In the early morning of December 30th, Beijing time, "Ball King" Pele passed away due to illness. Just like Maradona passed away two years ago, no one can deny Pele's career status. He is one of the greatest players in the history of world football and the first universally recognized "ball king". Looking back on his brilliant career, many achievements have not been surpassed so far.
World Cup winner: 3 times
For all footballers, the World Cup has always been the highest honor. In the nearly 100-year history of the World Cup, a total of 21 players have won the World Cup multiple times, including Ronaldo and Cafu, and 20 players have won the championship twice. Only one player is an exception. Pele won the World Cup three times in 1958, 1962, and 1970, and kept the Rimet Cup (the predecessor of the Hercules Cup) in Brazil permanently. With this achievement alone, Pele is undoubtedly the best player in World Cup history.
World Cup goals: 12 goals
In terms of the number of World Cup goals, Pele is not the best in history, but it is also ranked in the forefront of history. In the 4th World Cup, Pele participated in 14 games and scored 12 goals. He is currently ranked 6th in the historical scorer list, behind Klose, (16 goals), Ronaldo (15 goals), Gade. Muller (14 goals), Messi (13 goals), Fontaine (13 goals), tied for sixth with Mbappe and other players. Had it not been for the injury in the group stage in 1962 and Brazil's elimination in the group stage in 1966, Pele's World Cup goals would not have been just 12 goals.
The youngest goal scorer in the World Cup: 17 years and 239 days
Although the number of goals scored in the World Cup "only" ranks 6th in the historical scorer list, he still maintains many historical records in the World Cup to this day. During the World Cup in Qatar, whenever a player made history, Pele's name always appeared. Most of the many records held by Pele appeared in the 1958 World Cup, when he was under 18 years old.
In the quarter-finals of the 1958 World Cup against Wales, Pele, who was 17 years old and 239 days old, scored the only goal in the game and became the youngest goal scorer in the history of the World Cup. In the subsequent semi-final against France, Pele staged a "hat-trick" and became the youngest player to achieve this achievement. In the final against the host Sweden, Pele scored twice, helping the team win the cup and becoming the youngest scorer in the final. The above three records have not yet been broken.
National team goals: 77 goals
played for Brazil for the first time in 1957 and quit the national team in 1971. Pele played 92 times on behalf of Brazil and scored 77 goals in total. It wasn't until this year's World Cup in Qatar that Neymar tied Pele's record and tied for the top scorer in team history.
club goals: 680 balls
Pele has played for Santos and New York Cosmos in total in his career. From 1956 to 1975, Pele played more than 600 games on behalf of Santos, scoring a total of 643 goals in Brazil's domestic competitions, Libertadores Cup, Intercontinental Cup and other competitions; Scored 37 goals.
Pele scored 643 goals on behalf of Santos, a goal record as a player at a club for nearly half a century, until it was broken by Messi in 2021, who played 778 games for Barcelona and scored 672 goals .
Total career goals: 1283 goals
From the 1950s to the 1970s, the statistics of world football were not as scientific as they are now. In today's world football, the total number of goals scored on behalf of clubs and national teams is the number of career goals. If this standard is followed, Pele's total career goals are 757 goals. However, considering the differences in the environment of the times, Pele's total career goals have not been conclusive.
, especially Pele, has participated in many military games, friendly matches, exhibition matches, etc. The scoring data of such games has always been doubtful. The Guinness World Records website has certified that Pele scored 1279 goals in 1363 games. FIFA and South American Football Confederation have always stated that Pele's total goals are 1281 goals, but in recent years they have begun to use "more than 1200 goals" to describe. As for Bailey himself, he once confirmed on social media, "I scored 1283 goals in my life." His autobiography is also named after "1283". Regardless of the actual numbers, Pele's scoring record is astonishing enough to be dubbed "The King of Balls" by the world.
Beijing News reporter Xu Bangyin
editor Wang Chunqiu
proofreading Zhao Lin
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