As a boy Pelé trained using old socks, a grapefruit or rags as a ball. He was snapped up by Santos aged 15. And it was largely because of him that it became the best team in the world in the early 1960s
E WAS JUST a kid, aged 17. Yet in the World Cup final of 1958 Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known by his nickname of Pelé, showed the poise and supreme skill that would become the hallmarks of his career. With Brazil leading Sweden, the hosts, 2-1 he received a high pass in the penalty area.
Edson was born in poverty in a town in the south-west of Minas Gerais state. His father was a promising professional footballer, in an era when they were poorly paid, whose career was prematurely ended by injury. Father then dedicated himself to training son, using old socks, a grapefruit or rags as a ball. At 15 Edson was snapped up by Santos, a professional club.
At 5 ft 8 inches Pelé was not particularly tall, but he was strong and fast. His greatest assets were his supreme positional sense, instinctive ability to read the game and magnetic ball control. He would usually be in the right place at the right time. He anticipated opponents’ moves. He was a skilful dribbler, who flummoxed defenders with feints and sudden stops and starts.
But Pelé never lost touch with Brazil. He refused to have much to do with its military dictatorship of 1964-85. But when a democratic president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, asked him to be sports minister in 1994, he accepted. He piloted a law to clean up Brazilian club football but it was neutered in the Congress, where a powerful lobby defended corrupt vested interests.
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