Fifty years ago, in the aftermath of the final of the 1970 World Cup concluded on June 21, 1970 by the victory of Brazil over Italy (4-1), crowning for the third time the prodigy auriverde, a large British newspaper , the Sunday Times, asked on its front page: "How do you spell? The answer bars the page of a huge: "GOD" in other words: GOD. "In Brazil, we never call him Pelé but, the King," says his former partner Paulo César.
All is said. Half a century later, Cruyff, Platini, Maradona, Zidane, Ronaldo, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Mbappé came to write the history of the most popular sport on the planet. Football is a religion with its idols and saints but it remains monotheistic. His only God is called Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé, 79 years old today, the only player to have won three World Cups.
"When I was a kid, I hated being Pelé, a name my friends gave me," he said. My real first name is Edson Arantes in tribute to inventor Thomas Edison. I don't know why I inherited Pelé . It is the name of a sacred river in the Amazon but it also means stupid in Turkish! "
Alone on top of the world
Yet it was with these four sparkling letters that genius became legend. He, the child born in Três Corações ( Three hearts ) in 1940, has three stars on his chest when so many great footballers already dream of winning one. He is the only player to have won three World Cups in 1958, 1962 and 1970: “I correct, immediately resumes Paulo César. My friend Pelé is a five-time world champion: he has won three World Cups and two Club World Championships with Santos. It is fabulous. FABULOUS ! Pelé also scored 1,284 goals in his career, a record there too. "What makes Pelé number 1 is his CV: he is unique," said former international Alain Giresse.
From Giuseppe Meazza to Ronaldo, twenty champions have won two World Cups (4 Italians, 15 Brazilians, 1 Argentinian), only one has tripled and he is not about to be joined. In Mexico, in 1970, Pelé climbed definitively on the throne of sport where the champion of all time champions still reigns. Pelé is at the top of his game there: flamboyant, magnificent, invincible, magical, spectacular, decisive. Simply prodigious! "He was my idol. I became her partner and we admired her. We had an incredible team with magic names but Pelé was still above everyone, ”says Paulo César. The first World Cup in world vision and in color, reputed to be the most beautiful in history, crowns the king of kings and takes this game into another dimension.
The inventor of football
Because Pelé is what Elvis Presley is to rock. Without him, there would not have been the Beatles, the Stones and the others. Without Pelé, there would never have been Maradona, Zidane or Messi. The Brazilian gives the impression of having invented football. "I followed for AFP all the preparation and the World Cup in Brazil in 1970," said Charles Biétry, the former boss of Canal + sports. In match as in training, I saw him do incredible things. Yes, the word that suits him best is to invent . He was creating crazy gestures that we didn't know. Many gave the impression of having worked for years to succeed in certain movements. He made them even better than the others with disconcerting natural ease. Even if he worked a lot and never cheated, it's called a gift. Someone was watching over him to do unique things. "
His genius amazed but annoyed his adversaries. At a time when artists were unprotected, Pelé was the most shattered striker in history. He escaped by miracle even if, once, a broken rib during a match perforated a kidney that had to be removed.
An extraordinary athlete
And we can't even say that the king was lucky to be in the right teams at the right time. It is even better to take the sentence the other way. The Santos team and the Brazilian selection were fortunate to have Pelé, a physically and technically exceptional athlete, well above all others. He who started playing football on the street with a ball sock as a ball was more than a player.
“Pelé was an athlete of prodigious muscular value, well proportioned with his 1.70 m and 74 kg. Its flexibility of articulation, of the spine, the knees and the ankles allowed him to achieve deceitful swinging of the bust, rapid changes of support. Its vertical relaxation exceeded all that one could imagine. To his physical qualities was added an address that the street school and favelas only cultivated and enriched, "wrote the one who knew him best, the football quill of L'Équipe, Jean-Philippe Rethacker in 1981 Pelé knew how to do everything and he did it better than the others. In the perilous game of comparing eras, there are few that resemble him: Johan Cruyff and Lionel Messi are among them.
So many exploits and so few images
Pelé is also a myth, an object of veneration. As in Lima, Peru, stadiums around the world have a plaque at their entrance which reads: "Here Pelé played". We know it exists and yet, apart from the Brazilians, few have seen it play. "This rarity also builds its myth where today a Messi trivializes the exceptional on all screens," concedes Alain Giresse. Pelé only came to France once with the Seleção jersey in 1963 and the "black God" as the press called him had scored three goals against the Blues (3-3).
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Only, at that time, football did not appear on TV. Most of the images that exist of him are ugly and black and white. Her fabulous movements are blurred and filmed from afar. In addition, the best player of all time has never worn the jersey of a great European club, remaining loyal to Santos and, later, going to bring the good word of soccer in the United States, to the Cosmos in New York. . He therefore never won the Golden Ball reserved at that time for Europeans and yet ... "However, it still makes us dream. Pele, it's a dream, a myth, and if he played in 2020 with social networks, what would happen around him would be completely crazy. It would be worth 400 million euros, ”slips Charles Biétry.
Close to people on all continents…
Unlike the escapades of a Maradona who has as many admirers as detractors, Pelé has no enemies. Everyone loves him because he never took a disturbing position. Ephemeral Brazilian Minister of Sports in the 1990s, he was careful not to take questionable positions, having only one fight in his life: the universal development of football.
"Pelé is a deeply kind person who has kept his childlike smile in wonder," says Charles Biétry. We can certainly blame him for some rapprochements with major international brands to make ends meet, but who hasn't? “Pelé has a big heart, a great intelligence, an immense generosity. He is simply a beautiful person. I've never seen him act like a star. It never has been, it has never been unaffordable, it has remained close to people all over the world. The public feels that it has remained simple. I am so proud to be his friend, ”confesses Paulo César.
… And star among the stars
In 1997, when he landed in Paris for a match, Michael Jordan was asked if he knew Ronaldo, the world star of the moment. He answers: "Ronaldo? No. But I know Pelé. All the major personalities from politics, show biz, the media and others wish to meet Pelé. “Whether we like football or not, all the inhabitants of the earth have heard of Pelé's name at least once. Few people in human history have been so universal and known in their lifetime. At this level, he is more than a man, ”concedes Alain Giresse. Approaching him, asking him for an autograph or posing with him for a photo is a quest, an absolute fan's dream.
“In 1998, says Paulo César, I was with Beckenbauer, Cruyff and even Mick Jagger. People greeted them, but when Pelé entered I felt devotion to him. It was unbelievable. "Type his name on the Internet and you see him pose with Bob Kennedy, Queen Elizabeth, Mohamed Ali, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Andy Warhol, Sylvester Stallone with whom he played in the cinema, Steven Spielberg who was his next door neighbor New York and so many others.
The secrets of King Pelé on his football life
He is with all those who have made the history of the world for the past sixty years. In the photos, the most flattered of the two to pose with a star is not always the footballer…
To date, only one player can, with a lot of chances, equal the record of three World Cups of the Brazilian maestro: Kylian Mbappé. The Frenchman advances on the same basis: he earned his first star at about the same age as him. The two look alike and admire each other: "Meeting him is an unnamed pride," was moved by the Parisian during their interview a year ago. The two geniuses also exchanged a few messages on Twitter during the 2018 World Cup ...
So modern, almost 80 years old
Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and players around the world have peeled, almost 80 years old, as a model. Either way, they refer to him, if only to beat his records. Everyone has also been looking for a successor for 50 years. The one who can take away the title of "best player of all time". Even if Messi, according to the words of the legend himself, is the one who comes closest to it, nobody has found him: “Pelé has no successor and he will never have one. He is Pelé, a being so special, ”concludes Charles Biétry.
And what about Pelé himself? “It always makes me happy to be appreciated, even after all these years. I thank God every day for this. But, basically, I'm just a normal man, with his faults. I do my best to stay an example. Humility is also a quality.