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Pelé

Brazilian footballer (1940–2022)

  • Fame85.7
  • Momentum36.8
  • Global rank#193
Source-basedBreakout
  • Fame85.7
  • Momentum36.8
  • Global rank#193
  • Brazil rank#3
  • Footballers rank#5
  • Wikipedia1M
Lived 1940–2022, aged 82Brazil
Brazil flagBrazilFootballersFootball / Soccer Player
  • Wikipedia
    148 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Global rank
    #193
    Fame.am leaderboard
  • Era
    1940–2022
    Aged 82
  • Known for
    Escape to Victory
    1981
Summary
Updated 2026-08-13

Three World Cups before he turned thirty. The only player to pull that off, and he did it starting at seventeen — still the youngest to win one. 1,279 goals across 1,363 games, a Guinness record that doubles as the reason "The Beautiful Game" stuck.

Biography

About

Edson Arantes do Nascimento joined Santos at fifteen and Brazil's national team at sixteen. The 1958 World Cup made him O Rei — The King — and he added titles in 1962 and 1970, a three-peat no one else has matched. At Santos he scored 643 goals in 659 games and led the club to back-to-back Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental Cups in 1962 and 1963. His skill turned him into the world's highest-paid athlete for a stretch, and his teams toured internationally just to let crowds see him play. He retired in 1977 with 77 goals in 92 games for Brazil, a national record that stood for over fifty ye…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Pelé

Pelé
said
[On his unpublicized work as a songwriter.] I didn't want the public to make the comparison between Pele the composer and Pele the footballer.
— Alex Bellos "He sings, he scores" The Guardian (21 May 2022)
Pelé
said
Bobby Moore — he defended like a lord. Let me tell you about this man.
— Interviewed by Lee Clayton, "Welcome into Pelé's World" in Daily Mail [England] (27 May 2006)
Pelé
said
Every kid around the world who plays soccer wants to be Pelé. I have a great responsibility to show them not just how to be like a soccer player, but how to be like a man.
— Quoted in "SI Flashback: Soccer's greatest genius" Sports Illustrated, (1 June 1999)
Pelé
said
I was born for soccer, just as Beethoven was born for music.
— Quoted in Parton Keese, The measure of greatness (1980)
Pelé
said
When I was a professional footballer at Santos [where he played from 1956-74] there was a lot of time hanging around team hotels doing nothing.
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
Deep cuts

Teams

Low confidence
  • New York Cosmos
    1975–1977
  • Brazil men's national football team
    1957–1971
  • Santos F.C.
    1957–1974
  • Santos F.C.
    1956–1974
  • Bauru Atlético Clube
    1953–1956
19531977
Deep cuts

Season stats

Low confidence
1975–197765111
1957–19719277
1957–197411161091
1956–1974659643
Deep cuts

Awards

Low confidence
  • Ballon d'Or Dream Team
  • FWA Tribute Award
  • Silver Olympic Order
By the numbers

Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Rising
85.7
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Momentum36.8
Historical54.0
Now attention76.6
Source confidence85.0
Completeness90.0
Global rank
#193
Country rank
#3
Category rank
#5
Receipts

Sources

  • Wikidata
    wikidata · wikidata.org
    High confidence
  • Wikipedia
    wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
    High confidence
  • Pantheon 2.0
    database · pantheon.world
    High confidence