THE passing of Edson Arantes do Nascimento, aka Pele, at 82, leaves football and the world of sports a much poorer place. No single individual dominated a single sport the way the Brazilian genius dominated football, and long before it became fashionable to track down and crown the Greatest of all Time (the GOAT, as the popular parlance goes), Pele’s name was already accepted among soccer watchers and analysts as the greatest to ever play the game.
Since GOAT-trackers love their numbers, here are a few from Pele’s distinguished career: 757 goals in “official” matches and 1,279 total football career goals, three World Cup trophies (in 1958, 1962 and 1970 respectively), and 77 goals in 92 matches, making him joint-top scorer with Neymar (who has done it over 124 matches) for his country.
Yet, to reduce Pele to the number of matches played or total goals scored is to misunderstand what he was all about. Ferenc Puskas, the magical Hungarian striker, understood the point when he said that “Pele was above that.” The great Scottish journalist Hugh Mcllvanney might well have been referring to Pele alone when he described the Brazilian team(s) he (Pele) was integral to as follows: “Other teams thrill us and make us respect them, the Brazilians at their finest gave us pleasure so natural and deep as to be a vivid physical experience.” For the late Nelson Mandela, to watch Pele play was “to watch the delight of a child combined with the extraordinary grace of a man.”
All of which is to say that Pele, or more precisely the love of Pele, had less to do with football than what he brought to it—joy; pure, undiluted joy. Not only did Pele radiate it; he took it with him wherever he went. He was a one-man global happiness super spreader. Across sporting history, the only figure with whom a favorable comparison can be drawn is the boxing legend Muhammad Ali. Like Ali, Pele transcended his sport, and became an instantly recognisable global brand long before “branding oneself” became a thing. Pele himself once observed, and only half in jest, that “there are only three truly international brands: Jesus, Coca Cola, and Pele.”
The challenge of Pele’s legacy is not to try to outdo him in the number of goals scored or dribbles completed. It is to play football as a team sport, and to do so with fans’ pleasure as the greatest aim. We hope all those currently competing for the mantle of Greatest of all Time are listening. It’s not about you. It’s about those who are paying to watch you.
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