Pel?, Brazil World-Cup winner and football legend, dies aged 82

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Pel?, the Brazilian virtuoso whose captivating skill and athleticism ensured he was universally regarded as one of football’s greatest players, has died at the age of 82.

Pel?, who had a colon tumour removed in 2021, was readmitted to Albert Einstein hospital in S?o Paulo in November amid deteriorating health. After reports he was receiving end-of-life care, Pel? said he felt “strong, with a lot of hope” in a social media post on 3 December.

A further statement from the hospital on 21 December reported that Pel? “requires further care related to renal and cardiac dysfunctions” after the “progression” of his colon cancer. Social media posts from his daughter Kely Nascimento showed that family members had gathered at the hospital to spend Christmas with him.

Brazil’s joint all-time record scorer won three World Cups as a player, in 1958, 1962 and 1970, over a 14-year international career that included 77 goals in 92 appearances for his country.

It was the 1970 triumph for which he will be best celebrated, the linchpin of a beguiling team that included Carlos Alberto, Jairzinho, G?rson, Tost?o and Rivelino that swept through Mexico, his canary yellow No 10 shirt becoming an icon of the sport.

World Soccer described Brazil’s 1970 winners as “more than a team”, adding: “The Brazilian side that won the 1970 World Cup in such style have become a myth, a team to be held up as the ultimate exponents of the beautiful game.” Pel? was their figurehead and inspiration.

Nicknamed “the Black Pearl” and “the King”, Pel? was one of only three players to have scored in four World Cups. In 1,363 games, he scored 1,281 goals, at the time of his retirement in 1977 more than twice as many as his nearest challenger.

Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento on 23 October 1940, Pel? began his professional career at 15 and made his international debut a year later. In 1999, he was voted player of the century in a poll of Ballon d’Or winners and Time magazine named him as one of 100 most influential people of the 20th century.

In his prime, Pel?’s celebrity was such that he gained audiences with popes and heads of state, his allure so great that when the ill-fated New York Cosmos sought a marquee name to launch a soccer assault on America, Pel? was one of the very few footballers to be recognised by the wider American public in the 1970s.

Pel? previously underwent surgery in November 2012, having a hip replacement at a time when he was struggling to cope with life on the road, and had since suffered a urinary infection after having kidney surgery for the removal of stones.

In recent years Pel? had reduced his personal appearances, including in February 2020 when he did not attend a ceremony to unveil a statue of him representing the 1970 World Cup-winning team because of mobility problems that led to the Brazilian using walkers and wheelchairs in public.

Jo?o Saldanha, the coach who helped shape that 1970 side, once said: “Ask me who is the best right-back in Brazil, and I’ll say Pel?. Ask me about the best left-back or midfield man, or the best centre-forward. Always I must say Pel?. If he wants to be goalkeeper, he will be. There is only one Pel?.”