saw as his haughty, vain personality.

Unlike Argentine rebel Diego Maradona, his rival for the title of greatest of all time, Pele was seen as close to those in power — including Brazil’s 1964-1985 military regime.

Final match

Pele’s public appearances had grown increasingly rare, and he frequently used a walker or wheelchair.

He was hospitalized several times for urinary infections, then again in 2021 and 2022 for the colon cancer that marked the beginning of the end.

But he met his health problems with trademark humor.

“I will face this match with a smile on my face,” he posted on Instagram in September 2021, after surgery to remove his colon tumor.

He was deeply moved when Maradona, his longtime friend and rival, died of a heart attack in 2020 at age 60.

“The world has lost a legend,” he wrote.

“One day, I hope, we will play soccer together in the sky.”

VANGUARD

Sports

Nigerian Women Are Built Different, Says Ogoke After D’Tigress Win As Practising Surgeon

Published

1 hour ago

August 7, 2025

Editor

arah Ogoke, a practising surgeon and veteran member of Nigeria’s national women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, has hailed the mental strength and resilience of Nigerian women after the team clinched a historic fifth consecutive FIBA Women’s AfroBasket title.

Speaking during an interview with Arise TV on Tuesday, Ogoke credited discipline and resilience as the major factors in how she’s been able to combine her medical career and playing basketball.

“I’m built different. Nigerian women are built different. We do amazing things and the impossible. My secret is nothing short of discipline, resilience, determination, hard work, and focus,” she said.

The 35-year-old veteran, who specialises in podiatric medicine, the diagnosis and treatment of foot and ankle conditions, was named in the squad months after giving birth and suffering the loss of her father last year. She revealed that she had taken time off her medical duties to join the team for the tournament.

“Absolutely, I’m using my vacation days to be here. My job is waiting for me when I go back,” she said.

Ogoke, who holds a degree in biology, drew parallels between the discipline of medical training and elite sport.

“The four years that I spent in medical school, I learnt how to work diligently and steadily on a specific skill set over the course of a long period of time. That can be translated to the skills necessary to be successful in basketball.”

A key figure in Nigeria’s basketball resurgence over the past decade, Ogoke has been part of every AfroBasket-winning squad since 2017. She attributed the team’s sustained dominance to the grit and mentality of Nigerian women.

“The blood we have in our veins as Nigerian women is different. We have the tenacity, pride, grit that we just refuse to lose. We’ve held our crown since 2017, and we don’t plan on giving it up soon.”

Reflecting on the final match where Nigeria was tied 41-41 at halftime against Mali, she revealed a wake-up call from the coach, Rena Wakama, pushed the team to step up.

“Coach Rena wasn’t nice about it at all. She told us, ‘We were the better team, but this team here came to beat us. They didn’t come for vacation or just to be here. Their objective was to beat us, and if we let that happen, then let them do it.’ That woke us up, and we played like the team that we are.”

Now, with Nigeria qualified for the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, Ogoke says her focus and that of the team is on reaching new heights on the global stage.

“I see playing for Nigeria as a privilege and not a right. Every year that they reach out to me and ask me to be a part of the programme, I’m thankful because they don’t have to call me. Now that we’ve qualified for the World Cup, we’re hoping to build on our success at the Olympics and, by God’s good grace, bring home a medal.”

Following the team’s victory, President Bola Tinubu on Monday, gifted the D’Tigress $100,000 to each of the players, $50,000 each for the 11-man coaching and technical team, and bedroom flats at Renewed Hope Estate for every member of the team and coaching staff.

Sports

NPFL: Bendel Insurance Announce Departure Of 25 Players

Published

1 day ago

August 5, 2025

Editor

Bendel Insurance have announced the departure of 25 players ahead of the 2025/26 Nigeria Premier Football League, NPFL, season.

Captain Meyiwa Oritseweyinmi, Austin Ogunye, and Bernard Ovoke are among the top stars who have left the Benin Arsenal.

Other key players, who left the club are Moses Abioye, Uche Collins, Michael Enaruna, and Uche Collins.

The Benin City club are expected to make new signings to replace the departed players before the commencement of the new campaign.

Insurance finished in a respectable fifth position last season with 56 points from 38 games.

They will face El-kanemi Warriors in their opening fixture of the new season.

Sports

PHOTO: Okocha Hosts Ex-coach Clemens Westerhof In Lagos

Published

4 days ago

August 2, 2025

Editor

Nigerian football icon Jay-Jay Okocha recently hosted his former Super Eagles coach, Clemens Westerhof, at his Lagos home.

Westerhof, who posted photos from the visit on Instagram on Friday, called it an “unforgettable night of my life” and thanked Okocha for his warm hospitality.

Westerhof, a Dutch national, managed the Nigerian national team from 1989 to 1994.

Under his leadership, the Super Eagles won their second Africa Cup of Nations title in 1994 and made their FIFA World Cup debut the same year, impressively topping a group that included Argentina, Bulgaria, and Greece.

Okocha made his national team debut during Westerhof’s tenure and later became one of Nigeria’s most iconic footballers.