Sports

Timeline: Life And Times Of Brazil Football legend, Pele As He Dies At 82

Published

3 years ago

December 29, 2022

Brazilian football legend Pele, arguably the greatest player of all time, has died at the age of 82.

Pele masterminded the “beautiful game,” and he 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.

Nicknamed “O Rei” (The King), he scored 1,281 goals in 1363 games for club and country during his career, ended his playing days at New York Cosmos, and retired from football in 1977.

“In music there is Beethoven and the rest. In football, there is Pele and the rest,” he said in 2000.

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

Pele had surgery to remove a tumour from his colon in September 2021 at the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo, after the tumour was detected in routine tests. He was readmitted to hospital in late November 2022.

“Everything we are is thanks to you. We love you infinitely. Rest in peace,” daughter Kely Nascimento wrote on Instagram.

Pele’s Twitter account also posted: “Inspiration and love marked the journey of King Pele, who peacefully passed away today. Love, love and love, forever.”

Here is the timeline of Pele’s legendary career:

Oct 23, 1940- Pele’s Birthdate

Pele, born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, to a poor family in Sao Paulo, won the 958, 1962, and 1970 World Cups with Brazil.

Pele is Brazil’s joint all-time top scorer with 77 goals in 92 matches.

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 after 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.

Sep 7, 1956- Pele joins Santos football team and begins his professional football career.

Pele helped his hometown side, Santos to two Copa Libertadores titles and six Brazilian league crowns during a glittering 18-year spell with the club. He also holds the club’s all-time goal record.

Pele scored 12 goals in 14 World Cup appearances and also provided 10 assists – the most by any player in the history of the competition.

He led the club to a flurry of titles, including back-to-back Intercontinental Cups, against Benfica in 1962 and AC Milan in 1963.

Jun 19, 1958- Pele became the youngest player in a world cup final, leading Brazil to victory

He became an icon of the game after winning the World Cup in 1958 as a 17-year-old, netting twice in the final to defeat hosts Sweden, 5-2. He remains the youngest player to have netted a goal at the tournament. He became famous for wearing his number 10 shirt in this world cup.

Mar 5, 1961- Pele scores the ‘Gol de Placa’

Pele scored the ‘Gol de Placa’- which means a goal worthy of a plaque while playing for Santos against Fluminense, the goal was so amazing, they made a plaque to celebrate what they call the most beautiful goal in the history of soccer. He was declared a national treasure by Brazil’s president. He epitomized the sublime style of play called “samba football” in Brazil

1962- Pele leads Brazil to second World Cup victory
Wealthy European clubs wanted to buy him on their team, however, he was considered a national treasure so he wasn’t able to leave. He was chosen to play for Brazil and Brazil won the 1962 World Cup.

Nov 19, 1969- 1000th goal
Pele scored his 1000th total goal during a match against Vasco Da Gama, this goal is known as O Milesimo in English which means the thousandth.

1970- Pele returns, leads Brazil to third World Cup victory

Brazil made a triumphant comeback in 1970 after England won in 1966 and it proved to be Pele’s last-ever world cup. Making him the only player to win three world cup titles.

Jul 18, 1971- Pele played his last international match against Yugoslavia

Jun 10, 1975- Pele joins the New York Cosmos

Pele joined the New York Cosmos after retiring from Brazilian club football, Santos. He was credited with making soccer popular in North America playing alongside German legend Franz Beckenbauer and fellow 1970 World Cup winner Carlos Alberto.

Oct 1, 1977- Pele retires from football

Pele retired from football on October the 1st 1977 when he played his final game: Cosmos v Santos in New York. He played the first half for Cosmos and the second half for his old team Santos. After his retirement, he became a worldwide ambassador for football.

Pele was also a goodwill ambassador- United Nations ambassador for ecology and the environment. He even starred as an actor, with his most famous film being ‘Escape for victory.’

May 18, 1978- International Peace Award

Pele was awarded the International Peace Award for all his work with UNICEF. UNICEF helps children all over the world.

1994- Pele was named Brazil’s Extraordinary Minister for Sport.

Dec 3, 1997- Honourary Knighthood

Pele was awarded an honourary knighthood from the Queen on December 3rd, 1997.

Aug 9, 2012- Honourary Degree

Pele was awarded an honourary degree from the University of Edinburgh.

2013- Pele was awarded the FIFA Ballon d’Or Prix d’Honneur in recognition of his career and achievements.

2020- Pele was named in the Ballon d’Or Dream Team, a greatest of all-time XI.

December 29, 2022- Pele dies aged 82.

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Sports

Monaco Shock PSG As Minamino Scores Winner

Published

9 hours ago

November 29, 2025

Editor

Japan’s Takumi Minamino scored the only goal of the game as Monaco shocked reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1 on Saturday, winning 1-0 in the principality.

The 30-year-old Japanese international star, once of Liverpool, struck just past the midway point in the second half at the Stade Louis II to inflict a second domestic defeat of the campaign on PSG.

Monaco held on through the closing stages, including seven minutes of stoppage time, after having former Paris defender Thilo Kehrer sent off in the 80th minute.

It is a surprise result with Monaco ending a run of three consecutive Ligue 1 losses which had seen them lose ground on PSG and the other sides at the top of the table.

They are now provisionally up to sixth, seven points behind the capital side whose only other reverse in Ligue 1 so far this season came away to Marseille in September.

PSG remain top of the standings for now with 30 points from 14 games, but last season’s Champions League winners are just two points clear of nearest rivals Marseille and Lens and could lose their place at the summit later on Saturday.

“Usually I prefer to watch matches again and analyse them, but today it is easier. We were not precise enough and we made too many individual and collective mistakes,” said PSG coach Luis Enrique.

“Neither team played at a very high level, but they played better than us. It was without any doubt our worst match of the season.”

Sports

UK Unveils Record-breaking Bid For 2035 Women’s World Cup

Published

1 day ago

November 28, 2025

Editor

UK football chiefs on Friday unveiled details of their unopposed joint bid to host the Women’s World Cup in 2035, with 22 proposed stadiums listed in the official submission.

The bid team said the 48-nation finals would be the biggest single-sport event ever staged in the UK.

It would be the first World Cup played on British soil since the men’s finals in 1966, which were solely hosted by England.

“With 63 million people living within two hours of a proposed venue, it would be the most accessible tournament ever,” the bid team said in a statement.

Sixteen of the stadiums on the shortlist are in England, including Manchester United’s proposed new 100,000-seater arena, with three in Wales, two in Scotland, and one in Northern Ireland, across 15 cities.

The final number of stadiums is expected to be whittled down to around 16.

A measure of the size of the event is that at the Qatar men’s World Cup in 2022, just eight stadiums were used.

FIFA confirmed later on Friday that the UK bid would be formally ratified at next year’s congress in Vancouver.

The April gathering of football’s global governing body is also set to approve the joint candidature of the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Jamaica to stage the 2031 women’s World Cup.

“Hosting the FIFA Women’s World Cup would be a huge privilege for our four home nations,” the chief executives of the UK football associations  said on Friday.

“If we are successful, the 2035 tournament will be the biggest single-sport event held on UK soil with 4.5 million tickets available for fans.

“We are proud of the growth that we’ve driven in recent years across the women’s and girls’ game, but there is still so much more growth to come, and this event will play a key role in helping us deliver that.”

Manchester United’s existing Old Trafford stadium has been included, but the bid team intend to put the club’s proposed new ground forward for consideration by FIFA once plans are confirmed.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the bid showed the UK’s passion for football.

“The (England) Lionesses’ success has inspired girls across our country, and we’ll build on that momentum by welcoming millions of football fans from around the world to a tournament that will benefit communities and businesses in host cities up and down the UK,” he said.

England’s women’s team have won the past two European Championships and reached the final of the 2023 World Cup.
From 2031, the Women’s World Cup will be contested between 48 teams, up from 32.

The next Women’s World Cup will take place in Brazil in 2027.

Sports

NFF In Fresh N1.4b FIFA Women World Cup Scandal

Published

2 days ago

November 28, 2025

Editor

Former Super Falcons head coach, Randy Waldrum, has questioned the Nigeria Football Federation’s (NFF) management of the monies that the world football governing body, FIFA, gave the federation for the team’s preparation for the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, reports allnigeriasoccer.com.

Waldrum’s team was eliminated from the championship in the second round by England through a penalty shootout. But the American alleged in a viral video on X that his team was handicapped by the NFF’s failure to make available the fund needed to properly prepare the side for the championship.

He alleged that the NFF received $960,000 from FIFA in October 2022 to support the Super Falcons’ preparations for the tournament.

He said: “I have a real close contact here in the US that is very connected with some of the board at FIFA. This person told me that in October, every country was given $960k from FIFA to prepare for the World, where is that money.

“If Nigeria got that money why didn’t we have a camp in November? We went to Japan, we flew in and played the game and went home. Some of our players didn’t arrive until the morning before the game, I think five players who were going to start for me, arrived the night before the game and the game was 4:00pm and they traveled 16 hours on the plane. And we played Japan and then we went home. We wasted the last five days of that window to train.”

Waldrum, who affirmed that FIFA provides financial support to federations that are unable to afford business-class travel, with deductions made from their World Cup earnings.

According to him, the NFF had no justification for suboptimal logistics. “So, all these questions I have is where is this money? And the other thing I found out through my FIFA connections is that if countries don’t have the money to buy business class tickets for everybody, FIFA will fund the money and buy those tickets and just deduct it from the monies you get from FIFA after the World Cup.

“So there’s no excuse to say we didn’t have money to buy tickets and then we didn’t have camps. These are the kinds of things that the people of Nigeria don’t question. In the US, they would be questioned. If the US Soccer Federation was doing the same things, the US Soccer Federation would have to answer to it.”

The coach also faulted the NFF for failing to maximise FIFA-approved staffing provisions, noting that while FIFA allows up to 22 technical staff members, Nigeria travelled with only about 11.

“So if FIFA will pay bonuses for up to 22 people, why didn’t we have 22 people? I didn’t have an analyst and I scout. Listen, the US has a scout in Europe, watching teams play in these exhibitions, in case they face them at the World Cup,” he explained.

“We didn’t even have scouts going with us to Australia. I didn’t even have anybody to scout games. If we got out of our group, I didn’t even have anybody to scout games in other groups. Everything I had to do was on videos and what I could pick up online.”