Although players like Leo Messi (35), kylian mbappe (24) or Cristiano Ronaldo (37) still have a few years of football and records to be pulverized, some of them (less and less) are still owned by Pele. The former striker, considered by FIFA the best player of the 20th century and for many specialists the best of all time, he is still the ‘King’ and will be for some time, at least in the world crowns section.
Pele debuted as a professional with Saints in 1956 at just 15 years old and two years later he won his first World Cup in Sweden, the first for Canarinha. The Brazilian team forgot the historic defeat of the ‘Maracanazo’ that occurred eight years ago with the irruption of a young black man from a humble family who was barely 17 years old. His debut with the national team had been a year earlier.
The legendary Brazilian soccer player has passed away after a life dedicated to soccer, where he was crowned as ‘O Rei’
1. Pelé, the only one to have won three World Cups
Despite his young age, Pele It was essential in the tournament. In the final he scored two of Brazil’s five goals against Sweden (5-2). Four years later, the legendary 10 added his second star in Chile, although an injury in the second game made him miss almost the entire championship. The third crown was achieved in Mexico in 1970, in which it was his best performance in a World Cup.
It thus became the only player with three world titles. No one has succeeded to date. Two of their compatriots were close: Cafú and Ronaldo Nazário, with two each (1994 and 2002), but they lost the 1998 final to France.
2. Pelé, second highest scorer with the jersey of a single club
Pele he converted 643 goals in official matches at Santos, where he played for 18 years. That record lasted until last year, after achieving it in no less than 197, when he left the albinegro team. A certain Leo Messi, worthy successor to the throne of O’Rei, was the one who surpassed that mark with 672.
Pelé is still listed as the all-time top scorer for the Brazilian team, although it has recently been a shared record after the World Cup in Qatar. The triple world champion scored 77 goals in official matches with Canarinha and was tied by Neymar Junior, current star of the green-yellow team, who at 29 years old and with many ahead of him matched him in the duel against Croatia, in which Brazil ended up being eliminated. It is certain that ‘Ney’ will unseat the mythical Pelé.
3. Pelé, the earliest World Cup scorer
Pelé started being a star almost from the moment he left the cradle. With the blood of a former soccer player running through his veins, his goals fell out of his pockets at a very young age. So much so that to date, no one has managed to take away the honor of being the youngest goalscorer in the history of Brazil, at just 16 years old. Not only that, but in the quarterfinals against Sweden at the 1958 World Cup, he also became the youngest to score, at 17 years and 239 days. In that same World Cup, in the semifinals, he was crowned with a hat trick.
