Pele died

Pelé, the Brazilian soccer legend who won three World Cups and became the sport's first global icon, has died at the age of 82.

“If I pass away one day, I am happy because I tried to do my best,” he told The Talks online magazine. The world first got a glimpse of Pelé’s dazzling ability in 1958, when he made his World Cup debut aged 17. The tournament capped Pelé’s World Cup career but not his time in the spotlight. He’s the greatest player of all time, and by some distance, I might add.” “When we won the World Cup, everybody knew about Brazil,” he told CNN’s Don Riddell in 2016. He gave a voice to the poor, to black people and especially: He gave visibility to Brazil. As a teenager, Pelé left home and began training with Santos, scoring his first goal for the club side before his 16th birthday. He once wrote in the British newspaper Pelé’s wake will be held at Vila Belmiro, the headquarters of the Santos FC in São Paulo state, a spokesperson told CNN. [on Twitter](https://mobile.twitter.com/TheGeoffHurst/status/1608540805211516929) of his memories of Pelé, calling the late star “without doubt the best footballer I ever played against (with Bobby Moore being the best footballer I ever played alongside). Pelé was admitted to a hospital in São Paulo in late November for a respiratory infection and for complications related to colon cancer. He died on Thursday from multiple organ failure due to the progression of colon cancer, according to a statement from Albert Einstein Hospital.

Brazilian soccer legend Pelé, a three-time World Cup champion who's largely considered to be one of the best players ever, has died.

The game was televised on ABC's "Wide World of Sports." Gave voice to the poor, blacks and mostly gave visibility to Brazil...He's gone, but his magic remains." "Pelé had a magnetic presence and, when you were with him, the rest of the world stopped," Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, said in a statement Thursday. "An inspiration to so many millions, a reference yesterday, today and forever. Rest in peace, O Rei." Pelé had been in and out of the hospital over the past year as he fought colon cancer. The Cosmos was the only club besides Santos that Pelé ever played for. "He turned football into art, into entertainment. Pelé won two additional World Cup titles -- in 1962 and 1970. He scored an astounding 618 goals in 636 games with Santos and won six Brazilian league titles. He scored 77 goals in 92 international appearances. Rest in peace."

Pelé, who was declared a national treasure in his native Brazil, achieved worldwide celebrity and helped popularize the sport in the United States.

In 2001, a company he had helped found a decade earlier, Pelé Sports and Marketing, was accused of taking enormous loans to stage a charity game for Unicef and then not repaying the money when the game failed to happen. He often referred to Pelé in the third person. In a video recorded for the occasion, Pelé said, “It’s a great joy to pass through this world and be able to leave, for future generations, some memories, and to leave a legacy for my country.” The Cosmos moved to Giants Stadium in Pelé’s final season, 1977, and there, in the Meadowlands, reached the pinnacle of their — and the league’s — popularity. Most probably, he wrote, the nickname was a reference to a player on his father’s team whom he had admired and wanted to emulate as a boy. When Pelé was about to retire from Santos in the early 1970s, Henry A. As it bounced, he turned — so quickly that the ball was barely a foot off the ground — and struck it into the net. One of Pelé’s earliest memories was of seeing his father, while listening to the radio, cry when Brazil lost to Uruguay, 2-1, in the deciding match of the 1950 World Cup in Rio de Janeiro. “I wish he had gone on playing forever,” Clive Toye, a former president and general manager of the Cosmos, wrote in a 2006 memoir. Pelé also played on the Brazilian teams that won in 1962 and 1970. Having come out of retirement at 34, he spent three seasons with the Cosmos on a crusade to popularize soccer in the United States. He helped create and promote what he later called “o jogo bonito” — the beautiful game — a style that valued clever ball control, inventive pinpoint passing and a voracious appetite for attacking.

Brazil soccer great Pele died on Thursday aged 82 after a long battle with cancer. Following are reactions to his death from around the world:

A sad day for the world of football, for the world of sport. Today the world of football cries for the loss of O Rei. Our thoughts are with the people of Brazil and the world football family. We extend our condolences to the Brazilian people and the football family. My deepest condolences to all of Brazil, and in particular to the family of Mr. He made football the beautiful game and truly international. A mere "goodbye" to the eternal King Pele will never be enough to express the pain that embraces the whole world of football at this moment. The King of Kings has died. As I could experience myself, he was a true believer in the Olympic values and a proud carrier of the Olympic flame. Pele was one of the greatest to ever play the beautiful game. One of the greatest footballers in history has left us. And as one of the most recognizable athletes in the world, he understood the power of sports to bring people together.

Pelé, the greatest soccer player ever and the most decorated athlete in the history of "the Beautiful Game," has died at the age of 82.

In the near half-century following his retirement, Pelé became one of soccer’s greatest ambassadors, continuing his push to keep the “Beautiful Game” on the forefront of the world stage. In the Brazilian press, Pelé was instantly hailed as a star, with the forward leading the league in scoring as a 16-year-old in 1957. Following nearly two decades at Santos and a brief retirement, Pelé signed with the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League. “The king of football has left us but his legacy will never be forgotten.” That same year, Pelé played his final game as a pro as the Cosmos hosted his former longtime team, Santos, for an exhibition match at a sold-out Giants Stadium, with Pelé playing for both teams during the game. The following year, Pelé joined the Brazilian national team for the 1958 World Cup, delivering a performance that would make him a global star and earn him the nickname “O Rei,” or “The King.” He received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth as well as every other possible soccer-related accolade, from the FIFA Order of Merit to the FIFA Player of the Century to a spot on TIme’s 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century list. In his 19 seasons at Santos, spanning from 1956 to 1974 and roughly 660 games, Pelé scored a record-shattering 643 goals. Pelé — who was given his nickname by childhood friends because of the way he mispronounced his favorite soccer player goalkeeper Bilé — honed his craft playing futsal (or indoor soccer) in Bauru, the region within São Paulo, where Pelé grew up. 18, Pelé’s daughter revealed a couple of days later that her father would remain hospitalized through the Christmas holiday under “elevated care” due to “kidney and cardiac dysfunctions.” He soon signed a contract with the team and made his professional debut on Sept. “Inspiration and love marked the journey of King Pelé, who peacefully passed away today,” read the post.