# Questions: Pelé, the wiki

> A question people ask about Pelé, answered in its first sentence.

## What was Pelé's real name?

Pelé's real name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento. His parents named him after the inventor Thomas Edison, though his birth certificate spelled it "Edison". At home he was called Dico.

## Why was he called Pelé?

Nobody knows for certain. Pelé himself thought the nickname came from his childhood mispronunciation of Bilé, a goalkeeper at Vasco da Gama. He said that neither he nor his school friends knew what the word meant.

## How many goals did Pelé score?

It depends on what you count, and the figure is disputed. Counting friendlies and exhibitions, Guinness World Records credits him with 1,279 goals in 1,363 matches, FIFA uses 1,281, and Pelé himself claimed 1,283. Counting only official competitive matches, statisticians give between about 757 (the figure used by ESPN) and 775 (RSSSF, as cited by Wikipedia).

## How many World Cups did Pelé win?

Pelé won three World Cups, in 1958, 1962 and 1970, and is the only player to have done so. He played in four, also appearing in 1966, and scored 12 goals in 14 World Cup matches.

## Which clubs did Pelé play for?

Pelé played professionally for only two clubs: Santos in Brazil, from 1956 to 1974, and the New York Cosmos in the United States, from 1975 to 1977. As a boy he played for the junior team of Bauru Atlético Clube.

## Did Pelé ever play in Europe?

No, Pelé never played for a European club. Real Madrid, Juventus, Manchester United and Inter Milan all tried to sign him, and in 1961 Brazil's government declared him a national treasure to keep him at home. He did play many friendlies in Europe on tour with Santos and Brazil, and the 1958 and 1966 World Cups.

## What shirt number did Pelé wear?

Pelé wore the number 10, for Santos, Brazil and the Cosmos. He first wore it at the 1958 World Cup: by the usual account, Brazil's federation sent its squad list without numbers, and FIFA assigned them, giving the 10 to Pelé more or less by chance. The Cosmos retired the number for him in 1977.

## When and how did Pelé die?

Pelé died on 29 December 2022, aged 82, at the Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital in São Paulo. The cause was multiple organ failure as a complication of colon cancer, diagnosed in 2021. He is buried at the Memorial Necrópole Ecumênica in Santos.

## How tall was Pelé?

Pelé was about 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) tall, the height given by Wikipedia. He was not big, but he was strong, fast and very good in the air.

## What position did Pelé play?

Pelé was a forward. Early on he played mostly as a striker, centre forward or inside forward, and later in his career he often played a deeper playmaking role behind the strikers, as an attacking midfielder.

## Was Pelé FIFA's Player of the Century?

Yes, jointly with Diego Maradona. In 2000 Maradona won FIFA's internet poll, while a committee of journalists, officials and coaches, together with FIFA Magazine readers, chose Pelé, so FIFA gave the award to both. Separately, the IOC named Pelé Athlete of the Century in 1999.

## What was Pelé's best goal?

There is no agreed answer. The best known are his volley in the 1958 World Cup final and the solo run against Fluminense in 1961 that gave Brazil the phrase gol de placa. Pelé himself said his most memorable goal was one against Juventus of São Paulo in August 1959, of which no film survives.

## When did Pelé score his 1,000th goal?

Pelé scored his 1,000th goal, by the count of the time, on 19 November 1969, from a penalty for Santos against Vasco da Gama at the Maracanã. The count included friendlies and exhibition matches; counting only official games, he had far fewer at that date.

## What does "O Rei" mean?

"O Rei" is Portuguese for "the King". The Brazilian press began calling Pelé that after the 1958 World Cup, and he was also known as *O Rei do Futebol*, the King of Football, and *A Pérola Negra*, the Black Pearl.

## Did Pelé play in the United States?

Yes. Pelé played for the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League from 1975 to 1977, winning the league's championship in 1977. His farewell match, against Santos, was played at Giants Stadium in New Jersey on 1 October 1977.

## Was Pelé a government minister?

Yes. Pelé was Brazil's first Minister of Sport, appointed by President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, from 1 January 1995 to 29 April 1998, when the ministry was abolished. He proposed the anti-corruption football legislation known as the Pelé Law.

## How many matches and goals did Pelé play and score for Brazil?

Pelé scored 77 goals in 92 matches for Brazil between 1957 and 1971, by the count most widely used. That total includes one 1968 match that FIFA does not recognise as official. The Brazilian Football Confederation, which also counts matches against club sides, credits him with 95 goals in 113 games.

## Is Pelé the footballer connected to Pele the diagram tool?

No. pele.wiki also covers Pele, an unrelated open-source library that renders Mermaid diagrams, at pele.wiki/. That project says it is named after the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes and fire, not the footballer.