Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, he scored 1,281 goals in 1,363 matches, and was voted Football Player of the Century by the IFFHS in 1999. He is considered by many to be the greatest soccer player of all-time.
He was officially named after Thomas Edison, but it's believed he earned the nickname "Pele" during childhood after the way he pronounced the goalkeeper for his hometown Vasco da Gama team, Bilé.
In 1962, he led Santos to victory in four out of four competitions, becoming the first team to achieve a quadruple. He dedicated his 1,000th goal to the poor children of Brazil.
He was married to Rosemeri dos Reis Cholbi from 1966 to 1982 and Assiria Nascimento from 1994 to 2008. He married his third wife, Marcia Aoki, in 2016. He had two daughters and a son with Rosemeri and a pair of twins with Assiria.
He retired from international play in 1971 after scoring 77 goals in 92 appearances for the Brazilian national team and 40 years later, the great Ronaldo retired after scoring 62 goals in 98 appearances with Brazil - second behind only Pele.
