The GOAT debate in football is tedious, overplayed, exhausting, and as evidenced by how many people seriously consider Cristiano Ronaldo to be the greatest player of all time, often very, very stupid. Any entity that measures success in likes or views or retweets or comments has a vested interest in stirring the debate anew, and people and pundits will inevitably gravitate towards favoring the players they actually saw play, especially if advancements in filming and broadcasting meant they were able to watch them play more easily, more clearly, and colorfully.
Much of Pelé’s best work on a football pitch is preserved only in dark, sludgy footage, or not at all. Still, enough of it survives to make his greatness obvious, and make us wonder what other magic of his has been lost to time. We can see all of Lionel Messi’s best goals with a simple YouTube search. We’ll always find ourselves wondering if Pelé’s best goals are lost to us, which is sad, yes, but also tantalizing when you remember what footage has survived. Even to someone born decades after he last set foot on a football pitch like I was, the depth and breadth of his talent was astonishing. It seemed like he could do anything, and he often did it years before anyone else had thought to try it—and if this has been preserved, what incredible feats weren’t?
But to debate the specifics of Pelé’s greatness on the pitch inevitably invites the urge to debunk some of the dumbest arguments lobbed against it, and that is just a distraction. I’m not here to argue about “farmer’s leagues” versus the benefits of modern equipment and medicine. (And, in any case, it sounds like our own Black Matt is working on his own tribute and he can do the topic far more justice than I can.) Suffice to say that Pelé played against the best competition of his era and kicked their asses. It’s the myth he wove around himself that’s the most indubitable part, ironically. Other players may have produced better World Cup campaigns, scored more “official” goals by some count, but to beat Pelé and his Santos team was such a big deal that Olympiakos immortalized both in their club song. To be able to watch Pelé was such a big deal that the Nigerian civil war was (supposedly) put on hold for the occasion. Despite playing before the internet age, and the bulk of his career even before the advent of color television, Pelé made his greatness known to every corner of the globe.
And for the purposes of this blog in particular, we must note his greatness in the context of the Seleção. We never actually saw Pelé’s very best at a World Cup. He was just a teenager when he broke out in 1958, and already something of an old hand in 1970. In 1962 and 1966, when he would have been closer to his prime physically, rough treatment from opposing players got him hurt before he could make much of an impact. But he still managed to win three World Cups, the only player to only do so, and in the process made Brazil the first country to do so as well. That Brazil has such gigantic status in the eyes of so many football fans, both as the most successful nation in the history of the World Cup and as the most talented, the most exciting, the most aesthetically pleasing, owes to him more than it does any other individual.
The sum total of all of that—the confluence of his talent, his legend, his legacy, all in a single player—is why Pelé is the greatest of all time, and why he will likely always be.
But that’s enough from me. One person’s account can’t truly capture how influential Pelé was, how many people he won over to being fans of football in general or Brazil in particular. For that, I offer some of the tributes that have come in from fellow members of this community since his passing. From me, all I have left to say is: Adeus, Rei.
I grew up in the 80s before streaming, internet, social media, and all the entertainment options we have today. Cable wasn’t even a thing yet. VHS was the big innovation at the time. My uncle worked for Warner Bros. Specifically, he was in charge of South American distribution. Apparently, Warner Bros had made a VHS of Pelé highlights. All in portugués, most highlights in black and white. He “lent” me a promo copy when I was 6. I didn’t watch TV as a kid. I only watched that Pelé video; over and over for years. Every single day. I can still sing the songs from that video. “Didi, Vava, Pelé…” Through that video I fell in love with Brasil futbol and many other aspects of Brasilian culture. A beautiful sunset or a snow capped glacier are the essence of beauty for some. For me, it’s Brasil playing their best. Specifically; it’s Pelé, Rivelino, Tostão, Carlos Alberto, and Jairzinho jumping up and down in Mexico City after overpowering the world with their technique and athleticism. RIP El Rey
Saul Goodman
Heartbroken 😔 My deepest sympathies to the king’s family! May his soul rest in peace! Good bye king
Russel
“Most people earn their living with their hands, but Edson Arantes do Nascimento earns his with his feet.” That’s the opening lines of a feature story in an elementary English reader that I studied about 50 years ago. That’s when I started to take an interest in football and subsequently became a Brazil fan. Thank you and rest in peace, Pelé.
Rock RW
You always know it was coming, but it doesn’t make it any less painful. PELÉ: The Greatest Of All Time ⚽️🇧🇷⚽️🇧🇷⚽️
Rich
Really sad to hear the passing of Pelé, though it was expected. He and, to a lesser extent, Maradona, are the reasons why my home country, Haiti, loves football so much. An incredibly tough year for Brazil fans all across the globe.
My favorite football highlight ever is Pelé scoring that incredible header against Italy in the ‘70 final and jumping on Jairzinho—it’s @Rich‘s profile pic.
I might seem bitter, but I am so annoyed that all of a sudden, it’s, “Pelé, one of the greatest,” instead of “the greatest.” I don’t know the future, but Pelé has not been surpassed. HE IS THE GREATEST!
Canteev
Thank you the greatest of all time in football! Rest in Peace!
Lovebrazil
Pelé, rei do futebol, RIP (Rest In Power)!
humblelion
As he himself once said, “The human being Edson will die some day, Pelé is immortal.” I remember, when I was a boy, he was already a myth. Hardly played for Brazil anymore. It was a surprise for me, when he returned to the national team in 1970 – as a matured and composed leader, not as a whirlwind. His presence helped to make that team the greatest one in WC history.
Brazil82
Oh man, this is so sad. Rest in Peace, the Greatest of All, the King, Mr. Football, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pelé.
thinkingplague
My falling in love with Brazil is a complex story with vague origins: Because it started at a very young age, I can’t really say how or why it exactly happened. That said, this book is one of my earliest memories connected to Brazilian football. It’s titled “Pelé, Garrincha, Football.” It was written by a Soviet journalist working in Brazil in the late 1960s (it ends with Brazil rebuilding for the 1970 World Cup under João Saldanha).
I read it as a child growing up in the Soviet Union in the 1980s and I learned a lot of things about Brazilian football. There is a chapter on Garrincha and the troubled final years of his career. There is a chapter about São Cristóvão, an impoverished club which can barely feed its players. There’s a reportage on the Fla-Flu derby (the latter coached by a young Telê Santana).
But the main character is Pelé, of course.
Eric
My thirteen-year old son is crying right now. Even in grainy, black-and-white footage, Pelé was his favorite player to watch and study.
Black Matt
The reaction I’m seeing seems unprecedented. The only time I recall something similar is when Ali passed away.
Truly, the greatest.
Even if this is expected, I am heartbroken and have shed a few tears today. My dad is so sad too. He said a similar thing to what Lula just tweeted: “as a Palmeiras fan, even if he always destroyed my team, I couldn’t help but cheer for him and admire him”.
I’ve only watched Pelé play once (on TV), during a friendly organized for his 50th birthday. It was nothing, purely a celebration, and yet I’ll cherish having had the opportunity to see that man in cleats.
The best Brazilian.
Marechal
A sad day, may the GOAT RIP.
K INC
O Rei Pelé.. the GOAT has passed onto a better world. Truly inspired generations by being the best footballer the world has ever witnessed.
Eternas Raízes de Beleza ’82
It is different to know that he was going through his last moments and to expect to hear the bad news and different to know that he is not among us any more. It is a very sad day. Pelé was, is and will be the King. Thank you for being Brazilian.
Antonios Yiakoumakis
Rest In Peace O’Rey Pelé. You are the greatest of all times. Today is a sad day…
Raed
My fifth grade textbook had a story on Pelé. Me, a kid growing up in a country many thousand miles away from Brazil, in another continent, knew that he was the “Black Diamond”, “The King”, and memorized his full Portuguese name. It was before social media, the internet, before even global TV channels. My dad could describe from memory Pelé’s plays in 1970 WC, the first one he got to watch on TV. The power of football as art. The power to capture human imagination. No one embodied it better. Rest in peace, O Rei.
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