Pelé

Pelé, widely considered by many to be the greatest association football player of all time, was born on Oct. 23, 1940, in Três Corações, Minas Gerais, Brazil, under the name Edson Arantes do Nascimento. He began his association football career at the age of 15, playing as a forward for Santos Football Club. He quickly became the league's top scorer, and, ten months after making his professional debut, he was recruited for Brazil's national team as well.

While continuing to play for Santos, he helped lead the team to play in the Copa Libertadores, South America's premier club tournament, in 1962 and 1963, both of which they won. Over the years, and concurrent with much of his career with Santos, Pelé also played for Brazil in international matches, helping to lead the team to victory at the 1958, 1962, and 1970 FIFA World Cup matches. After 19 seasons with Santos, Pelé retired in 1974.

Two years later, he signed with the New York Cosmos, part of the North American Soccer League, and spent three seasons playing with that team. This brought Pelé great fame in the U.S., and helped to bring about a greater public awareness of the game, which was at the time much less prominent in the U.S. when compared to the rest of the world. Following his retirement in 1977, Pelé continued to promote association football all over the world.

He has also been a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, and in 1997 received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) named him World Player of the Century in 1999, and he was also named a Player of the Century by FIFA, and named Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee. He is also the most successful league goal-scorer in the world, according to IFFHS, scoring 1,281 goals in 1,363 games over the course of his career. He is also still the all-time leading goal-scorer for Brazil, achieving 77 goals over the course of 92 games.

Pelé died of complications from colon cancer on December 29, 2022.