Pelé is football itself!

Opinion Piece by Rasim Movsumzadeh

He lived by the slogan “If you are first, you are first, if you are second, you are nothing”, so he always tried to be the first.

His greatest achievement is winning the World Cup three times, a feat that no one else in the history of football has achieved.

He entered the world of football like a meteor.

He made his international debut at 16 years and nine months old, scored in his first game against Argentina and is still the youngest goalscorer for Brazil.

1958 World Cup. He also made history with World Cup records at 17; he is the youngest World Cup goalscorer, as well as the youngest player and the youngest goalscorer at the finals. Moreover, in the final against Sweden, he scored one of the most beautiful goals in the history of the World Cup, lifting the ball over a defender in the penalty area, and then shooting past the goalkeeper.

What was the Brazilian national team before Pelé? Simply put, they were an unsuccessful team.

The Brazilians were second (1950) and third (1938) but were never world champions before the Brazilian legend came along.

Having won the Jules Rimet Trophy for the first time with Pelé, they surpassed other countries in the number of titles in just 12 years (1958, 1962, 1970).

They also have the longest unbeaten run with 13 matches, which has not been repeated so far in a major international football competition.

After Pelé, they managed to win only two World Cups in fifty years (1994, 2002).

Copa América. Unlike Argentina's Lionel Messi, who won the continental competition in only the sixth attempt, Pelé participated at the South American Football Championship only once: he was the runner-up, the best player and the top scorer with eight goals in 1959.

In total, he scored 77 goals in 92 matches for Brazil, only Neymar managed to reach him in the number of goals last year, in his 124th international game.

During his career, Pelé scored over 1 300 goals in official and friendly tournaments and matches. I would like to draw the attention of those who do not take friendlies seriously, that since there were few official games at that time, teams often organised commercial competitions, tours, and friendly matches, which were not inferior to official games in the struggle for victory.

His personal best is eight goals in a single match for Santos against Botafogo de Ribeirão Preto at the 1964 Campeonato Paulista when they won 11-0.

He is a legend!

He is the "King of Football"!

He is football itself!

"Football is the only sport where you put people together, it doesn’t matter if you are rich, or poor, or black, or white. It is one nation. This is the beauty of football”, said Pelé, who is considered the best footballer and one of the best athletes of the 20th century.

1970 World Cup. The peak of his career was at México '70.

In general, the Brazilian national team of 1970 is considered one of the best football teams of all time.

They secured six wins with 19 goals in six games - after them, no one scored as many at the single World Cup.

Their 4-1 win over Italy in the final is also one of the three biggest margins of victory in the finals of the showpiece tournament.

Pelé scored four goals with six assists, including a goal and two assists in the final - no one else has provided so many assists at a single World Cup.

Tofig Bahramov. He was one of the assistant referees for the 1970 World Cup semifinal match in which Brazil beat Uruguay 3-1. He is the same legendary Bahramov who was the linesman for the 1966 World Cup final between England and West Germany (4-2, a.e.t.) and played a special role in the counting of Geoff Hurst’s famous second goal.

In his book, “The referee points to the centre spot”, published in 1971, the referee of Azerbaijani origin wrote that after the match he was watching the extra time of the ongoing other semifinal game between Italy and West Germany (4-3) together with the Brazilian players:

“Despite the room in the service building in where there was a TV set was large, it became tight. I was sitting on the arm-chair – it was the benefit of being the referee. Near by me there was Pelé sitting on a metallic chair. He's shirtless, wearing blue shorts. There were many players sitting on the floor in front of us.

"I was looking at Pelé with the corner of my eye. He was watching the match with an interest of a kid.

"With Gerd Müller bravely advancing towards the goalkeeper Albertosi and defender Poletti, stealing the ball and sending it into the goal, I see that Pelé involuntarily repeats his movements."

"Then Müller scores his second goal in the game. Pelé jumps on his feet and starts applauding: 'Müller! Müller!' he shouts with joy.

"But a minute later the Italians scored the winning goal and reached the final.

“We’ve just watched a beautiful football match. Then I’m taking out my pocket my referee notebook and a pen and stretching it to Pelé. He is still under the impression of the game and can’t understand my thoughts.

"Autograph, autograph, - I’m explaining. 'Ah, autograph', says Pelé like he wakes up and gently puts his signature”.

Europe. Pelé did not win the Ballon d'Or in 1958 and 1970, or any other year, because at the time he played, this award was given to the best player in Europe. He spent most of his career in South America.

If he had accepted the offer of Inter or Juventus or other European clubs, Pelé's name would have been included in the list for the most expensive transfers of the 1960s, not players like Italians Angelo Sormani and Pietro Anastasi or Danish footballer Harald Nielsen.

Santos. But he was happy without Europe, because he played for one of the best clubs in the world at that time. They won the Libertadores Cup in 1962 and 1963, as well as the Intercontinental Cup, beating Benfica and then Milan.

There were seven players from Santos in Brazil's 22-man squad at the 1962 World Cup, where they were champions. After researching the matches, I became aware there are eight footballers from Santos playing for Brazil against West Germany and Italy in 1963, and against England in 1969.

Ballon d’Or Dream Team. France Football held an election with a jury of journalists in 2020 and determined the all-time team. It is natural to have Pelé in this team, which includes the best players in terms of positions.

According to the number of points won, he was behind Lionel Messi (792), Franz Beckenbauer (738) and Cristiano Ronaldo (730) in the overall list. But for the sake of justice, it should be emphasized that, unlike them, he competed with Diego Maradona, another legend in his position and they received 655 and 602 points, respectively.

As a juror, I also took part in the Ballon d'Or Dream Team poll. Without hesitation, I wrote Pelé's name first on my list of attacking midfielders, and then in order, I chose Diego Maradona, Zinedine Zidane, Ferenc Puskás and Roberto Baggio.

"I think Pelé was better than all of them. For me, there's no comparison. Pelé was far more complete. He had every quality that a forward could have. He didn't have one defect. Maradona was spectacular, but he wasn't on Pelé's level physically, he didn't score the number of goals Pelé did. Messi's spectacular, but he doesn't head the ball like Pelé did, he doesn't shoot as well with both feet, he doesn't pull off the moves that Pelé did. Cristiano Ronaldo is an exceptional player, but he doesn't have the ability that Pelé had and he doesn't pull off the incredible passes that Pelé did. If you take the qualities of Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi, put them together, then you'd have a player to compare to Pelé!" - that's how Tostão, his former teammate in the Brazil team, described him.

Another feature of Pelé is that, unlike legends such as Alfredo di Stéfano and Ferenc Puskás, Johan Cruijff and Franz Beckenbauer, Diego Maradona and Michel Platini, he did not try himself out as a coach. But even though he retired as a professional footballer in 1977, he has never been forgotten. His name has become synonymous with football.

Pelé, who recently passed away at the age of 82, once told the online magazine, The Talks: “If I pass away one day, I am happy because I tried to do my best. My sport allowed me to do so much because it’s the biggest sport in the world.”

Farewell, happy man!

Football will never forget you!