Chapter · 1956–1958
Santos: discovery and debut (1956–1957)
At 15 Pelé joined Santos, scored on his debut, and within a year was the top scorer in São Paulo and playing for Brazil.
In 1956 Waldemar de Brito brought Pelé to Santos, an industrial port near the city of São Paulo, for a trial with Santos FC. By Wikipedia's account he told the club's directors that the boy would be the greatest player in the world. The coach, Luis Alonso Pérez, known as Lula, watched him train at Vila Belmiro and was impressed. Pelé signed a professional contract in June 1956.
He made his first-team debut on 7 September 1956, a public holiday in Brazil, in a friendly against Corinthians de Santo André. He scored once in a 7–1 win. It was the first goal of his senior career. The goalkeeper he beat, Zaluar, later made a small joke of it on his business card.
Santos were already state champions. When the 1957 season began, Pelé was in the starting team. At 16 he finished as the top scorer in the Campeonato Paulista, the São Paulo state league and one of the strongest competitions in Brazil.
Ten months after signing as a professional, he was called up to the national team. On 7 July 1957, aged 16, he played his first match for Brazil, against Argentina at the Maracanã in the Roca Cup. Brazil lost 2–1, but he scored. He remains the youngest player ever to score for Brazil. Three days later he scored again as Brazil won the return match in São Paulo and the trophy.
The following year he helped Santos win the 1958 Campeonato Paulista, his first major title with the club. He scored 58 goals in that season's championship, a record that still stands. By then Brazil's coach, Vicente Feola, had named him in the squad for the World Cup in Sweden.