Sweden 1958

Pelé arrived in Sweden in June 1958 with a knee injury. He was 17 and the youngest player in the tournament. He missed Brazil's first two matches: a 3–0 win over Austria and a 0–0 draw with England.

Before the third match, against the Soviet Union, the squad's psychologist told coach Vicente Feola that Pelé was too immature to play. Feola picked him anyway, along with the winger Garrincha. In Gothenburg on 15 June, Brazil won 2–0. Vavá scored both goals, the second from Pelé's pass.

Four days later, in the quarter-final against Wales, Pelé scored the only goal. He was then the youngest player ever to score at a World Cup. In the semi-final against France in Solna, with Brazil leading 2–1, he scored three times in the second half. Brazil won 5–2.

The final against the hosts, Sweden, was played at the Råsunda Stadium on 29 June. Sweden scored first. Vavá scored twice to turn the match round. Then Pelé scored a goal that is still shown on lists of the best in World Cup history. He brought the ball under control in the area, lifted it over a defender and volleyed it in. Zagallo made it 4–1, Sweden pulled one back, and in the last minute Pelé headed the fifth.

When the final whistle went, Pelé fainted on the pitch. He then cried on the shoulder of the goalkeeper, Gilmar, in a photograph published around the world. He had scored six goals in four matches and was named best young player of the tournament. Brazil became the first country to win a World Cup outside its own continent.

The tournament is also where he began wearing the number 10. The usual account is that Brazil's federation sent its squad list without shirt numbers, and FIFA assigned the numbers itself, giving Pelé the 10 more or less by chance. Back home, newspapers began calling him O Rei, the King. European clubs including Real Madrid and Juventus tried to sign him, without success.