RIP PELE: INSIGHTFUL FACTS ABOUT THE FOOTBALL ICON

Pele, a legendary footballer from Brazil, is the only person to have won the World Cup three times and is still the youngest player to do so. Tres Coracoes, a municipality in southeast Brazil, is where Pele was born. Pele, the lad with three hearts, obtained his name from the word’s literal translation, which was “three hearts.” When the legend was in school, he acquired the moniker “Pele.” He was a tremendous fan of Brazilian goalie Bile when he was a kid, but he had trouble pronouncing his name. He would pronounce it incorrectly as “Pele” though. At just 17 years old, Pele struck a hat-trick as the Selecao defeated France 5-2 in the 1958 World Cup semifinal. He continues to be the youngest player to ever score a hat trick in the biggest football competition. Brazil was dependent on Pele in ways that went beyond football because it was caught in a time of political unrest. Janio Quadros, the country’s president at the time, officially designated “Black Pearl” as a national treasure in 1961. In essence, it became illegal for any club to remove him from Brazil. The Guinness Book of World Records formally recognises Pele as the player with the most goals in association football with 1279 goals in 1363 games. Though Pele made the decision to stop playing in the World Cup after a lacklustre performance in the 1966 tournament, he eventually made a comeback in 1970 and helped Brazil win their third championship. He is still the only athlete to earn three World Cup victories. The Ballon d’Or, given to the finest players in the world, was only available to Europeans during Pele’s time, hence the Brazilian never took home the prize. Pele would have become the first player to win seven Ballon d’Ors had he been eligible. During the Nigerian Civil War, Pele visited Lagos, Nigeria, for an exhibition game in 1969. It is reported that the two coteries engaged in the conflict decided to end their conflict for 48 hours to watch the magician play football.