He was the king. An avant-garde, a pioneer, a precursor. He did everything, before anyone else. He multiplied the technical gestures and the audacity, made the legend of the acrobatic return and the lob above the goalkeeper of the center line (attempted in the middle of the World Cup). He did Cruyff’s feint before Cruyff, Zidane’s roulette before Zidane, Ronaldo’s scarf kick well before Ronaldo.
At 17, Pelé scored six goals in four World Cup games, including three in the semi-finals and two more in the final, leading Brazil to their first of three world titles under his reign (1958, 1962, 1970). A teenager dominating the world with his athleticism, his fantasy, his inventiveness, his instinct for goal.
I never had the chance, of course, to see Pelé play. I saw him once, in the distance, celebrating Brazil’s last World Cup victory in 2002 in Japan. But I have seen archival excerpts of his finest goals — and some he missed after extraordinary maneuvers, including the big bridge against the Uruguayan goalkeeper in the semi-finals of the 1970 World Cup — to hundreds of times.
Each time, I thought to myself that he gave the impression of being decades ahead of his time. It is not for nothing that he was nicknamed the king. He would have been just as imperial in 2022, with the same style of play as in 1962, dominating his opponents with his agility, his physical strength, his vision. He was the archetypal number 10, the attacking midfielder who scored goals and prepared others for his teammates.
His name resonated throughout my childhood. It was synonymous with soccer, football, futebol. A myth. I remember a party at one of my soccer teammates, when I was 9 or 10 years old. On the precious VHS video recorder, which we were not yet lucky enough to have at home, we watched Escape to Victorya film by John Huston in which a soccer team of Nazi officers faces a band of Allied prisoners in a German camp.
Sylvester Stallone (who played a Canadian army prisoner of war) kept goal, Bobby Moore defended, Michael Caine officiated in midfield with Osvaldo Ardiles, and Pelé scored with a masterful bicycle, his trademark .
Since then, I have lost count of the number of documentaries I have seen featuring Pelé: during all his years in Santos, in the Brazilian seleçao, with the Cosmos in New York in the 1970s, where he went into exile to regain financial health. Physically too, he was worn out, after years of being paraded around like a beast on all continents for Santos friendly matches.
In his career, Pelé played 1363 matches, of which just over half, 831, were official matches. It is not surprising that he swore, after playing only four games in two World Cups, in 1962 and 1966, injured and hounded by his opponents, to retire from international football at the age of 25. He changed his mind and shone with all his fire at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico.
We will remember his 1281 goals (or 1283) (including between 757 and 767 in official matches): his fabulous first World Cup goal against Wales in the quarter-finals of the 1958 World Cup, the sombrero shot leading to the one of his goals in the final against Sweden, his half-volley after a chest bunt against Czechoslovakia at the 1970 World Cup.
O Rei was obviously much more than that. He was able to turn a game around with a brilliant gesture, like Frenchman Kylian Mbappé, perhaps the contemporary player who most resembles him. Endowed with an incredible natural talent, he was both a scorer and playmaker, a formidable offensive player with outstanding physical and technical qualities.
Pelé being considered a “national treasure” in Brazil, where he mainly played in the regional championship of São Paulo during his career, there was never any question of letting him leave Santos, where he turned professional at 15. , for a European club like Real Madrid. He could have measured himself there every week against the best players of his time… after him.
Off the pitch, he was extremely charismatic. A superstar that everyone snatched – politicians and dictators, advertisers and sponsors, admirers… – so much so that sport sometimes took second place. But in the hearts of soccer fans, he will always be king. Peeled first. The one who paved the way for all the others.