Pele dies aged 82

Very sad news about the passing of Pele.

RIP, Edison Arantes do Nacimento, you set the benchmark, highest standards in sportsmanship, and only a few players got close to you.

So sad. The first World Cup I can remember was the best there will ever be, 1970.

Keep your Messi and your Maradona, there's only room for one.

God bless. I never saw you at your peak but the way those who did claim you were the greatest.

The Pele did it first on YouTube is a great and appropriate watch at this time.

Very sad news. I'm not old enough to have seen him play live, but seen plenty of old footage. He was a good player, but can you really call him the greatest when he spent all of his career in Brazil or American.

It would have been good to see him try his luck in Europe. I wonder why it never happened? RIP Pele.

So sad to hear of the passing of Pele, a true legend of the game.

Kicked off the park in 1966, one of the reasons England won? We'll never know...

If not the best, defo in the Top 5 of all time: Messi, Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Di Stefano. RIP.

Peter #2, that's the earliest one I can remember also. Pele was fantastic in a great team. RIP.

Paul,

Pele was born in 1940, so he was playing in an era, the 60s and 70s, when it was unheard of for foreign players to play abroad. Obviously there were one or two, John Charles and Jimmy Greaves spring to mind, but there were none from South America that I know of.

A foreign player to us English back in the '60s and '70s was someone from Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland! No offence to any Welsh, Scots or Irish by the way.

Anyway RIP to Pele. I vaguely remember watching the 1970 World Cup Final in a hotel in Morocco during a family holiday. All the Moroccans were going nuts every time Brazil scored, and they all idolised Pele.

For me the greatest ever, even now the name conjures up magic like no other player.

I saw him at Goodison in 1966, Bulgaria kicked lumps out of him in the first game so he missed the next one, an all-time classic – Hungary 3 Brazil 1.

Came back for the next game against Portugal, carrying an injury and got another good kicking. Sadly we never saw the best of him.

Rob @6,

That's not strictly true. Real Madrid's 1950s team, that won 5 European Cups, was full of foreign superstar players – and players from South America... the likes of Di Stefano and Rial. You are correct though, that the vast majority of players stayed in their own countries in that period of time.

Paul@4

Pele proved himself on the biggest stage, that is the World Cup. The domestic Brazilian league, by all accounts, was a good standard at the time also.

Surely one of the greatest of all time... and a great ambassador for the sport.

RIP Pele.

I was trying to put up a link of a picture Pele at Goodison but it didn't seem to work.

For a 9-year-old watching that World Cup, he was mesmerising. I couldn't take my eyes off him.

There has only been one other sportsman like that, Muhammad Ali.
We had a black and white TV but somehow (not sure how) I got to see some of it in colour and was even more blown away by the yellow and blue explosion.

Ah, 1970, it's been all downhill since.

Paul, #4,

In the early '60s, the president of Brazil declared Pele a National Treasure which effectively stopped him leaving the country to play for European clubs.

All the big European clubs were after him at the time and the president knew he wouldn't be elected again if he let him leave.

As shown at Goodison in 1966, he had no or little protection off refs in that era compared to Messi and Ronaldo.

Easily the best, then Maradona for me.

Clive @11.

Nowadays, that would be called 'kidnap'.

Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Messi.

Those 5 for me.

My brother argues Zidane.

A mate of mine (not the brightest fella) years ago was on my team at a pub quiz.

The question: What is the more commonly known name for Parmigiano Reggiano?

His answer: Pele

His face was pure disbelief when I told him we were still in the food and drink round. I still find myself laughing about it 20-odd years later...

RIP the GOAT (imo)

The King is dead. The one and only. The original. All those who followed were imitations.

Before Pele, the No 10 was just a number. Rest in peace, O Rey. 🙏🙏

I will never forget watching him play in person, twice, in Chicago.

Once on a summer tour with Santos against Lazio, and the other with New York Cosmos against the Chicago Sting.

For most of the world, for four generations, he was the game embodied, the entire sport of football on two magic legs.

That's funny, Duncan #15.

An apocryphal story about how he got the name ‘Pele' says that an Irish missionary in Pele's neighbourhood in Brazil called him "peile", which means football in Gaelic.

Probably a load of nonsense though.

RIP the Best.

For me, Pele, who I was lucky enough to see play at Goodison in the 1966 World Cup group games, was and is the undoubted King of Football. The only player so far to win 3 World Cup winners medals.

I place him just above Maradonna who himself was a great player. But what gives Pele the edge is he was a great header of the ball, unlike Maradonna or Messi.

Also, he was prevented from playing outside of Brazil so we only saw him live when on international duty with Brazil.

I also think he played in the greatest side I have ever seen which was the 1970 Brazil team. There hasn't been a club or international side who could have lived with them.

RIP Pele, the greatest.

Very sad.

I don't think that there is a kid anywhere that never heard the words, "Pass the ball son, who do you think you are, Pele?"

The lack of comments on this thread suggests, to me, most of posters are either very young, ignorant, or both.

When that slimey git, Maradona, snuffed it, the amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth was nauseating.

RIP, Pele.

As a kid, Escape to Victory was on constant rotation (alongside classics like Teenwolf and Karate Kid etc!).

Pele's overhead kick gave me shivers equal to Larusso's crane kick and Scottie Howard's last-minute winner… and come to think of it, as an adult I get the same feeling listening to ‘All together Now' when the commentator screams “and Daniel Amokachi heads Everton into the 1995 FA Cup Final”!!

We also would routinely watch a Smiths Crisps video about World Cup history, presented by the charismatic (not) Brian Robson. The section on Pele would have me in awe. He seemed to change football single-handedly into a much more skilful and beautiful game.

I imagine he is responsible for people falling in love with football, more so than any other player. The Muhammad Ali of football.

I'm also shocked, Colin, that threads about Calvert-Lewin's availability are more of a talking point.

1970 World Cup, just fabulous with Labone, Ball, Tommy Wright all playing a part. Shame Gordon West decided to swerve. England might have won if he had been the sub for Banks.

Just an aside. If you look at that famous header from Pele and The Banks save, you see Tommy Wright is the marker. As Pele heads the ball, you can see Wright with his back angled forward and his head down. It looks to me he had been pushed or jumped very early.

There were not loads of camera angles so difficult to say;t my brother worked with Tommy at Garston Docks but never got the full story.

Anyway, Pele was some player. What we'd give to have a young Pele at Goodson now – or anyone who can score a goal!

I watched the Pele documentary today on Netflix.

For those interested, there is a very good series on Amazon about Xavi and Barcelona.

To the purists out there, his talk of one- or two-touch, moving the ball quickly, and keeping the game simple will be music to the ears.

Also echoes of Pep. Remain patient and keep possession but, when you go forward, do it with purpose and intent. A good watch.

I wish I could put up a 2-minute video I've got on my phone showing every skill imaginable with the footage to prove that Pele did almost everything first. A footballing great and also a football genius.

Too young to see him play, but I love all the footage, especially of him playing in what many people describe as the greatest team ever.

Brazil 1970, and the captain's goal in the final against Italy had a bit of everything. It was that good that I doubt many teams could even replicate it in training, and it has definitely got to be one of the greatest goals of all time.

God bless Edson Arantes.

Pele could do anything he wanted to on the field but, from seeing him in the 1970 World Cup he never over-elaborated.

Like all the true greats, he knew when to release the ball with a simple pass rather than dribble. He could shoot equally well with either foot and was blessed with pace, strength, agility and outstanding aerial ability.

A virtuoso who was also a great team player.

Pele was the greatest player I've ever seen — it's not even close.

The only comparison for me on his brilliance is a player in a different sport: Michael Jordan.

Pele, Ali and Elvis — The Three Kings.

Duncan McDine @22,

I'm with you on "Escape to Victory" – you can see the great man actually does the overhead kick with no special effects or set-ups and it was so beautifully shot. When he drops the shoulder to bamboozle the Czech keeper in 1970 and his shot from the half-way line, neither resulting in goals but jaw-dropping all the same.

Undoubtedly the best of all time.

Elvis couldn't even play the guitar!